Refund Status

Hi all! As a regular VS flyer I have been lurking in the background here for many years gaining vital information from other posters during that time. However, during this uncertain era I thought it's my turn to ask an important question for myself and others.
What is the current wait time to receive the full refund for cancelled holiday and flights? I was informed upto 90 days originally by VS staff back on April 15th, has anybody received theirs sooner than the advised 90 days? Our VH holiday and VS flights were cancelled by Virgin Holidays just 4 days before due departure, so no insurance company involved. Thank you in advance for any help.

Hi,
Welcome to V-Flyer.
To put some persepctive on your question, my flight was cancelled on March 27th, also with the 90 days refund of payment comment.
Although, subsequent chase via textsays possibly now 100 days.
To date, I still havent received it and expect it around end June....Fingers crossed.
I haven't heard of anyone having any earlier payments.
So, sit tight.
IF, VS do go under ( I hope not) the next course of action is via ABTA (for the VH part of the booking) or Section 75 claim to your credit card company.
Sorry that's the only info that I can give.

I haven't heard of anyone receiving a refund as yet.

I too had a cancelled flight in April (so a bit later than some!). I was told 2-3 weeks to receive an email acknowledgement from refunds team and 90 days for refund.

A relative of mine (who was a week or so ahead of me) has received the acknowledgement email but not the money.

I have just chased them up today for the email at least with the hope that VS will start to refund monies soon.

I want VS to survive and really hope I don't have to go down the section 75 credit card option. I think a lot of people have already been forced down this route because they needed the money back sooner.....I am guessing this doesnt help Virgin's situation much......all a bit of a vicious circle!

Hi

We were supposed to fly next Wednesday from man to mco on points but obviously it was cancelled a couple of weeks ago and managed to get in touch with flying club and changed it to the end of September. ( Fingers firmly crossed ). We had pre paid car rental with Virgin Hoildays. Got an email from them saying that they had cancelled the car hire and offered either a voucher plus 4000 air miles or a refund if I filled a form in. So decided for a refund as probably won’t need a car now in September. Filled in form and it advised that they would get in touch. Received another email yesterday from VH and thought great they have processed my claim . Well I was right but it stated “ I had cancelled the holiday” and the cancellation charge was the full amount I had paid them so the refund balance was nil!! If I had any queries please phone this number...... Tried phoning the number and got a message saying Virgin Holidays is closed.

The only possible advice I can give is that we had booked our Vegas car rental through Virgin Holidays, they called us a few days before departure saying due to the Covid-19 situation it would be cancelling the car rental, booked for 22nd March.

We got an e-mail straight away outlining the refund, no voucher just saying we would be refunded the full amount £193, not a lot in the scheme of things but enough. Waited till the end of April and decided to do it through Amex on the section 75, they did not want any other information or proof e-mail, they refunded the full amount next day and said they would persue VH for the amount if they could not get it from them would charge it back to our account, so far so good. Linda

Hi

We were supposed to fly next Wednesday from man to mco on points but obviously it was cancelled a couple of weeks ago and managed to get in touch with flying club and changed it to the end of September. ( Fingers firmly crossed ). We had pre paid car rental with Virgin Hoildays. Got an email from them saying that they had cancelled the car hire and offered either a voucher plus 4000 air miles or a refund if I filled a form in. So decided for a refund as probably won’t need a car now in September. Filled in form and it advised that they would get in touch. Received another email yesterday from VH and thought great they have processed my claim . Well I was right but it stated “ I had cancelled the holiday” and the cancellation charge was the full amount I had paid them so the refund balance was nil!! If I had any queries please phone this number...... Tried phoning the number and got a message saying Virgin Holidays is closed.

This is poor. They are clearly desperate for cash but these kind of tactics are out of order.

By the way, for the first time ever I recently visited Orlando without hiring a car. I simply used Lyft whenever I needed a ride, I avoided $s in car parking charges and car hire fees (plus all the hassle of hiring a car and declining upsells etc). Overall saving for 2 weeks was $500 although I was staying at the Hard Rock which charges a fortune in car parking fees.

Can anyone advise

If Virgin go under and I’m still waiting for a refund will Section 75 cover me if I booked via a travel agent? It’s a flight only booking booked via a online travel agent.

Also I have an outstanding flying club points booking for September, if VS go under will I be able to claim the taxes paid back via section 75?

I had flights booked for August which I cancelled on 16th March when sorting out our return from the US that week. These was booked on points and these were recredited immediately and I received an acknowledgement email on 9th April re refund of the taxes etc. Since then I have heard nothing further and the refund is still awaited.

Can anyone advise

If Virgin go under and I’m still waiting for a refund will Section 75 cover me if I booked via a travel agent? It’s a flight only booking booked via a online travel agent.

Also I have an outstanding flying club points booking for September, if VS go under will I be able to claim the taxes paid back via section 75?

