Reward Ticket Schedule Change & Options

Hi Guys

I booked a reward ticket for friend in Premium using 10k of Miles for a Y Reward and then upgraded it using the AMEX Voucher. Basically we travel together in Upper LHR-BOS and then he returns in Premium on his own and I stay out there for another week or so.

We travel in March 19 and booked it in April 18. It was booked using my Flying Club miles for my friend and we are both authorised on the booking with both of our contact details listed.

Apparently in July there was a schedule change cancelling the VS12 return and moving my friend 24hours earlier.

Neither of us received that schedule change notification.

VS have offered the following options
Fly in Premium the previous day. (Means cutting a 4 day trip to a 3 day trip for my friend)
Fly in DL Y on the day he should have flown back.
Fly in Premium the next day. (Not possible due to childcare, and I have plans that would mean he would end up sitting at BOS for hours with nothing to do).

I spend several hours on the phone last night, and I found VS really frustrating and showing very little customer service from them regarding this situation. The fact that they didnt notify us seems to be irrelevant. They, and it was the advisers fault, initially offered an upgrade to DL One on the original day of travel, which I snapped up, then she rang ticketing and realised she had promised the earth and then was unable to deliver it so there was quite an embarrassing climb down for her.

They refused to allow me to speak to a manager, refused to sort out at least an extra leg room ticket on DL, Refused to sort out DL Comfort + and refused on the justification that it was a reward ticket, to rebook him onto another carrier. There is a BA flight at 2130, which was the time of the original flight, but they aren't willing to do that, apparently if it was a revenue booking they would consider it.

I'm pretty annoyed, as someone who actively promotes their brand and acts as an advocate for them, being treated like this is frustrating, and personally very disappointing. I channel money into FlyingClub to earn the miles so its a bit galling to be made to feel like a second class citizen as I have chosen to use them. Its also annoying, as my friend has two kids, and so isn't readily able to travel in premium cabins when he goes away, so this was a real treat from me to him.

What's peoples thoughts here on what VS should/could do?

There's an absolute world of difference between what they could/should/would do.

At the end of the day Virgin will only do what they are required to by regulations. It's highly unlikely you'll get more out of them than they have already offered with 5 months of notice no matter how irritating this is for you :(

That basically boils down to not a whole lot since they have given more than 14 days notice. You have been offered a choice of downgrade (with presumably a corresponding fare difference refund but NOT compensation) or:

(b) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their
final destination at the earliest opportunity; or

(c) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their
final destination at a later date at the passenger's convenience,
subject to availability of seats.

Those are direct quotes from EC261, the bit that's catching you out is "comparable transport conditions" this particular phrase is untested and the carriers are interpreting it to mean 'on their own metal' while you and I might think it means in a similar cabin on another carrier. Unless you are willing to test this in court you won't get much movement from the airline.

It sucks, it shouldn't happen but it does. I hope you find a decent solution.

A similar thing happened to me a couple of years back when I was travelling to DXB on a reward Y ticket upgraded to premium with Amex. I wasn’t notified that they had put me on the flight the day before as apparently they had cancelled the original Flight! Which was hard to believe as it was the week of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.Originally I thought I had booked the wrong date by mistake and the wrong hotel dates but when I checked the original paperwork I hadn’t . When I phoned them the week before the flight to see what had happened they said the flight was no longer available on the original date and I had been booked on the previous days flight at no additional cost! Advised them that I had not been notified of the change and what would have happened if I turned up on the original date? They told me I would have missed my flight! Also asked if I would be compensated for the additional nights accommodation I would now have to pay for ,they basically told me that they have done what they legally had to do and I got the transfer for nothing. As you can imagine I was not too impressed.

Thanks for the responses guys.

Kev, I was also told that the transfer to the DL Flight in Y would be at no extra charge and that "we will sort that out for you" as if they were doing me a favour, I said that far from it, I want the difference back in taxes between PE and Y reward fees and my Amex Voucher.

This all being said, after many many arguments with VS and me continuing to push, I have managed to get them to book him on the 1925 DL flight to JFK and then in Premium on VS from JFK to LHR. Although this was a really really big effort.

I have to say, that the initial advisor I spoke to, despite her being incorrect and promising too much about the Upgrade to DL One was actually really really good at customer service, and her ability to "handle" me was fantastic and try and emphasise was really good. I spoke to a team leader that evening, who was terrible, stroppy and miserable, but the guy who rang me back, the night shift Team Leader was fantastic and bent over backwards despite it being outside of policy. I have actually shot an email off to Crawley Towers about him as he restored my faith in VS.

Whats really annoying is that if this was me, I am senior enough and flexible enough to decide my own annual leave, and personally have enough funds to change and alter hotels and things, whereas for my friend, he's restricted by leave, and days he needs for child care and this was a real treat, so I am actually really glad that eventually VS saw fit to do the right thing even if it cost them a bit more to re-route him via JFK, longer term its probably sold me on why VS are still heads and shoulders above anyone else!

Also, the chap I spoke to last night, I did vent my frustration that I was being treated like a second class citizen because I was on a reward booking, and he's assured me, and I see fit to believe him as we were having quite a frank discussion and he was honest about a number of elements of VS policy, both good and bad, that even if this had been a full fare W class ticket, the same would have applied and they wouldn't have seen the JFK reroute as an option.

Glad to hear you got it sorted in the end and well done for persevering when many others would have probably given up.

Regardless of the result, I must say that it's a poor show to go 3 months without you being notified of the change. To some (such as you and your friend), a change like that is a big deal. I've been fortunate that VS have always notified me whenever a flight has been changed or cancelled/re-booked and luckily in sufficient time to make changes to my plans to suit.

It was also unfortunate that the agent who you dealt with overpromised at first, so hopefully that mistake won't happen again as I would be hacked off if I was overpromised something like that. Hopefully this experience filters back into the staff training.