V-Flyer

Have been on the VS website this evening looking for a G for my flight on VS 42 in April.
No G's as no flight! Flight cancelled and I'm now on the earlier VS20(?). No email or phone call from VS. Means my VX connection (SAN-SFO) will now need to be changed at $100 for each of our 4 tickets.
Rang VS - said they 'usually' let customers know!! Never happened to me before but I won't get a refund as the changed flight is less than 5 hours different.

Has this happened to anyone before? Understand operational changes but they didn't seem concerned that I was out of pocket and last day of holiday spoilt.

So sorry to hear that you are yet another "victim" . I find it amazing that people ae not even being told of the changes. There is a current thread by others in your situation which you may find useful .
I hope you get it sorted satisfactorily.
Good luck.

VS really is behaving badly, and it's communication seems primitive. Try your insurance?

mswadley wrote:
Has this happened to anyone before? Understand operational changes but they didn't seem concerned that I was out of pocket and last day of holiday spoilt.

Here is a thread detailing the woes of others.

Oh no, not another one! I'm surprised that they didn't even tell you.

Is the vx flight on the same booking? And do you have travel insurance which should cover this?

Really feel for you mswadley. We too have been changed onto to VS20 in April (actually we are not disappointed though!) We did not hear from VS about it and only found out about the cancellation via v-flyer

Have you contacted VX?? I would surprised if they charged you $100 pp under the circumstances which are beyond your control. I would certainly advise a telephone call direct to them asap.

We have an internal flight connection booked with Us Airways and when VS changed our outbound flight, we would have missed this connection. US Airways were so helpful making suggestions and said they would not charge us for any changes. However it wouldn't work for us though coz they had no other flights that would work with our VS flight. Fortunately VS moved us to the earlier flight but in this instance there is now only one flight SFO - LHR in certain dates in April.

Good luck.

It sounds like VS have cancelled or consolidated a lot of flights this week - a bit worrying that so many appear to be the new second daily SFO; let's hope it doesn't get axed due to low loads.

Given there are seemingly so many flights affected, VS will have thousands, if not tens of thousands, of passengers to contact and clearly they can't all be phoned or emailed at the same time as that would cause meltdown in their call centre when everyone tries to rebook at the same time.

So they do it in stages, in date order, hence the apparent delay. Inevitably, though, some people will find out first - either by checking their booking or through forums like this.

As for your rights, if you've been moved to a flight on another day you're entitled to a full refund or you could try asking to be rebooked on to another airline with a more convenient flight the same day.

If you've been moved on to another flight on the same day, and it departs within 5 hours of the original flight, VS consider it a "minor change" (even if you don't) and won't refund you. However some V-Flyers have successfully contested that policy by emailing the CEO and complaining.

While not on that you haven't been informed of the cancellation yet, this is a reminder of the risks of booking a connecting flight on a separate ticket. If booked on a single ticket (you can with reward flights but have to call) the connection flight is automatically protected.

gumshoe wrote:It sounds like VS have cancelled or consolidated a lot of flights this week - a bit worrying that so many appear to be the new second daily SFO; let's hope it doesn't get axed due to low loads.

Given there are seemingly so many flights affected, VS will have thousands, if not tens of thousands, of passengers to contact and clearly they can't all be phoned or emailed at the same time as that would cause meltdown in their call centre when everyone tries to rebook at the same time.

So they do it in stages, in date order, hence the apparent delay. Inevitably, though, some people will find out first - either by checking their booking or through forums like this.

Or just hundreds if they have bad loads

I found out on Wednesday about our VS42 cancellation http://www.v-flyer.com/forum/index.php?f=4&t=288881&rb_v=viewtopic after totallylost identified an aircraft change http://www.v-flyer.com/forum/index.php?f=4&t=288880&rb_v=viewtopic but only received email and text confirmation at 10.01 am today - fortunately for us although it curtails our San Fransisco stay there are no onward travel implications.

I do agree that VS could have been more proactive in advising people - Twitter and FB have a number of similar queries/complaints. Thank goodness for V-Flyer though as hopefully I managed to sort our flights before the mad rush at 10.00 am today!

Just to add to the 'lack of communication' issue.

About an hour ago I received a text, quickly followed by an email informing me of the changes to scheduled time departing from SFO.

Better late than never

However I guess I'm one of the lucky ones who found out early yesterday via v-flyer

VS really are in a catch 22 here.

Even if they had enough staff to contact everyone at the same time, which I doubt, do they want thousands of people simultaneously calling up to rebook and moaning that they can't get through or have spent hours on hold?

Or, if they stagger it, do they want thousands of people moaning that they weren't told straightaway?