The second question is easy - yes, as long as you paid VS direct with a credit card and it was over £100.

The first is trickier. Check your credit card statement. Who actually processed the payment? If it was VS, you’ll be fine. If it was the agent they’d be VS’s debtor, not you, so you’d have to hope they get the money back from the administrators and pass it on.

But realistically they probably wouldn’t, in which case you’d have to rely on your travel insurance as long as it covers you for scheduled airline failure due to a pandemic.

Can anyone advise

If Virgin go under and I’m still waiting for a refund will Section 75 cover me if I booked via a travel agent? It’s a flight only booking booked via a online travel agent.

Also I have an outstanding flying club points booking for September, if VS go under will I be able to claim the taxes paid back via section 75?

The second question is easy - yes, as long as you paid VS direct with a credit card and it was over £100.

The first is trickier. Check your credit card statement. Who actually processed the payment? If it was VS, you’ll be fine. If it was the agent they’d be VS’s debtor, not you, so you’d have to hope they get the money back from the administrators and pass it on.

But realistically they probably wouldn’t, in which case you’d have to rely on your travel insurance as long as it covers you for scheduled airline failure due to a pandemic.

Thanks Gumshoe yeah the points booking is direct with VS and on credit card so that’s okay.

As for the other flights the credit card payment goes to the Travel Agent and not Virgin.

Looking at my travel insurance no where does it mention pandemic or epidemic it just says under scheduled airline failure im covered so long as the threat of insolvency wasn’t public knowledge at the date the policy was purchased & the trip was booked. The policy was bought in December and flights booked early January, at that stage it wasn’t knowledge this could lead to the failure of VS so I would say that should cover me?

It should do.

But many insurers are making you go down the credit card chargeback/Section 75 route first so be prepared for a fight if the worst happens.

We were due to fly to Orlando on 20th March so I applied for our refund right at the beginning of this . I didn't have a problem with being offered a refund and was told it might take up to 90 days for it to be processed. I then had an e mail after about 1 month which said they had received our request for a refund but no date for when I would receive it but gave me a reference number in case I need to speak to anyone and I e- mailed last week to check the progress but have not had a reply as yet.
We also had car hire with virgin holidays and they rang me to advise it had been cancelled and would be refunded but didn't give a timescale. I have had a couple of e mails from virgin holidays saying they are sorry about the delay but are working hard to get through all the refunds.
So far we haven't had a refund from either of these and I haven't heard of anyone else getting one either.
We had also boosted our miles for this trip and we were refunded for these within 24 hour of applying for this and given a phone call to check this had happened.

This is reading to be quite disturbing now. Especially for people whose trips were cancelled back in March! Do you really think they will make people wait right up to the 90 days before repaying their owed money? I paid my whole trip with VH including VA flights on a monthly debit from my Visa debit bank card, will the banks not refund any earlier? I was planning to rebook with Virgin later when things were calmed down, but unfortunately I am losing all faith and trust in them now, so will be looking to book with someone else now come October. Such a shame as I have been using them loyally for over 20 years. But I suppose loyalty means nothing to them anymore in the scope of things.

Its also very worrying that VS have announced the launch of next summers flying which will go on sale this weekend. Is this to raise cash for refunding the thousands who are still waiting? or will it be ring fenced to provide some sort of guarantee to those who trust them enough to book. Surely the airline is basically insolvent as it can't pay the money it owes to those of us who paid up for flights last year. Its all well and good charging for seats ,bags, overweight bags on the spot and up front but how would airlines react if we said " we will fly now and pay up in 90 days" its not right .I if you can't pay people what is owed, please don't take more money when your position is extremely precarious.

This was sent from VS trade last week as clearly travel agents are struggling with VS related issues too;

Virgin Atlantic has heard from several members of the travel agency community concerning our ticket refund policy during the COVID-19 caused downturn in the travel industry. We understand your concerns and would like to help ease your worries about the potential for increased chargebacks, associated debit memos, and the resulting impact it could have on businesses.
When Virgin Atlantic receives a chargeback, we do not immediately send a debit memo to the travel agency. First, we thoroughly review all credit card chargebacks from direct and indirect sales channels; then we provide the issuing banks with supporting documentation to prove the validity of the charge. In the vast majority of cases, we would only issue a debit memo when this chargeback process has been completed. This process typically takes up to 20-45 days from the date of receipt of the chargeback.

Key items to note:
If a chargeback is related to a ticket (refundable or non-refundable) on a cancelled flight, Virgin Atlantic will accept it as a refund and will not issue a debit memo to the associated travel agency.
Virgin Atlantic is in constant communication with card issuers to ensure that chargebacks related to non-refundable tickets on operated flights are resolved in our favour. We are closely monitoring these types of chargebacks and associated win rates.
Thank you for sharing your concerns during these unprecedented times. We have the interests of our travel agency partners and customers at the heart of everything we do.

