Covid 19 Thoughts on the likely actions in the weeks to come

From VS trade flying schedule 20th - 27th March

As of 15.30 on Thursday 19 March 2020, our schedule to 27 March 2020 is planned as below but this is subject to change without notice, especially with government restrictions being implemented

LHR - LAX VS23/24
LHR - SFO VS41 20/21 VS42 20/21/22
LHR - JFK VS3/4
LHR - JFK VS25 20/24 VS26 20/23/24/25
LHR - JFK VS137/138 20/21/22/23/24/25
LHR - ATL VS103/104 20/21/22/23/24/25
LHR - HKG VS206/207 20/22/24/27
LHR - JNB VS461/462 20
LHR - JNB VS449/450 20/21/23/24
LHR - LOS VS411/412

LGW - BGI VS29/30
LGW - ANU VS33/34 20/21/24/26/27
LGW - UVFGND VS 89/90 20/23
LGW - UFVTAB VS 97/98 23
LGW - HAV VS63/64 22/26

MAN - BGI VS77/78 20/21/23/27
MAN - ATL VS109/110 20/21

Flying fox thank you for these posts.....would you mind keeping them coming please.

Apologies if this is not the right forum to ask this, but we were due to fly Air Canada to Vancouver next Tuesday. Canada has closed its borders now and even if we wanted to go, we would not be allowed to board the flight at Heathrow. Air Canada are refusing any refund. Is this normal? Am I expected to accept this stance and go through credit card or insurance to get money back. Very frustrating, as all other parts of our holiday have refunded in full, no problem.

As it is government action they should refund...

I have a similar question

Virgin cancelled my MAN-JFK flight and obviously can’t enter the US due to the advice.

Foolishly I booked the tickets via a travel agent who is refusing me a refund and also refusing a date change other than too June?

Apologies if this is not the right forum to ask this, but we were due to fly Air Canada to Vancouver next Tuesday. Canada has closed its borders now and even if we wanted to go, we would not be allowed to board the flight at Heathrow. Air Canada are refusing any refund. Is this normal? Am I expected to accept this stance and go through credit card or insurance to get money back. Very frustrating, as all other parts of our holiday have refunded in full, no problem.

If the flight still operates (and it very likely still will - Canada has only closed its borders to foreign nationals, not Canadians) you are not automatically entitled to a refund I’m afraid.

Air Canada’s policy is to offer a voucher for a future flight in the next 12 months.

I’m not sure the credit card guarantee route will work either, if Air Canada can still honour its side of the contract but you can’t travel.

So given that the FCO is advising against all non-essential foreign travel, claiming against your insurance may be the way forward here.

Having said that, I’d wait until Monday as if AC cancels your flight between now and then you’d be due a full refund.

I have a similar question

Virgin cancelled my MAN-JFK flight and obviously can’t enter the US due to the advice.

Foolishly I booked the tickets via a travel agent who is refusing me a refund and also refusing a date change other than too June?

If VS has cancelled your flight you are legally entitled to a full refund, no matter how hard they or your TA try to persuade you to rebook or accept a future travel voucher.

The agent is, however, entitled to charge an admin fee which should be clearly set out in their T&Cs. That, I’m afraid, is a downside of not booking direct with the airline.

If they still refuse to refund you, assuming you paid by credit card you can lodge a disputed transaction claim with the card issuer and you can get a refund that way.

I successfully cancelled my LHR-LAS flight scheduled for Sat 21st yesterday. I was offered a reschedule but when I said I would prefer a refund there was no trouble or pressure at all.

It took about an hour to get the call answered, and 5 mins to deal with my request. The call handler was very understanding, friendly and calm.

The experience was about as positive as it could have been, considering the circumstances.

Had an email from BA to say my upcoming flights have been cancelled. No surprise there, and there are options to rebook or refund, which is fine too. However, although there’s a form online to rebook, you can only get a refund by calling, which of course just results in a message to call closer to the time. Am I right in thinking I read on here that VS had refunds automatically????

There is - or was - a workaround to the BA issue using Google Chrome: details on headforpoints.

I can only assume they’re deliberately trying to make it as hard as possible to claim a refund and hope most people will take the voucher which, of course, keeps vital cash in the business.

Managed to get through to VS this morning after an hour

Requested a refund for my LAS flight on Mar 24, plus a refund of my Miles Booster charges

No issues with the refund on my flight costs; however, it could take anywhere between 45-90 days to appear on my Amex charge card with a confirmation email taking 10 days (??). They refused a request to transfer to my bank

As for the Miles Booster, no refunds at all but I will get the miles credited to my Flying Club account

Now to try and get some contact with Virgin Holidays to attempt to get a refund or voucher for future car hire. This is proving the most difficult as their ‘phone lines are shut off!

They refused a request to transfer to my bank

The refund must be to the original payment method. Otherwise a fraudster could call up to cancel pretending to be you and request a refund to their bank account.

Just had the email confirming our JNB flight on 26th is cancelled . They have said they will let us know how they are going to get us home . Anyone know which way Virgin are routing people home from JNB?

There is - or was - a workaround to the BA issue using Google Chrome: details on headforpoints.

