virgin seat upgrade ..problem , any thoughts?
Discussion
recently paid to upgrade on the lax to london flight , £150 for an exit seat
got on the plane and entertainment system is broken , so a pretty lousy upgrade . i mentioned it to the stewardess and she said you can get a refund if you write in
well ive written in and they refuse to refund me on the basis that i still got my legroom , theyre offering up 4000 airmiles which isnt worth a poop
any thoughts ? would you want a refund ,£150 is a fair amount of money to me right now
got on the plane and entertainment system is broken , so a pretty lousy upgrade . i mentioned it to the stewardess and she said you can get a refund if you write in
well ive written in and they refuse to refund me on the basis that i still got my legroom , theyre offering up 4000 airmiles which isnt worth a poop
any thoughts ? would you want a refund ,£150 is a fair amount of money to me right now
steveo3002 said:
Beardy10 said:
This. Presumably you were asleep for a lot of the flight anyway?
no not at all As mentioned though it's a difficult one because you got what you paid for, which was the extra leg room. Not to say I wouldn't be asking for a refund if it was me though.
A lex said:
Yes I would want a refund - but whether thats within the scope of the T&Cs is another matter.
I have made several complaints over the years with Virgin Atlantic and you never get anywhere other than airmiles in my experience. For example, a few years ago and at a time when I was flying Virgin long haul returns twice every month, I ended up in the worst seat on the plane coming back from Hong Kong - it wouldn't recline fully, was next to the toilet and the video didn't work..... not a happy camper...
There were no other seats anywhere on the flight so not a lot that the crew on board could do (they were sympathetic and I had nothing bad to say about the crew). I had also tried (both at check in and the gate) to change to _any_ other seat on the aircraft with no success. I was a bit miffed as I recognised the seat number immediately and was what I thought could only be described as a Virgin frequent flyer. At no point did I angle for an upgrade....any other seat in economy would have been fine.
I politely complained to Virgin and their response was 4000 airmiles. I replied that this was a little bit lame as I already had 285000 airmiles with them and this made not one jot of difference..... Their response... another 4000 airmiles.... I replied again and said that I would now take no longer use them and move to other carriers for a year. No response......
For about a year, everytime I flew anywhere, I emailed the contact I had been corresponding with a copy of my booking with the other carriers. It made me feel better that they were being punished but they never once responded.
That one experience probably cost Virgin c £30000.....
I now do fly Virgin again when available as the onboard service is generally better than BA but I do think they should try a little harder to keep their customers happy.
Compare this to a BA flight experience I had once when the entertainment system failed for the whole plane. The crew went round handing out complaint forms and helped _everyone_ by telling them what to write down in order to get compensation. I did this and received a voucher for use on board for £50 (presumably as did everyone else on board). Not that I saw any of this but at least the Mrs had some free perfume.... If Virgin had done something similar, I probably would have been happy.
Bob
Mrs Puggit was flying in PE to NY (accidentally) on Virgin's 25th anniversary celebration flight. Branson was on board serving champagne etc.
On landing at NY the entire consignment of luggage was left on board so that Branson and assorted trolly dollies could pose for promotional pictures - for a whole hour.
Mrs Puggit was immediately sent an unsolicited 25,000 miles and email as an apology . Her colleague, who didn't know he could book PE for transatlantic flights and was in the back received nothing. On complaining to Virgin, he was awarded.... 4000 points
On landing at NY the entire consignment of luggage was left on board so that Branson and assorted trolly dollies could pose for promotional pictures - for a whole hour.
Mrs Puggit was immediately sent an unsolicited 25,000 miles and email as an apology . Her colleague, who didn't know he could book PE for transatlantic flights and was in the back received nothing. On complaining to Virgin, he was awarded.... 4000 points
Matt.. said:
Is there actually a good airline that flys the transatlantic route to the US? It seems that they're all just as bad as one another with old planes and bad service! The airlines flying towards Asia and Australia seem to be vastly superior in terms of quality.
Singapore fly from Frankfurt to JFK BA fly business class only from City...
TheBear said:
What would you do if your regular seat entertainment wasn't working?
Raise a polite complaint with the crew on board at the time. If it could not be resolved in flight, follow up in writing afterwards. You've paid for a service and part of it has not been provided. Don't see why you shouldn't say something about it.Back in the day when Virgin Upper had the IFB, I was on a LHR-JFK flight and looking forward to a massage only to be told the IFB had phoned in sick and there was no replacement. Quick complaint form done, apology letter and 25,000 miles into my account about a week after I got home. That helped with tickets to Barbados, all for the sake of 5 mins filling out some details. I know it sounds trivial but when you have paid for something and you don't receive it, I think you should mention it.
Edited by mattdaniels on Sunday 15th May 09:34
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