V-Flyer

Hello , Im hoping for some advice before I contact virgin.
They have cancelled my Vegas flight on 18th December and rebooked me on 19th .
I have already booked my hotel, car park and hire car .
Are they liable for any extra costs for rebooking or do I claim on my insurance?
I would just like some information before I contact them , knowing my rights etc.

Hello, welcome to V-Flyer

There's quite a lot of indirect options that they could potentially rebook you on for the same day - however they would all depart from LHR. This could cover the hotel and hire car issues.
If that doesn't suit, your travel insurance should be able to cover the additional expenses for rebooking.

Hi,
Given how much notice Virgin have given you, you don't really have any chance of getting anything from them., unless you wanted a full refund and to rebook yourself through another carrier.
If you've prepaid, and aren't able to change your hotel/car etc, then it is the travel insurance route I am afraid.
Neil

Airlines are never liable for incidental expenses incurred by delays & cancellations. That's precisely what travel insurance is for.

Only if the flight had been cancelled within 14 days of departure would VS have been liable for compensation under EC261/2004 (and even then assuming it wasn't due to "extraordinary circumstances"). This far out all they have to do is offer to rebook you or refund you if you decide not to fly.

jwlewis wrote:Hello , Im hoping for some advice before I contact virgin.
They have cancelled my Vegas flight on 18th December and rebooked me on 19th .
I have already booked my hotel, car park and hire car .
Are they liable for any extra costs for rebooking or do I claim on my insurance?
I would just like some information before I contact them , knowing my rights etc.

Nope, they are not liable for anything - especially this far out.
Best to contact the hotel, car park & hire to see if you can swap/change.
Even if you have to pay it fee, it will still probably work out less than your Travel insurance excess.

More than 14 days ahead airlines basically have license to screw their customers travel plans. Good innit?

To reiterate that VS are not responsible for the 'consequential' costs so that your travel insurance (assuming you have a policy and it covers this sort of thing as many policies don't) or self insure.


BEFORE you contact VS look at other options that would work for you - these could include

(a) cancellation and full refund (as per EU261 rights) and rebook on another carrier which would leave your hote; / car hire in place.
(b) other, indirect but reasonable routes - e.g. VS LHR to JFK then DL to LAS or VS to SFO then DL to LAS. They won't rebook you on another carrier.
(c) checking if your hotel / care hire people are willing to move your booking or notify them you will be arriving a day later - this far out they may be willing to do this.

Same thing happened to me last year with my flight home from Chicago. VS were adamant over the phone that I was entitled to no form of compensation but when I emailed and complained about the additional expenses they were very generous with miles in compensation, I think it was about 12.5k miles each

If it suits you better then you could ask to be 'bumped' back to the flight on the 17th (or 16th) and have an extra day (or two) out there but I assume from the flight prices on 17th versus 19th that by default they are filling up the lighter loaded 19th flight instead of the heavier loaded 17th flight when they cancelled the 18th flight.

Based purely on the couple of experiences I have had, hotels / car hire etc rarely charge change fees for extending a booking beyond just the daily rate for the extra day(s) and as you are having the extra day(s) it doesn't fell so bad paying for that!

Just for info, I too had my flight cancelled back from Vegas for Sunday 15th January 2017 and they informed me by text on 27th May. They automatically put me (and three others in my party) onto the Monday 16th flight and suggested to call them if we needed further assistance. We frantically confirmed that grandparents were happy to have the children for an extra day and night and looked to book an extra night in Vegas . We did consider in-direct options back via LAX - LHR and Virgin confirmed they could do it although we would have to pick up the internal flight charge(Southwest approx. £60 each). In the end, we decided to stay an extra night but we would be liable for about £600 of accommodation and internal flight costs, as well as spending money to consider, so not best pleased. On checking my booking last week, I have noticed that the Sunday 15th flight has been reinstated and we have moved back onto that without been notified!!!!

That's a bit worrying, you could so easily have rocked up on the 16th for your return flight....