I can only assume they’re deliberately trying to make it as hard as possible to claim a refund and hope most people will take the voucher which, of course, keeps vital cash in the business.

Quite possibly, though it’s quite irritating if that’s the case. I’ll go and have a look at headforpoints - thanks gumshoe.

Just had the email confirming our JNB flight on 26th is cancelled . They have said they will let us know how they are going to get us home . Anyone know which way Virgin are routing people home from JNB?

The VS449/450 rotation is operating until the 24th, so I would try and move your flight forward.

Otherwise - at a guess - via Lagos? (Assuming you can get there from JNB). That looks like it’ll continue although obviously nothing is guaranteed.

There is - or was - a workaround to the BA issue using Google Chrome: details on headforpoints.

I can only assume they’re deliberately trying to make it as hard as possible to claim a refund and hope most people will take the voucher which, of course, keeps vital cash in the business.

I think it is more that they are doing all this on the hoof giving the fast changing nature of the announcements.

There is - or was - a workaround to the BA issue using Google Chrome: details on headforpoints.

I can only assume they’re deliberately trying to make it as hard as possible to claim a refund and hope most people will take the voucher which, of course, keeps vital cash in the business.

Quite possibly, though it’s quite irritating if that’s the case. I’ll go and have a look at headforpoints - thanks gumshoe.

Mmm, not sure I feel confident to try it out. Firstly, I use safari - I guess it’s easy enough to use chrome, but the hfp article seemed to suggest it was more for flights that were booked using avios. I did use some, but not for the entire flight. And then, trickiest of all, was the stuff about going into JavaScript, or disabling it! Er.... have to admit, I think that’s beyond me! Was interested to see it’s something the Daily Mail had also picked up on.

My flight should have been in four weeks - perhaps my only true option is to wait a few days, or maybe a week, and hope things have become less chaotic....

[mitchja]

A further update from VS giving customers a little bit of an incentive to rebook and complete travel before the end of June, there will be no difference in fare to pay:

If you haven’t travelled yet and have been ticketed before 19th March

you can:

Rebook your travel up to 30 April 2021 subject to availability and any difference in fare. No change fee applicable. If you rebook to finish travel by 30 June 2020, no difference in fare or change fee will be charged.
Reroute your travel to, from or via another destination, up to 30 April 2021. Again, no change fees, but flights are subject to availability and any difference in the fare.
We can only rebook flights up to 331 days in advance. So if you’re looking to fly after that, please wait until flights are available.

Not sure I’d be willing to rebook and travel before the end of June!!

Nigeria has now announced it is restricting entry into the country for travelers from 13 countries including the US and UK from March 20th.

Nigeria will close its two main international airports in the cities of Lagos and Abuja from Monday night, its civil aviation regulator said.

And also Barbados

[mitchja]

MAN will temporarily close T2 and T3 next week leaving just T1 operating

I suspect LHR and LGW will soon also make similar announcements.

Hi a big enthusiast wave from the Delta Sky Club at MCO.
We have checked in for our return to the uk on VS 50 tonight.
The airport was so quiet, no problem with taking car back, straight through security and then onto the Lounge where there are just a handful of other passengers.
Only upset was that the Outback was shut!
Huge thanks to FlyingFox for the info this morning. Once I had read your post about flight numbers, I went onto my booking and saw our details had been updated with the new flight etc.
We are very grateful to be going home and I know Virgin Atlantic worked very hard in the background trying to sort this chaos out. A little bit more updated info on the website would have made all stranded passengers feel better but I understand the situation evolves by the minute.
Best of luck to anyone still struggling to get home.

I've flights booked for the family in August to Florida with Virgin using miles redemption. No immediate plans to cancel, but I have a feeling in my stomach that things won't be back to normal by then (I sincerely hope they are). Aren't I right in thinking that miles redemption cancellations are pretty decent, and any taxes/fees are refunded etc?

Havana & Grenada have now implemented restrictions

GRENADA
Effective 21 March 2020 at 23:59 UTC
Due to the ongoing situation with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) the Government of Grenada has restricted entry into Grenada for all non-nationals who have travelled to China (People’s Rep.), South Korea, Iran, anywhere in Europe (including UK) or United States in the last 14 days.
Any non-national who has been to China (People’s Rep.), South Korea, Iran, anywhere in Europe (including UK) or United States in the last 14 days will not be allowed to travel.
Nationals and residents of Grenada are exempt from the restriction however may be subject to quarantine for 14 days on arrival if they have travelled to China (People’s Rep.), South Korea, Iran, anywhere in Europe (including UK) or United States in the last 14 days.

CUBA
Effective 23 March 2020 at 00.01
From 23 March 2020, due to the ongoing situation with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) the Cuban Government has restricted entry into Cuba. (Havana). These measures affect foreign nationals who are planning to travel there.
From Monday 23 March (midnight) only Cuban nationals and foreign residents will be allowed to enter Cuba and all those arriving will have to stay in quarantine for 14 days.
The Cuban Government has also advised that many facilities will also be restricted such as bars, restaurants and transport services.

Appears VS have cancelled flights to ANU after the 24th...for a few weeks at least