virgin refunds

[dsv77]

Hope someone will be able to help with this query regarding virgin.

my next door neighbour has booked with 9 of her family to go over on June 26th, she booked a virgin flight from Glasgow with Charter travel. two of the party were her elderly parents aged 75 76, she has paid the full balance at the time of booking 6 months ago.

The problem is when she booked her dad had just had a TIA [ mini stroke] but was cleared by both his GP and hospital Doc to fly, but when she went to get insurance for her dad 6 months ago she only found 4 companies who would insure him but not Until 6 weeks before the departure.

now her Dad had another mini stroke at the weekend, both the family and the GP now think its too unsafe to fly.

So now my neighbour is stuck between a rock and a hard place as she wasnt able to insure her dad and neither charter travel or virgin will do anything for her she cant get a refund [ flights were 700.00 each] she cant even get a name change.

I did speak to someone who works for virgin today and they said she could try and claim back the taxes back , but she cant get anyone to tell how much of the flight was taxes.
anyone ever had a problem like this ...or has anyone any thoughts

[ShirleyD]

Sorry no thoughts other than to say the taxes can easily be found by making a price enquiry on the Virgin website

[steph_goodrum]

It is very unfortunate and frustrating for everybody involved but I don't think there will be too much flexibility in the rules. It is always advisable to get insurance at the time of booking any major expense, which your neighbour obviously tried to do, but having taken the risk of booking without the insurance cover both the airlines and travel agent would quite rightly assume that the person travelling has assumed that risk and not them and that the contract entered into would be adhered to.
With the volume of passengers they service they would run the risk of real instability if they were asked to change the rules for every individual case. You may also find there is a cancellation charge from Charter for his flight but if the others are still going then they may be more felxible in that.
Theamount of taxes paid should be shown on their ticket , if not Charter should be able to give them the breakdown.

It is too late for them now but if anybody else is in a similar position in the future, the best way to get round it would be to pay extra for a more flexible ticket that would allow changes or cancellation and then at least there would be the chance of using it in the future, or getting a refund.

[Katys Grandad]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by steph_goodrum


It is too late for them now but if anybody else is in a similar position in the future, the best way to get round it would be to pay extra for a more flexible ticket that would allow changes or cancellation and then at least there would be the chance of using it in the future, or getting a refund.
[/quote]

Or to use an airline that is more sympathetic than Virgin to situations like this.

[Albert the Frog]

If you are getting nowhere with customer services that will be because they are toeing the party line-they won't have the authority to do anything.
I would write a personal letter sent recorded delivery to richard branson outlining the situation and throwing yourself on his humanity.I would copy it to the owner of Charter Travel they would hve to be a hard bu**ers not to help.

Good luck to your neighbours and their family.

Name and address-Sandra Colbourne (owner) Charter Travel,
74 Hambridge Road
Newbury
Berkshire
RG14 5TA

[steph_goodrum]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Katys Grandad
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by steph_goodrum


It is too late for them now but if anybody else is in a similar position in the future, the best way to get round it would be to pay extra for a more flexible ticket that would allow changes or cancellation and then at least there would be the chance of using it in the future, or getting a refund.
[/quote]

Or to use an airline that is more sympathetic than Virgin to situations like this.
[/quote]

Sympathy doesn't pay the staffs wages unfortunately and if you are in business you cannot afford to sympathise through financial contributions with erverybody. To the person involved it is only a one off case but the airlines would probably come across the same scenario many, many times a year and also if word got out that the airlines had set a precedent by doing that, they may as well tear up any terms and conditions they agree with the passengers as none would bother getting insurance if they felt the airline or anybody else was just going to give them their money back if they had a situation.
Why should the airlines pick up the tab because the insurance company are cherry picking their customers?

[Katys Grandad]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by steph_goodrum

Why should the airlines pick up the tab because the insurance company are cherry picking their customers?
[/quote]

I think you have misunderstood my post. I can't answer why they should but I am aware that some do give refunds on 'non-refundable' tickets where the reasons are based on medical grounds.

It really isn't a case of the "word getting out" as you suggest. It's explicit within the airlines' policies.

Take, for example, American Airlines' policy on non refundable tickets (which I have condensed):

CANCELLATIONS ANY TIME TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE IN CASE OF CANCEL/NO-SHOW/ REFUND. WAIVED FOR SCHEDULE CHANGE/ILLNESS OR DEATH OF PASSENGER OR FAMILY MEMBER. NOTE - WAIVER ALSO APPLIES FOR TRAVELING COMPANION. TICKET HAS NO VALUE UNLESS TICKETED FLIGHTS ARE CANCELLED PRIOR TO TICKETED DEPARTURE TIME CHANGES BEFORE DEPARTURE CHARGE USD 100.00. WAIVED FOR SCHEDULE CHANGE/ILLNESS OR DEATH OF PASSENGER OR FAMILY MEMBER. NOTE - WAIVER ALSO APPLIES TO TRAVELING COMPANION. THE ORIGINAL NON-REFUNDABLE AMOUNT REMAINS NON-REFUNDABLE. ------ CHANGES ARE PERMITTED PRIOR TO THE TICKETED DEPARTURE TIME OF EACH FLIGHT PROVIDED THE NEW ITINERARY MEETS ALL THE PROVISIONS OF THE NEW FARE PURCHASED I.E. ADVANCE RESERVATION/TICKET PURCHASE MINIMUM /MAXIMUM STAY REQUIREMENTS. ITINERARIES MAY BE REBOOKED UP TO ONE YEAR FROM ORIGINAL TICKET ISSUE DATE PROVIDED TICKETED FLIGHT IS CANCELLED PRIOR TO TICKETED DEPARTURE TIME. IF TICKETED FLIGHT IS NOT CANCELLED PRIOR TO TICKETED DEPARTURE TIME TICKET HAS NO VALUE. ------

