Virgin Atlantic passengers have been warned over “delays” to refunds worth an eye-watering £2,000. Virgin Atlantic has apologised to honeymooners after a dream trip to Barbados in the Caribbean was cancelled the day before departure.
Writing into the Guardian newspaper, a passenger fumed: “The day before we were due to fly to Barbados on our honeymoon, Virgin Atlantic notified us that our flight had been cancelled due to an impending hurricane.
“We chose the option of a refund and received confirmation that the £1,932 would be paid in full. Nothing happened. After more than three weeks, I called and was told that it had not been actioned due to an error.
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“Five days later I was told that my request had been closed a month earlier. On my fourth call I found we’d been wrongly registered as “no shows” which was why the refund had not been processed. More promises ensued, but still no money.”
In reply, the airline issued a statement. “We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused by the delay,” Virgin Atlantic says. Replying to the story, a reader fumed: “The goodwill bit really winds me up – 9 times out of 10 it means they are fully in the wrong and everyone knows it (as with this case) but they think they retain some legal advantage by not admitting fault yet still paying up. It’s infuriating and destroys what little goodwill they may actually get by doing the right thing”
A second sniped: “Dreadful behaviour. I’d like to contrast that with a response from Jet2. Last September, we were flying from Manchester to Cyprus, with Jet2 flights as a part of a package. After a series of almost comedic episodes at Manchester arrived in Cyprus 5 hours late.
“In fact, non of the various events could be laid at the face of the airline, and in fact were each excluded from its compensation scheme. Neverthelesss, I put in a claim and within 5 days we had a refund of £700, which I estimate would have been the total costs of the flight. I was surprised and impressed.”