IRROPS - VS will not re-route - I'm "on a Mileage ticket" !

Flying on VS20 tonight (see other post about VS19), and my flight will be delayed 4-5 hours. Although there are seats in the same cabin on another flight that arrives earlier, VS just told me that there have to be award tickets available on the new flight to re-route me (of course these will never be available the day of the flight). Is this true? In the US at least, IRROPS causes most airlines to be much more flexible and just require seats in the same class of service to be available.

OK, this is a mileage ticket (hardly free though), but what if I was on an advance purchase ticket - same policy!?

If this is official policy, makes me re-think my decision to move international flying to Virgin!

Yes, there has to be reward availability.

If you'd paid full cash you can normally swap for a £100 change fee + the difference in fare. Sometimes it can actually be a lower fare so you end up only paying a % of the change fee.

Mike, I'm not sure I agree.

This comes down the the interpretation of the regulations. You are entitled to, "re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity;"

"under comparable transport conditions" is the bit that is debatable. VS will claim that means G class availability while most passengers might choose to interpret that to mean a seat in Business class (it doesn't have to be on VS metal). You will probably have to fight very hard to get what you want and it's likely you won't succeed.

Change fees and similar fare rules don't apply when it's the airline that has failed to deliver the service that has been paid for.

[honey lamb]

Flying on VS20 tonight (see other post about VS19), and my flight will be delayed 4-5 hours. Although there are seats in the same cabin on another flight that arrives earlier, VS just told me that there have to be award tickets available on the new flight to re-route me (of course these will never be available the day of the flight). Is this true? In the US at least, IRROPS causes most airlines to be much more flexible and just require seats in the same class of service to be available.

OK, this is a mileage ticket (hardly free though), but what if I was on an advance purchase ticket - same policy!?

If this is official policy, makes me re-think my decision to move international flying to Virgin!

If I recall correctly, mdvipond was caught up in a couple of flights which were cancelled because of snow/that Icelandic volcano with the unpronounceable name/Hurricane Sandy when on reward tickets (although he may have made it on the volcano one) and that was his experience. Try and source his TRs. They were to Cape Town (snow), Barbados (volcano) and I think Sandy was supposed to be return from JFK which morphed into one from IAD

Wouldn't snow, volcano and hurricane all fall under "extraordinary circumstances" in which case EC261 wouldn't apply. In this case I think EC261 does apply.

[honey lamb]

Wouldn't snow, volcano and hurricane all fall under "extraordinary circumstances" in which case EC261 wouldn't apply. In this case I think EC261 does apply.

I was posting this more under the issue of being on a mileage ticket and rather than the compensation

I guess I meant this more as a customer service issue.

It hard for me to believe that, mileage or paid ticket, VS would not do what it reasonably can to make things better when it's their fault (and when it doesn't cost them anything to do so!).

Even US airlines, not known particularly for good customer service, will throw out the booking codes and get people re-routed when there are alternatives, at least on their own metal.

In this case, VS had another flight, with tickets available in the same class of service, that would have resulted in an earlier arrival.

Another point is that since the flight may end up being over 4 hours delayed, VS is of course risking paying 600 Euro compensation to each and every passenger. I think one could make a really good business case to re-route as many as possible to avoid that!

I was posting this more under the issue of being on a mileage ticket and rather than the compensation

It's not the cash compensation that's important here. It's the distinction between being bound by whatever internal VS re-routing rules might exist for a reward seat or the rules EC261 tells the carriers they must abide by.

How you've paid for your ticket - or what you've used to pay for your ticket - doesn't matter in the eyes of EU regulation (261)

If you hold a confirmed/ticketed reservation for a flight which has been made on miles, then you are entitled to the same treatment /compensation which is governed under the regulation.

I fear that Virgin are making their own rules up in this circumstance and this needs to be challenged. If you hold a comfirmed reservation (regardless of how you got it) you are a confirmed passenger on that flight. Simple.

I believe VirginXC is right from what I've read if the EU261 rules. I know it's a bit late now so if you weren't able to get rerouted you will be able to claim the €600 compensation.

I wasn't re-routed, and think I will go for the EU261 compensation. The flight was 4 hours and 20 minutes late. Everyone was most kind especially in the SFO Clubhouse, but still a major inconvenience in my case, having missing an event here in London...

I hope that they don't keep a secret list of people who file these claims - to be denied perks in the future!!

Do I claim this compensation via Virgin?

It's done via the Virgin Atlantic website http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/tr ... -form.html

Thanks!

What is the "Claims Management Company" info that they ask for in the first section of that page?

I've seen adverts for companies that will handle an EU claim for you, for a (hefty) percentage of the money awarded. Do I need one of these companies? Maybe that's what that section is for.


cheers

Thanks!

What is the "Claims Management Company" info that they ask for in the first section of that page?

I've seen adverts for companies that will handle an EU claim for you, for a (hefty) percentage of the money awarded. Do I need one of these companies? Maybe that's what that section is for.


cheers

That's the form a claims management company uses

You need this one below

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/tr ... laims.html

Thanks Penny_L!

I have entered my EU credit request, and it will be interesting to see how long it takes.

There are plenty of websites with info about the rules and claiming etc, but just in case VS try and wriggle out if the claim here's a link to a document with the actual text of the regulations from the EU Parliament: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html? ... format=PDF
for you to quote if necessary.