They can't win either way, and whatever happens people will be p***ed off, but I'd argue that the latter is the better option. If you're flying tomorrow and your flight's cancelled, clearly time is critical when it comes to rebooking but we're talking 2 months in the future here so 48 hours isn't going to make much difference.

gumshoe wrote:...... If you're flying tomorrow and your flight's cancelled, clearly time is critical when it comes to rebooking but we're talking 2 months in the future here so 48 hours isn't going to make much difference.

Sorry to disagree gumshoe but even with 2 months' notice - if VS cancels a flight or even initiates just a schedule time change it can have a big effect on people's plans.

A lot of people organise their travel plans months in advance, usually around their flight times. Suddenly when something like this happens it can be very stressful and sometimes has a knock on effect is also a large financial loss.

I acknowledge they cannot tell everyone at the same time because they do not want hundreds of calls. However I bet the odds are that everyone on an affected flight reschedule has been informed today and all around the same time

Hev60 wrote:

gumshoe wrote:even with 2 months' notice - if VS cancels a flight or even initiates just a schedule time change it can have a big effect on people's plans.

A lot of people organise their travel plans months in advance, usually around their flight times. Suddenly when something like this happens it can be very stressful and sometimes has a knock on effect is also a large financial loss.

I don't dispute any of that. But bearing in mind you'd be stressed whenever you found out, does it really make any difference to your plans whether you were told your flight in April was cancelled on Wednesday or today? 99% of those affected won't even be aware until VS tell them, so will never know the flight was actually cancelled 48 hours ago.

Flight changes are never fun but by staggering it, aren't VS at least trying to ease the pain and give you more chance of getting through to the call centre reasonably quickly? If they never attempt to contact you I'd agree it's a major failing but are those 48 hours really crucial given that you'd still be blissfully unaware if you hadn't found out by other means?

And as ScoobySu pointed out, you might even be at an advantage if you find out before VS tell you, because you can beat the masses and make sure you're first in the queue to rebook or choose seats on another flight.

BA start their brand new 380 on the SFO route at the end of March. Combined with a 747 every day it's quite a capacity increase. That route is set to become very competitive.

If the flight you are now on is earlier surely you can still take the VX flights you were planning - albeit with some hanging around at the airport.
If you are there anyway you can always ask VX if they can let you move - often I have found US carriers do not charge for same day changes.

JCBR wrote:If the flight you are now on is earlier surely you can still take the VX flights you were planning - albeit with some hanging around at the airport.
If you are there anyway you can always ask VX if they can let you move - often I have found US carriers do not charge for same day changes.

I think the OP's issue is that they are flying from San Diego into San Francisco to catch the flight back to London, not vice versa.

gumshoe wrote:I don't dispute any of that. But bearing in mind you'd be stressed whenever you found out, does it really make any difference to your plans whether you were told your flight in April was cancelled on Wednesday or today? 99% of those affected won't even be aware until VS tell them, so will never know the flight was actually cancelled 48 hours ago.

Flight changes are never fun but by staggering it, aren't VS at least trying to ease the pain and give you more chance of getting through to the call centre reasonably quickly? If they never attempt to contact you I'd agree it's a major failing but are those 48 hours really crucial given that you'd still be blissfully unaware if you hadn't found out by other means?

And as ScoobySu pointed out, you might even be at an advantage if you find out before VS tell you, because you can beat the masses and make sure you're first in the queue to rebook or choose seats on another flight.

I am just passing an opinion because I want to offer support & understanding to the OP, just like all the other wonderful v-flyers did for me a week ago

I got a notification email at 4:00am this morning, two days after the "adjustment":

We''re sorry to advise VS0041 14APR is cancelled on ref XXXXXX. You have been rebooked on VS0019 from Heathrow on 14APR at 1150 arriving San Francisco at 1450. For assistance, please visit http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/cu ... /phone.jsp for our contact numbers.

Andymoss - If I was you - I'd edit your reference from that copied email Hev

Hev60 wrote:Andymoss - If I was you - I'd edit your reference from that copied email Hev

Didn't even notice that! Thanks.

andymoss wrote:I got a notification email at 4:00am this morning, two days after the "adjustment":
We''re sorry to advise VS0041 14APR is cancelled on ref XXXXXX. You have been rebooked on VS0019 from Heathrow on 14APR at 1150 arriving San Francisco at 1450. For assistance, please visit http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/cu ... /phone.jsp for our contact numbers.

Yes just got mine too. Think I was going back on your outbound!
Now what to do with my 4 VX SAN - SFO tickets bought in sale for $49 each.? Will cost me $600 to book onto earlier flight! Do I just book 4 other flights and not cancel? Not turn up and book United (no miles/TP) as no direct Delta?
Think unbelievably this will be an insurance job.