Complain about a product or service

Virgin Atlantic

Roland of San Jose, CA November 26, 2007

I had bought 2 E-tickets from Virgin Atlantic Airlines The date of return was supposed to be March 22nd, but my mother, age 94, got sick and was unable to travel, and I had to rebook the return flight for her and me on April 03, 07. I called up the Virgin office in Delhi asked what the procedure was to waiver the cancellation fee for illness. The Virgin policy allows a change for upgrade for illness or death of a passenger. They asked me to send a doctors certificate to the Virgin Mumbai office so I sent an explanation letter and a doctors certificate to the Virgin Mumbai office on March 27, 07. I gave the office a day before I spoke to a lady at Customer Service at Virgin Mumbai. She assured me that the fax was received and she would forward it to her superiors for review and would call me if there were any further questions. I never received a call and called back. At times I was put on hold for about an hour and would have to call back to be told that I would get an answer the next day. I kept calling regularly but got little or no response as to the status of the fax.

It was an entirely frustrating experience trying to call Virgin Mumbai and always getting the same answer as no progress was made. I told Nikta that I did not want to wait for the last minute before check in should they need any more documentation to uphold my request. I got zero response till I checked in at Mumbai Virgin and I explained the whole process to them. The reason for the change was illness of my mother who is 94 and since I am accompanying her, I too had to change my date of travel. The experience with the Mumbai Virgin ground staff was even more frustrating as I had to stand there for hours till they could decide the proper course of action. They finally concluded that they would waiver the extra charge for my mother but would charge me the extra fee. I was so fatigued and frustrated by this time I agreed to charge MY PORTION of the extra charge. According to them the Supervisor in charge they would bill me GB50 for the Mumbai London leg and 200.00 for London San Francisco leg. Looking at the receipts, they charged me GB100 for the Mumbai London leg and 400.00 for London San Francisco leg.

I have always used Virgin in Europe and assumed their great customer service would extend to Asia. I was very disappointed and disgusted at the lack of training and response with the ground staff at Reservations and Mumbai airport. I requested wheel chair access and the ground staff at Virgin Mumbai did not do the appropriate paper works so I had to hunt down a Virgin staffer and request a wheel chair. They seemed distracted and confused and again non-responsive. Virgin seriously needs to examine the training their Indian staff receives and improve in the communication and response time and to explain clearly the airline policy. I for one will cease to use Virgin for future travel until I get some reassurance from the Virgin management of improving the Indian division.

Lynn of New York, NY November 19, 2007

I purchased an airline ticket with Virgin Atlantic through Cheap Tickets on November 12, 2006. Virgin Atlantic flight 26 was to depart from New York's JFK to London Heathrow, with a connecting flight from Heathrow to Manchester England on BMI flight 594 on December 13, 2006. The returning flight was on December 29, 2006 on BMI British flight 587 to Heathrow with a connecting flight on Virgin Atlantic 45 to New York's JFK. I did not use the tickets and cancelled the tickets through Cheap Tickets on December 10, 2006.  I spoke with Ticket Agent Michelle, ID-MYD and Michelle told me that Cheap Tickets had already sent the funds to Virgin Atlantic so Michelle canceled my scheduled flight and credited me the amount with Virgin Atlantic Airlines. Michelle told me to call by November 12, 2007 to reschedule my flight. I called and spoke with Zachery at Cheap Tickets and Wison at Virgin Atlantic on November 12, 2007. Through our conference call on November 12,  I was instructed to fax my preferred travel options along with copies of my tickets to Virgin Atlantic's Ticket Department at 866.417.9519 on the next morning so that my tickets could be changed. I was also told that our conversation would be recorded on my record and would be easy to follow up on. I faxed my travel requests and copies of my tickets to Virgin Atlantic the next day and followed up with a call to the Ticket Department to ensure they had recieved it. I was told they could not find it and so I faxed everything again from a different fax number. I called the Ticket Department again and spoke with an agent who finally found my fax. The agent then told me my ticket was no longer any good since they had no record of any conversations prior to this date and they just found my fax that day on the 14th. I said they should review my record, as per Zachery and Wilson who said my discussions with them on November 12 were duly noted, so that they could easily follow up. I was told they could do nothing and my tickets were no good. As you can see from my telephone records, I did speak with Cheap Tickets and Virgin Atlantic on November 12, 2007 for very long periods of time. Both Zachary and Wilson were very helpful and gave me clear and concise instructions, which I followed through. I feel Virgin Atlantic did not want to try and help me or honor their agreement. Virgin Atlantic has misled me and taken advantage of me at a time when I need to travel to the UK to see my daughter's physician who is treating her for a very serious illness.

The economic damage is 769.09 for the cost of the ticket. I cannot put a price on the strain and stress of being misled by Virgin Atlantic at a time when I am so concerned and distraught because I need to travel to the UK to see my daughter's physician who is treating her for a very serious illness.

Bryan of Edmonton, OTHER November 2, 2007

I was booked on a flight from Heathrow to Johannesburg June 28 09. I arrived but my luggage did not. After filling out claim form as requested in Johannesburg, I waited 21 days without luggage and filed a claim. My main loss in luggage was a wallet containing a large number of CDs. It seems that they will not cover these items as they claim they are electronics which I cannot understand. Also, since I did not have all original sales receipts, they automatically cut the claim in half.

I have now been waiting 4 months for payment of this claim and despite mails stating it is to be transferred immediately to my bank. This has never happened. Virgin Atlantic is the only airline that I have ever heard of without a physical phone number to register a customer complaint. When you e mail, you get an automated reply that they will be back to you in 21 days, but it does not happen.

