Open Ticket policy

I wondered if anyone could help with these questions please?

We have a 7 night cruise booked in December 2020 and we have a return flight LHR - LAX which was booked with VS independently of the cruise line. I suspect, erring on the side of safety, we will end up cancelling the cruise, which we are able to do until the 30th June without penalty.

Are we able to take advantage of the current Open Ticket policy that VS are offering? If so, does using this open ticket offer keep the existing flights secured as booked but with the ticket becoming ‘open’ enabling changes to be made at any point before scheduled departure? Or is the booked flight cancelled?

[mitchja]

It depends when you booked the flights.

1) Anything booked on or before March 11th 2020, you can currently only re-book to an open status if the flight dates fall between March 1st and May 31st 2020.

2) If you booked the flights after March 12th 2020, then you can re-book to open status if the flights are between March 12th and Dec 31st 2020.

See this page for more details.

As your current flight dates are in December 2020, only option 2 would apply and even then only if you booked after March 12th 2020.

If you booked before that date then up to now, VS are not allowing you to rebook to open status unfortunately.

Once VS process your ticket to the 'open' status any previous flight legs within that booking will get cancelled straight away.

Your booking reference and ticket number will stay the same when you get round to re-booking though.

Many thanks James.

Hi,

I had a Miles Booster in place for my cancelled flight later this month. I know that they would normally post anyway after the scheduled flight time but now that the ticket is “open” and renamed with a different date on it, will they still be posted or will they be delayed until the new flight is arranged and flown?

[mitchja]

Hi,

I had a Miles Booster in place for my cancelled flight later this month. I know that they would normally post anyway after the scheduled flight time but now that the ticket is “open” and renamed with a different date on it, will they still be posted or will they be delayed until the new flight is arranged and flown?

The miles booster transactions are all administered by points.com and not VS, so I don't know what would would actually happen after a cancel and rebook sorry?

Thanks James. It may be that points.com will release the miles on the original date then. I will report back at the end of the month.

Interestingly, when I boosted another flight we have in January 2021, during the last booster offer in March, the boosted miles plus the bonus miles posted in my account the next day. I remember it used to be the case that the bonus miles would be posted straight away, then the booster miles after you’d flown. Then it changed and you got all the miles (boosted, bonus and flown miles) after you’d flown. Guess it’s changed again.

Hi,

I had a Miles Booster in place for my cancelled flight later this month. I know that they would normally post anyway after the scheduled flight time but now that the ticket is “open” and renamed with a different date on it, will they still be posted or will they be delayed until the new flight is arranged and flown?

The miles booster transactions are all administered by points.com and not VS, so I don't know what would would actually happen after a cancel and rebook sorry?

Just to close this off - my original MCO flight was supposed to have been on 25th April which I changed to an open ticket. Got the email this morning to say that my boosted and bonus miles for the original MCO flight had been added to my account (and the account balance does now have them).
Fingers crossed that I get to use them!

Has anyone transferred to an open ticket when miles are involved to upgrade one of the legs?
I'm just wondering if the miles are refunded or held on the open ticket too. I booked PE out UC home on a MAN/LAS flight and used miles to upgrade the outbound to UC.

Also, would the open ticket have the same section 75 protection as the original booking should the worst happen and VS cease trading?

TIA for any advice anyone can offer,

I don't know for sure but imagine so given your original ticket purchase would have been eligible for Section 75. VS are effectively delaying the delivery of that service so would imagine this protection (assuming you originally paid by credit card) still holds.

A question I have after reading the notice on the VS site. It suggests that if you book for travel on the same route departing before Nov20 they will waive any price difference in fares. By extension I worry that post-Nov'20 these open tickets will be worthless when we find ourselves with large fare differences.

Has anyone transferred to an open ticket when miles are involved to upgrade one of the legs?
I'm just wondering if the miles are refunded or held on the open ticket too. I booked PE out UC home on a MAN/LAS flight and used miles to upgrade the outbound to UC.

Yes I had an economy round-trip booked with cash, upgraded to PE with miles both ways, and VS told me my open ticket will still be PE both ways (no miles refunded).

Mark

I don't know for sure but imagine so given your original ticket purchase would have been eligible for Section 75. VS are effectively delaying the delivery of that service so would imagine this protection (assuming you originally paid by credit card) still holds.

A question I have after reading the notice on the VS site. It suggests that if you book for travel on the same route departing before Nov20 they will waive any price difference in fares. By extension I worry that post-Nov'20 these open tickets will be worthless when we find ourselves with large fare differences.

Thanks, was hoping they'd still be protected, I share your concerns about future fares though.

Has anyone transferred to an open ticket when miles are involved to upgrade one of the legs?
I'm just wondering if the miles are refunded or held on the open ticket too. I booked PE out UC home on a MAN/LAS flight and used miles to upgrade the outbound to UC.

Yes I had an economy round-trip booked with cash, upgraded to PE with miles both ways, and VS told me my open ticket will still be PE both ways (no miles refunded).

Mark

Thanks, do you know how this will impact re booking though? Will reward seats have to be available for any new dates we choose? I'm not familiar at all with open tickets and I've searched for info on Virgins website but it seems scarce to say the least. I can't find any T&C's for them.

Has anyone transferred to an open ticket when miles are involved to upgrade one of the legs?
I'm just wondering if the miles are refunded or held on the open ticket too. I booked PE out UC home on a MAN/LAS flight and used miles to upgrade the outbound to UC.

Yes I had an economy round-trip booked with cash, upgraded to PE with miles both ways, and VS told me my open ticket will still be PE both ways (no miles refunded).

Mark

Thanks, do you know how this will impact re booking though? Will reward seats have to be available for any new dates we choose? I'm not familiar at all with open tickets and I've searched for info on Virgins website but it seems scarce to say the least. I can't find any T&C's for them.

The guy didn't say anything about that. I brought up that my ticket had been upgraded with miles and he acknowledged that and said that my open ticket will still be good for PE. But I didn't press him on whether there would need to be award availability. I guess I will find out eventually! (Hopefully!)