Have Virgin Atlantic made a mistake?

Hello all,

I conveniently found this site yesterday when I was searching for other people who have experienced the issue I have with Virgin Atlantic and was wondering if someone may be able to provide some clarity please.

I and seven of my friends and family have booked to fly to Las Vegas on Wednesday 29th March 2017 to celebrate my 30th birthday, having booked back in August. We were due to fly out of LGW on VS951. We then all received an email on Saturday (17th December) stating that our flight time had had a 'minor' change from 9AM to 10:30AM. We are now flying on VS43. This is inconvenient for a few reasons that I won't bore you with, but most annoying is the fact that the seats we had paid extra to reserve are no longer reserved for us, and are no longer available. We had booked some of the economy seats upstairs in The Bubble and would never have paid extra to reserve different seats, since we know that as Flying Club members, we can choose our seats 72 hours beforehand. I'm told by Virgin that this change can happen, and that it is in the small print. I argue that this is a bit fraudulent - since, obviously, I would have a seat booked, and to take more money off me for something they can't guarantee is a raffle with the odds stacked in Virgin's favour. I have spoken with Virgin Atlantic and they have agreed to refund the cost of our seat booking and I also have the option of a refund for the booking, if I wish to do that (I booked through Expedia). Unfortunately, they were unable to tell me the reason for the change in the flight time. I'm currently undecided on my next action.

I'm a fairly frequent fly-er and, despite not thinking too much of it at the time, I now realise that the flight number VS951 is quite unusual. This led me to have a Google and I found some posts on this very site, here:

http://v-flyer.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=291596

And somewhat more significantly, here:

http://v-flyer.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=293368&p=923111&hilit=VS951#p923111

The source of the quote provided by mitchja is here:

https://blog.virginatlantic.com/varadero/

This has made me wonder if the fact that we were ever able to book seats on VS951 was a mistake on Virgin Atlantic's part. Wednesday 29th March is the last Wednesday in March and I wonder if it was shown as available a week too early? Has anyone had any experience of this? Perhaps I'm just unlucky (and a bit paranoid!) but I have been suspicious about this flight for a while. Another friend tried to book onto either VS951 or VS43 last week to fly out with us, but both flights showed as 'sold out' (this was also confirmed when we called) and I find this really unlikely (they're now booked on the BA flight out of LHR). I have considered that perhaps they did not sell enough seats to warrant both flights flying that day - especially since Saturday marked 100 days before we're due to fly and perhaps that was their target - and so they've merged the two together. This is a plausible option, more so than my first theory, but I would hope they would just admit that if that was the case!

I'd appreciate any guidance you can offer on this. It may not seem a big deal to others, but I'm really disappointed, and need to decide what to do.

Many thanks,
Katie

welcome to v-flyer

Airlines can and do change schedules. They rarely give reasons why a flight might change it's time or be consolidated as it's regarded as 'commercial in confidence' information.

The fact that both flights had been zeroed out from sale is a classic sign that they are in the process of cancelling / merging two of them. Once they have completed the process they will reopen bookings for the flight that actually operates.

Yes this is annoying but there is nothing you can do about it.

You've already stated the options open to you so it's down to you to decide what you want to do and what is best for you and your family.

Thank you for your reply, Tontybear.

So you don't think that the fact that Virgin had stated elsewhere that they were only going to operate two flights in April and May is significant? I know they can change their minds. It just feels a bit suspect. Maybe I'm a conspiracy theorist!

No not really. Airlines will always reduce frequency at certain times of year to reflect reduced demand. Don't read too much into it.

Check to see if your catching March Madness.
Lots of good deals, etc. in Vegas on them dates as it swells in numbers due to a month long of basketball tournaments across the US

As for flights.. I would check Delta site & see if they are cheaper. book there & cancel your Experia booking

I'm not on your route, but I am on a merged flight in Feb. to MCO
I originally booked as soon as the flight opened and chose my seats.
Months later they merged the flights and I lost my seats. (and a couple of hours in the CH)
I was very fortunate to be able to get the same seats on the new flight after a call to Flying Club and my call handler getting his supervisor involved.
But when all is said and done it's in the rules, and it happens. (maybe a bit too often)
They are the bit none of us bother to read when we tick the little box to say we have read and agree to them.

Dick D