Atti of P.palisades, CA August 26, 2007

I flew British air to Heathrow on 08-10-07 and Virgin Atlantic from London to LAX. My luggage were tagged to LAX and one of my bags did not make it and they had a list of bags that did not make the plane , and made me fill out a form and they said it will be on the next flight and will come in 24hrs to the door. I waited 4 days and nothing came. I have called 20 times for the last 2 weeks and the 800 number will not answer, they are closed or if you hold 1 hour India picks up and says our systems are down. This has happened to me 15 times after waiting 1 hour on hold each time.

Atti of P.palisades, CA August 26, 2007

I flew British air to london/Heathrow on 08-10-07 and Virgin atlantic from London to LAX My luggages were tagged to LAX and one of my bags did not make it and they had a list of bags that did not make the plane , and made me fill out aform and they said it will be on the next flight and will come in 24hrs to the door. I waited 4 days and nothing came so I decided to call them and noone comes to the phone with the 800 number I was given to call.finally after a week of calling everyday I got through after waiting on hold for 55minutes someone in India picks up the phone and they say our systems are down and someone will call you. I have called 20 times for the last 2 weeks and the 800 number will not answer , they are either closed or if you hold 1 hour India picks up and says our systems are done. this has happend to me 15times after waiting 1 hour on hold each time.

Angelica of Long Beach, CA August 24, 2007

Flight details London LAX flight # VS023 August 8, 2007. Lost my luggage (2 of them), filed a PROPERTY IRREGULARITY REPORT (PIR). They gave me 800-880-6253 to call but I always get an answer that all lines are busy, call later. I went to the airport and talked to a Service Delivery Manager who promised to do something. It has been more than 2 weeks and I can not find any body to talk to and the airline never contacted me. Lost about 4890 of gifts, clothing, medications.

Darshan of Riverhead, NY July 24, 2007

On feb 15th 2007, my wife and son and my parents were supposed to be travelling on Virgin Atlantic flight from Newark to Delhi with a stop in London. When we got there and went through the boarding process all was well. After about a 2 hr delay the flight took off and there was smoke coming out of one of the wings and the plane was redirected to JFK. When the passengers were asked to get off the plane at JFK they were all confused and no one was helpful to them and told them what to do next.

After a lot of confusion they were told to go back to Newark (at their own expense) and talk to the crew at that airport. When they got there no one seemed to know what to do. They were told that they will be put on another plane in the evening and given hotel rooms for that time. That evening when the passengers went back to the airport they were again sent back to the hotel. After all said and done most of the passengers got to travel almost 48 hrs after scheduled departure.

Meanwhile Virgin Atlantic personnel handed out letters to all the passengers which clearly states that Virgin will provide them with a roundtrip ticket equal to that day's trip or a full refund. I have been trying to get the refund from them for the last 5 months and I have been communicating with them thru email and fax. I have sent in all the information they need and they are not willing to honor the letter.

Last thing I got from them was a form to fill out for lost tickets, after trying to explain to them that that form does not and will not help me in this case they have stopped responding to any of my emails. I am entitled to full refund of 4 tickets and I expect to be compensated for all the trouble my family had to go through because of them and the domestic flights that we lost.

Pamela of Bronx, NY May 1, 2007

They have promised to credit our credit cards for airline tickets unused, since 1/9/97. On 2/23/07 they chared us part of the penalty fee, stating that they put in for the credit and we wil see it in four ( 4 ) to six ( 6 ) weeks. Here it is May 1, 2007, still now credit. Now, they say it is out of their hands once they request it. WHAT????

They have never put in for any credit. Now, we received an email from them ( after we sent an email stating how angry we are ) that they will begin the credit process now and we have to wait four ( 4 ) to six ( 6 ) weeks. We have heard this on Janury 9th, February 23rd, and now, April 12th.

Pradeep of San Francisco, CA May 18, 2006

The nightmare began on May 1 2006 when I made a booking to London from San Francisco. I told the customer service rep that I'd like to ticket it after I got my British visa - interview for which was on May 4. The customer service rep. said he will reserve the booking until 9pm on May 4. I told him I needed to produce itinerary for my visa interview. Customer service rep. gave me the booking reference # and said I could retrieve it online and print.

1st attempt at retrieving booking online - May 1 2006 - 2 hrs after booking. No luck. Called customer service who advised me that I should try some time later.

2nd attempt at retrieving - May 2 2006. No luck. Called customer service. Now I was told the booking cannot be retrieved online as it was not ticketed. Apologized for misinformation. Was asked to email customer service.

3rd attempt - Emailed customer service on May 2 2006. No luck again. Received mail on May 3 2006 morning saying they can only fax and asked for fax #. Replied immediately with fax #.

4th attempt - Called at 12 noon on May 3 2006. Customer rep. promised to fax immediately. No luck

5th attempt - Called at 4pm saying fax was not received after 4 hrs. Was told they will email rightaway. No luck.

6th attempt - Called at 5 pm. Was told cannot be emailed. Apologized for misinformation. Said I could retrieve it online. I said I was just told the previous day that it was not possible. Still upon inistence checked again. No luck.

7th attempt - Finally was transferred to Customer rep. in Florida. She said outright that since the booking was not tiketed I CANNOT get the itinerary inb ANY way. This was 30 minutes before my flight to LA and I had to appear for my visa interview next day. The customer rep. rudely hung up on me as I was speaking.

Felt very insulted and stupid. Wasted hours on the phone over 3 days. Caused extreme irritation, frustration and anger. I was put in a position where I could potentially not be able to get a visa and be in London for an important biz. meeting. Had to take a risk and book a ticket without a visa after that. No redressal of any kind was offerred by Virgin Atlantic despite asking for something.

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