Any advice re Heathrow issues

Good morning. My grand daughter was due to fly out of Heathrow tonight. Honeymoon trip to the Maldives. Accommodation booked separately via Virgin hols ( who have been brilliant this morning with communications)

If LHR is operating tomorrow they have been allocated two PE seats. That means VS have downgraded them from UC to PE. They were using upgrade voucher, points and money for their flight.

When speaking to VS customer services helpline earlier, they were told No they cannot now use the UCDC. or the Lounge coz they are not flying Upper Class.

Anyone had experience of being downgraded and privileges of the booked fare being taken away?

Any advice please

It depends on how much a fight you give.
Technically, they can refuse the PE seats and Virgin has to then find alternative seats in the same cabin even if it’s with another airline say BA for example.

That being said; I would just go to the lounge on the day, explain the situation and they should let you in. VS customer service can not confirm or allow you to enter, because if so many people downgraded and still had access to lounge + all regular UC / good members it’s going to reach capacity.
It will depend on the capacity and the FOH at the lounge desk tomorrow

Thank you for replying.

They are accepting the downgrade but as you advised, they will speak to the Lounge reception as soon as they arrive because they are the people who can allow entry or not. Not taking a chance on DTCI

This is an awful situation for the entire aviation world as thousands have been affected one way or another and obviously there are a lot of disappointed travellers.

I would still try DTCI, when you arrive the only ask if you are flying UC and where to, no other details, just say yes.

When you get to the desk explain what happened as it’s your honeymoon and say customer services said DTCI would be ok. If they let you through great, If not they will send you downstairs to check in which you were going to do anyway.

Again ask at the clubhouse as it’s your honeymoon and say customer services said to ask them. They won’t be able to actually check if they did or didn’t say that, a nice smile and reiterate the downgrade on your honeymoon flight. Who knows ?

I would still try DTCI, when you arrive the only ask if you are flying UC and where to, no other details, just say yes.

When you get to the desk explain what happened as it’s your honeymoon and say customer services said DTCI would be ok. If they let you through great, If not they will send you downstairs to check in which you were going to do anyway.

Again ask at the clubhouse as it’s your honeymoon and say customer services said to ask them. They won’t be able to actually check if they did or didn’t say that, a nice smile and reiterate the downgrade on your honeymoon flight. Who knows ?

Thanks for your reply ‘chumba’

Maybe like me you are a longstanding supporter of Virgin Atlantic. However my admiration and opinions of them have gradually diminished over the past few years. I believe they are not the Company they once were.

Here’s an update on my query;-

After initially being informed of their cancelled Friday evening flight, my grand daughter & hubby accepted the first flight available although this meant being downgraded from UC.
They have since had no further communication from VS !

On Saturday this is what happened:

* They were refused DTCI at the barrier.

* At the terminal, they were not allowed to use the UC checkin lane!

* Finally they approached the lounge reception staff on duty. Explained the circumstances but were told firmly as they did not have an UC ticket they could not go into the lounge.

By now my grand daughter was in tears as all their plans and the excitement of flying UC had been quashed. They actually paid to gain access to the lounge!

Now I fully understand that there was nothing Virgin Atlantic or any of the Airlines could have done about the flight cancellations of Friday 21st. However it is more about the manner in which they since handled the situation.. Having downgraded passengers, as a Company they had a choice to show some empathy + common sense and offer some of the services which customers had paid for but they failed miserably.

Virgin Holidays (who booked the honeymoon accommodation) were the exact opposite being extremely supportive and very communicative.

This saga ends well, as the couple are now happily enjoying their honeymoon holiday in the Maldives

I am glad I travelled BA to my holiday destination last week. I am very dissatisfied with VS at present and sadly I honestly don’t think I’m alone.

They took the downgrade. So the perks have gone. If they let them in, they’d have to let all the downgrades in and it’s busy enough in there without people getting access that aren’t entitled to it.

They took the downgrade. So the perks have gone. If they let them in, they’d have to let all the downgrades in and it’s busy enough in there without people getting access that aren’t entitled to it.

For your information the lounge was virtually empty as it was a late flight.

They were told by Virgin Atlantic that the first available UC seat to the Maldives would be Thursday 27th March.
This was not really an option as their return is Saturday 29th March. So a two day holiday again was not a viable option.

They had to accept the downgrade because there was not a reasonable alternative.

Finally, actually they were entitled to access to the lounge because they HAD paid for it!

However thank you so much for replying to my query, I really appreciate your helpful and pleasant comments.

Enjoy your day.