Gamble Taken and Lost

[gevaudan]

I would like the email address / addresses of people a little higher up in V Australia that I can present my complaint too.

Your help would be appreciated.

P.S I just typed a whole scenario here and because I put in my email address, I lost it all .....

 

[gevaudan]

Here is the email I sent V AUstralia. To which they replaced you could cancel each ticket at $615 each and rebook. I know I do not have a legal stand point, but the amount of money lost on paper makes me sick.

> To whom it may concern,

On May 8th 2009 my wife and I will flying with V Australia to Los Angeles
for our late Honeymoon. In good faith, we purchased our tickets on 21st
October 2008 spending $3446.36. We were battling between buying the US dollars at the the then current high 90 cents or, as I was aware you had not been given Regulatory Approval, I figured you were filling seats and continuing a source of income while you battled red tape.

Subsequently we believed we were getting a deal of a lifetime and suppporting new business, we booked with you.However, last night when reading to see how your approval was going I saw a
cheaper fare advertised and subsequently looked. I found through that
booking page last night, a same day flight arrive and depart the fare was a total $2299. That is a whopping $1100 difference. Virutally the value of
another seat. Or if you want a different perspective, the cost of what we
are going to spend on accomodation for the 18 days we are there.

Please understand, at 32 years of age, I have been involved in retail and
wholesale so I know abou costs, landed costs, fire sales and so on. But to know that the same seats I have fully paid for upfront were being offered at about 33% cheaper breaks my heart and has already dampened my honeymoon.

I want to say I am angry, and stomp my feet but I am so emotionally drained because of what I saw, I'm not sure what I should do next.You have to understand as a person, I'm not interested in what the industry
does, or how the terms and conditions appear on paper. My case is an
individual case. It's about me, my wife and our honeymoon. I care not for
what others before me have done or what in the future people will do, I am only interested in us, and what V australia can do for me.

I spoke with a Customer Service Rep. (George) last night 12th January and he offered that I pay $615 per person to cancel and if it evens out, book the new flights. He missed my point. ANd then offered that I pay $200 to alter days. He missed my point. I do not need a Service Rep to upsell a product. I needed someone with substance to understand my sadness and distrust and to work with me to overcome it.

So, I ask, what can V Australia do, to make this a better experience for
Scott and Leah Paulette?

 

[JohnK]

Sad but unfortunately no much you can do. It happens to a lot of us many times. It gets to the point where sometimes you get a good bargain and other times you pay through the nose. If you fly often enough it evens out although I can understand your frustration as I don't think you fly that often and this is a special event.

If the airfares were now more expensive than what you paid would you still be angry? As it turns out there are insufficient forward bookings for the dates you are travelling and the airline is trying to sell the remaining seats for whatever price it thinks they will sell.

Anyway crazyDave98, a member of AFF, is a Virgin employee, not sure if he is involved with V Australia in any way, so he may be able to offer some assistance. Send him a PM or he may be able to reply when he gets to reading this thread.

Good luck.

 

[Mwenenzi]

Air fares go up and down all the time. Its supply & demand (and dropping fuel prices)
Nothing unusal in what happened to you

 

[comint]

Please understand, at 32 years of age, I have been involved in retail...

Meh, then you would understand that what you sell for $100 on 24th December, you put out for sale on 26th for $50. (And similar price fluctuations/sales, at other points during the season.)

Like you said, gamble taken, and lost.

Move on, or you won't be able to enjoy what should be one of the most exciting times of your life!

 

[docjames]

Welcome to the forum.

Sadly, i think no matter how high you go wtih VB you wont get much (if anything) out of them.


JohnK makes the point - you elected to buy at the RRP at the time, same as if you buy a car now, but then they offer to sell another one to someone else for $2k less - you're not going to get the $2k back from the dealer! Nor would you be expected to pay more if you'd got the cheap seat and the price goes up.

It's market economics at work.

Try not to let money spoil what will be a wonderful holiday.

