Refund Calculation

In September I missed my connecting VS ATL-LHR flight due to the late arrival of my DL flight. When I got to ATL I was placed on the DL30 but was involuntarily downgraded from business to economy. As you can imagine I was unhappy with the downgrade but at least I was getting home and not have to spend the night at ATL.

Arriving back in the U.K. I contacted VS customer service who passed on my details to the refund department. 9 weeks later I have finally received a refund of the difference in cost from the business class to economy.

I'm slightly confused with amount I have been refunded £82.74. Is that the only difference between economy and business on the ATL-LHR sector? It would cost me significantly more if I was to pay to upgrade from economy to business.

Does this sound right? Involuntary downgrade and I am paid £82.74?

It might be correct in the sense that it is difference in price - others will know more than me.

But what you might want is compensation for the loss of service, rather than a contractual refund of the difference in price. Obviously not the same thing, but very often companies will offer this hoping the customer will accept.

I recently flew overnight UC LHR to HKG on a broken seat - no recline of any kind and no other seat in UC or PE. I was offered an Economy seat and a refund of the price difference (which for various reasons was'nt that much). Instead I pursued the compensation for loss of service route and got £400 in Virgin vouchers. I'm not a serial complainer or fan of the compensation culture, but that's different from not getting what you paid for.

Didn't DL give you anything for the downgrade at ATL?

Didn't DL give you anything for the downgrade at ATL?

I'm afraid not, I ran from the inbound flight to the outbound Delta flight. The gate agent basically pushed me on the plane and closed the door.

VS has told that me that because the flight was on DL metal, DL would be responsible for deciding if they wanted to compensate me for the downgrade. 9 weeks later I've heard nothing from them despite VS telling me they have escalated the matter.

I suppose that even though my original flight was on a VS flight and my ticket was booked through VS, EU 261/2004 doesn't apply as I ended up on a US carrier.

Who would be the best person to escalate the matter from VS?

Move on is the only advice I would offer.

correct on the EU261 angle as this was a DL flight into the EU it does not apply as it is the operating carrier that matters.

However there are US Dept Transportation rules that come into play.

Just for info even under EU261 you would likely get very little as recent rulings state it is % of the fare for the sector not including the fees and taxes and on a multi sector trip the fare for each sector can be very little indeed.