Has anybody applied for or received their refund, without insurance, from their bank using the Visa Chargeback service for Debit Card payments? This is separate from the section 75 system for credit cards. Visa Chargeback states a Visa Debit card refund will be issued if a payee (Virgin Atlantic/Holidays) does not provide the payed goods or service (flights/holiday) that were purchased in good faith using your bank issued Visa Debit card. Worth looking into if Virgin are dragging their heels with issuing refunds themselves, although ultimately I think this may have to be the route to take now.

[mitchja]

Has anybody applied for or received their refund, without insurance, from their bank using the Visa Chargeback service for Debit Card payments? This is separate from the section 75 system for credit cards. Visa Chargeback states a Visa Debit card refund will be issued if a payee (Virgin Atlantic/Holidays) does not provide the payed goods or service (flights/holiday) that were purchased in good faith using your bank issued Visa Debit card. Worth looking into if Virgin are dragging their heels with issuing refunds themselves, although ultimately I think this may have to be the route to take now.

The only issue with the chargeback system (which as you say is different to a section 75 claim) is that is can only be done up to 120 days after the purchase was initially made. It's worth noting that a chargeback claim can also be requested on both debit cards and credit cards.

Unfortunately in the case of flights and holidays, it's often going to be longer than 120 days ago when people booked them.

One advantage though is that the chargeback system does cover bookings made via intermediate travel agents etc whereas a section 75 claim doesn't (without a fight).

The only issue with the chargeback system is that is can only be done up to 120 days after the purchase was initially made.

In general, yes.

But according to moneysavingexpert:

Collapsed company: You book a flight or trip with a firm that then goes bust before you take it. The deadline starts from the date the flight was due to take off or the holiday to start.

MSE has a comprehensive guide to Chargeback - and to S75 which, as mentioned, offers much stronger protection if you paid by credit card.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopp ... hargeback/

Interesting survey of the best and worst travel firms for refunds.

VS and VH aren’t right at the bottom but they certainly have nothing to celebrate.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/ ... y-results/

Interesting survey of the best and worst travel firms for refunds.

VS and VH aren’t right at the bottom but they certainly have nothing to celebrate.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/ ... y-results/

I feel like the way that survey was conducted is somewhat skewed.

I certainly don't agree with BA's position!

Interesting survey of the best and worst travel firms for refunds.

VS and VH aren’t right at the bottom but they certainly have nothing to celebrate.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/ ... y-results/

I feel like the way that survey was conducted is somewhat skewed.

I certainly don't agree with BA's position!

With all due respect to the likes of Travel Counsellors and Hays Travel, I'm not sure they can be compared to airlines or package holiday firms. I don't know how it works, but in these sort of cancellations I presume agents immediately refund the customer and then battle separately with hotels/airlines/car hire firms etc. to get the money back that they paid back to the customer?

With all due respect to the likes of Travel Counsellors and Hays Travel, I'm not sure they can be compared to airlines or package holiday firms. I don't know how it works, but in these sort of cancellations I presume agents immediately refund the customer and then battle separately with hotels/airlines/car hire firms etc. to get the money back that they paid back to the customer?

I'm sure some who have the liquid cash could do that, I believe most are only refunding after refund/cancelation from the airline comes through.

I feel like the way that survey was conducted is somewhat skewed.

I certainly don't agree with BA's position!

Have you had an issue with a refund from BA, most hitting account in a matter of days? Though 'complex' booking taking far longer as they are processed in India and weren't touched while the office over there was closed!

Interesting survey of the best and worst travel firms for refunds.

VS and VH aren’t right at the bottom but they certainly have nothing to celebrate.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/ ... y-results/

I feel like the way that survey was conducted is somewhat skewed.

I certainly don't agree with BA's position!

With all due respect to the likes of Travel Counsellors and Hays Travel, I'm not sure they can be compared to airlines or package holiday firms. I don't know how it works, but in these sort of cancellations I presume agents immediately refund the customer and then battle separately with hotels/airlines/car hire firms etc. to get the money back that they paid back to the customer?

When I was a travel agent we used to do exactly that.

I know many travel agents place monies in a "trust" before travel takes place, so could explain why some have ability to access clients money.

I think such a low score is a reflection of its non existent customer service, as opposed to actual refunds. I do understand they must be overwhelmed with enquiries at this time, but to just blatantly ignore people who placed their money, trust and dreams with them is unforgivable. I for one will remember how they have ignored and wronged us when it eventually comes to rebooking. Never again.

I know many travel agents place monies in a "trust" before travel takes place, so could explain why some have ability to access clients money.

Trailfinders definitely do this - all client money is held in escrow until after travel has taken place & they [Trailfinders] have been invoiced by the supplier(s). My parents received a very prompt refund from Trailfinders for a trip they had to cut short in early February.