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#959410 by calmdave
05 Feb 2021, 13:10
During the last sale I snaffled 2 UC reward flights at low miles for April 2021 flights. They will no doubt shortly be cancelled and I will be asked to re-book at a later date.

I appreciate I will have have to wait for UC reward availability in 2022 (I have decided to delay for a year) but my question is this...

Because I purchased in the sale (2 x UC for 100k points) will Virgin want to charge me more points to re-book them? Or do they honour the original points 'paid' and simply move them with no fuss?
#959539 by David
13 Feb 2021, 09:03
calmdave wrote:Spoke to Virgin tonight. Bad news.

Quote:
"We aren't able to honour sale prices I'm afraid, so extra points would be needed to rebook into the same season"


Was that as a result of you wanting to move it or them ?

Thanks

David
#959541 by Kevshev
13 Feb 2021, 12:48
I would personally wait till they cancel the flight you may have more leverage. I am in the same boat. Due to fly end of April looks like it will be the third time I will have to reschedule. I think the main problem is there is extremely limited to nil availability for reward flights after August from Manchester to MCO direct at least and indirect it is more expensive and more points. After the first cancellation we were coming back via Atlanta and changing to direct .We were not offered a refund on reduction on taxes . However they did refund the points. Second time I rescheduled they charged us for the extra taxes as they had gone up! I think it depends who you talk to in the call center and if you are not happy politely query what they are saying as I think they are trying to get away with as much as they can still.
#959572 by Nottingham Nick
16 Feb 2021, 09:40
Welcome to V-Flyer.

Reward seats start to appear roughly 330 days (11 months) before departure, so none will be available for February 2022 until into March.
They don't always appear at this time, and there is not set pattern to their release (or not) - the trick is is keep checking regularly, and then when they are released for your date and class of travel- grab them.

Nick
#959585 by blindman65
17 Feb 2021, 15:50
Kevshev wrote:I would personally wait till they cancel the flight you may have more leverage. I am in the same boat. Due to fly end of April looks like it will be the third time I will have to reschedule. I think the main problem is there is extremely limited to nil availability for reward flights after August from Manchester to MCO direct at least and indirect it is more expensive and more points. After the first cancellation we were coming back via Atlanta and changing to direct .We were not offered a refund on reduction on taxes . However they did refund the points. Second time I rescheduled they charged us for the extra taxes as they had gone up! I think it depends who you talk to in the call center and if you are not happy politely query what they are saying as I think they are trying to get away with as much as they can still.


The lack of reward availability is their problem not yours-unless all the seats are sold.

I would expect RyanAir to pull this kind of low trick in that the airline cancels the flight and expects YOU to pay the difference to reschedule, or states there are no more seats left at that price bucket.

I would either hang up and call again or ask for a supervisor to clarify why you as the customer are being penalised for their problem.

I have a reward light to Joburg in August-(bought in the half price sale) so will keep an eye on this thread for any updates.
#959700 by Always after a deal
24 Feb 2021, 11:38
Hi I also have 4 upper class return tickets bought in the 50% sale leaving for Atlanta on 15th May, as this is now going to be still illegal to go on holiday at this point and no chance we could actually enter America, I was wondering what to do and what others had managed to do with their seats. I was thinking of moving them to the beginning of November but there does not seem to be any upper class available for Atlanta at that time. Also I suspect that the flight will not get cancelled for the 15th May, so what do you think Virgin will do with my tickets, what has happened to others. Any help greatly appreciated.
#959713 by roadrunner
24 Feb 2021, 22:08
Following-- looks like we are shut out traveling US to UK late April in order to use last year's points tix. Did a UC upgrade on a special and doubt that will be honored again. VS direct Boston-LHR flights are scheduled to re-start early March but it's looking very doubtful. Feeling a bit miffed that in order to use those tix after patiently waiting many months, will likely be far more costly to fly once the route restarts.
I do think VS should honor those tix which were rolled over and for which they did not have to issue refund.
#959752 by blindman65
27 Feb 2021, 14:59
roadrunner wrote:Following-- looks like we are shut out traveling US to UK late April in order to use last year's points tix. Did a UC upgrade on a special and doubt that will be honored again. VS direct Boston-LHR flights are scheduled to re-start early March but it's looking very doubtful. Feeling a bit miffed that in order to use those tix after patiently waiting many months, will likely be far more costly to fly once the route restarts.
I do think VS should honor those tix which were rolled over and for which they did not have to issue refund.



If VS cancel then I’d advise you push EU261 with them - there is a legal duty which allows you to rebook at a convenient time for you which effectively voids their free rebooking promise.

Don't let them con you!
#960270 by calmdave
27 Mar 2021, 22:17
Just to complete this thread. Virgin cancelled my flights. It did not give me 'extra leverage' when it came to re-booking. They refused to honour the points I had spent booking 2 x UC during the sale. Finally they offered me a bribe not to have cash refund of the £1200 taxes etc - they offered me 180,000 miles in lieu of having the cash

I declined. Got my original points back into my FC account - still waiting for the cash refund to hit my card
#960278 by Murraymint
28 Mar 2021, 13:39
I had 2 Return UC Reward tickets booked in the 50% sale for MAN- MCO in April. That flight was cancelled last week as expected. When I phoned, I was told that they could rebook the ticket but the 50% would not be honoured and I would need to spend the extra miles. He wanted to change the ticket to an Open Ticket and when I asked if there were any incentives for doing this, he said no. I pressed him and he went away to speak to someone and eventually came back with a choice of Companion Voucher, Upgrade Voucher or Lounge access. I chose the Companion Voucher and he said he would apply it to my account as the next trip I was planning was not until February 22.
I called today as I wanted to slightly change the trip as we are picking up a cruise in Fort Lauderdale so wanted to do MAN- ATL-FLL, do the cruise then drive up to MCO for a week and return to MAN from there. This time the agent confirmed the 50% restriction (i.e.couldn’t have it) but to my surprise told me that there was no voucher on my account as had been promised last week! To his credit he immediately applied it without question but said I would need to wait until Monday for it to be activated. Additionally, I am unable to apply the voucher where the flight or part thereof is not on VS direct metal so the leg from ATL-FLL on Delta means I can’t use it. Also there are no reward seats coming up for MCO-MAN as others have pointed out. The agent says he has never seen so few available. So, I ended up changing the Open Ticket to a MAN-ATL return (I can use the voucher and be no worse off) and I’ll book a separate ATL-FLL flight later. I can also change the return leg to MCO-MAN if reward seats become available.
I notice that the flight is now showing on my account (no additional miles or taxes taken) so either the voucher went live and the agent completed it or it’s just a placeholder- I’ll call tomorrow to check as I haven’t had an email confirmation yet.
There also seems to be an IT glitch just now as the agent, his manager and ticketing are all having problems booking connecting flights.
#960280 by blindman65
28 Mar 2021, 16:12
Murraymint wrote:I had 2 Return UC Reward tickets booked in the 50% sale for MAN- MCO in April. That flight was cancelled last week as expected. When I phoned, I was told that they could rebook the ticket but the 50% would not be honoured and I would need to spend the extra miles.


I think you should have read your rights under EC261 as you have been denied them!
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