AFTER DEPARTURE CHARGE USD 100.00. WAIVED FOR SCHEDULE CHANGE/ILLNESS OR DEATH OF PASSENGER OR FAMILY MEMBER. NOTE - WAIVER ALSO APPLIES FOR TRAVELING COMPANION.

American are by no means the only airline who take this approach.

I have taken advantage of these rules for health reasons both on my own account and where a travelling companion couldn't travel on the actual day of the flight after the ticket was purchased many weeks before. I am also aware of others outside my family circle who have done the same - 1 of them only a couple of days ago.

Finally, I can assure you that insurance companies are well aware of which airlines take this line and won't pay out where they know they will give a refund.

[gpullan]

Hi.

We booked direct with Virgin in March last year and then my wife fell pregnant. The original flight date would have been after the 36 week deadline so i spoke to Virgin and they moved ALL our flights (8 people) from October 2009 to February 2010. All this was done free of charge.

The only requirement we had from Virgin was to provide a doctors letter to prove that she was unable to fly on those original dates.

All this was done before we even thought about getting insurance.

I would suggest that they are in a similar position whereby it is a professional medical person who is saying not to fly, so as long as he/she will put that in writing for Virgin then i don't see why they would not offer you the same service as we got.

Best of luck.

[Katys Grandad]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by gpullan


I would suggest that they are in a similar position whereby it is a professional medical person who is saying not to fly, so as long as he/she will put that in writing for Virgin then i don't see why they would not offer you the same service as we got.
[/quote]

I would hope that Charter Travel are aware of that option and have let the OP know about it although the post text suggests otherwise.

[Lyn]

Just a theoretical point butwWhat would happen if you turned up at airport with a letter from the doctor saying you were not fit to fly, would they take you anyway? If they would not they would have to refund your money so surely it would be better for them to do it now. I know the tickets are non refundable non changeable etc etc. but this is something beyond your control. The only problem is that they would have expected you to have insurance cover that you could claim on, as mentioned before.

[Tonish]

I have booked flights for my elderly parents at Christmas. Their health is always a concern and insurance is almost impossible to obtain. I booked the flights with continental, which has the following policy:

Refund Request for Non-refundable Tickets — Unplanned Event
Continental will refund change fees and tickets in certain cases. All requests must be received before the expiration of your ticket and must be accompanied by proper documentation (see below). Once received, if applicable, a refund will be provided to the original form of payment minus a $50 USD processing fee*. This policy applies to the illness or death of the traveler, traveling companion, or immediate family members.


Mr Branson may well have a smiley face, but he runs one of the more unfriendly Airlines (in my humble opinion - sorry, don't want to offend Virgin fans, of whom there are many, I'm sure).

[bargainqueen]

When we were planning our March 2007 trip I booked our flights in Aug 2006 but I didn't book my sister's ticket until November 2006. Her husband had terminal cancer and when I spoke to the call centre I was told that a ticket was valied for 1 year from the date it was purchased for the outward flight and once at your destination, a further year for the inward flight.

The week prior to flying he was admitted to hospital so she was unable to go. He died a week after we returned.

I booked 2 tickets for November and changed her ticket date. I had to send in an item which confirmed that he was hospitalised on the date she was due to fly out.

She thought she had lost the money as it was an existing condition she wasn't insured. I believe when I first made enquiries she could have had a refund but I wanted the option to give her a holiday and put a smile back on her face. A charge was mentioned but that in exceptional cases it was waved.

I dealt with Virgin direct so maybe my case was different.

[dsv77]

thanks Folks you have certainly gave me a lot of info to pass on to my neighbours. at the moment she is waiting on some sort of reply from Charter travel , but she would be happy with a refund of the taxes, as its always something .

I agree that Virgin seems to be quite unfriendly compared to other airlines, but as someone else has said perhaps she should write to Virgin Direct,
I will keep the post open and let you know what the outcome of this is soon.

Incidentally I have booked to go in Nov, using Virgin for the first time normally we use continental.

[Andrena]

I hope that your friend does get a refund from Virgin. However we have friends who had booked a trip with one of the cheapie airlines to Europe and when one of the group had to drop out through illness they said that an alteration like that as it was a group booking made the whole booking invalid and told them that the rest of the party would all have to re-book with no refund of the original fares paid. It has made me wary of booking with those type of airlines.

Andrena