 

[kpc]

Sad but unfortunately no much you can do. It happens to a lot of us many times. It gets to the point where sometimes you get a good bargain and other times you pay through the nose. If you fly often enough it evens out although I can understand your frustration as I don't think you fly that often and this is a special event.

If the airfares were now more expensive than what you paid would you still be angry? As it turns out there are insufficient forward bookings for the dates you are travelling and the airline is trying to sell the remaining seats for whatever price it thinks they will sell.

Anyway crazyDave98, a member of AFF, is a Virgin employee, not sure if he is involved with V Australia in any way, so he may be able to offer some assistance. Send him a PM or he may be able to reply when he gets to reading this thread.

Good luck.

Welcome to AFF! Agree completely with JohnK. Unfortunate break...you wouldn't be complaining if the reverse happened; if you bought cheap tickets ages ago, you wouldn't be too happy if V Australia came asking for the price difference just before you flew:shock:

 

[crow]

I booked a return Adelaide to LA on V Australia on 5th July, 2009 for my wife and I and our 2 children for a total fare of $5,330 and obviously paid at the time. 1 AU$ was US$0.98 and it was a really cheap fare so I thought I had deal of the century. ( the Qantas equivalent at the time on the same dates was $11,900).

Since then a lot has happened in the world. The $ has dropped, fuel has dropped and the fuel surcharges have reduced etc etc.

A couple of weeks ago out of curiosity I checked and the V Australia fare was approx. $5,000 on the same dates and the Qantas fare for all 4 of us was $4,400 (and on the A380) with 17,000 QFF points each.

But it doesn't bother me. You buy when you buy at the price you buy at.

If you didn't buy the fares in October 08 for $3,446 and they were now $4,500 would you expect them to sell you the fare at the Oct 08 price.

Forget about it and enjoy your honeymoon. Don't let it get to you.

Put the $1,100 down as an indirect cost of the global financial crisis ( which is the cause of the fare drop due to reduced demand) and move on. Be thankful you can still go.

Next time when you gamble it may go the other way!

 

[gevaudan]

Hi All,

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my concern and even more so with the replies.

I know what you have written is right, and is crystal clear. I guess in simple terms I just cannot qualify the huge difference in prices for what is exactly the same.

And with that, again, I really sincerely understand and appreciate your advice and suggestions, and I will enjoy my honeymoon, but I still want to fight my case.

Cheers,

scott.

 

[vet]

What's the policy on upgrades into an empty premium seat, or a voucher for 'the lounge' or instructing cabin crew to give them an inflight bottle of bubbly.

 

[dajop]

Interesting case, but you highlight the issue with the thread title. The fact that locking in an airfare at anypoint in time is a gamble - which can either pay off handsomely or backfire.

Back in October $1700 per person for a booking to the US was actually probably a good deal. No one predicted that fares would go as low as $1100pp as it has been a number of years since fares have been that low. No different to shares or super etc, at your age I suspect you do have some super, and if you have there's probably a pretty good chance your super losses exceed those of your airfare . Best not to look back and just look forward.

It does happen all the time. You can literally watch websites and see airfares (particularly those in economy) move around like the stock market. At one moment one day it will be one thing, 10 minutes later it could be 50% higher, come back in a few days it could well be 20% less than the original quote. It's the (black?) art known as yield management, which tries to price (particularly economy fares) in a way so as to maximise the revenue from a flight given the current bookings and the likelihood of future bookings on that flight.

I guess the difference between this and retail is that, particularly with the larger retailers, if you've bought a product, and it goes down in price and haven't used it you can return it and get a store credit - with which you can purchase it back again at the lower price. Not the case with restrictive airfares.

Like others, forget the loss and just enjoy your trip. {Easy to say, not so easy do )

 

[Alanslegal]

Welcome to AFF gevaudan

I know it hurts to think that you could have saved $1,000 but you do realise that prices can go up or down and at any time. You purchased your flights because you thought it was a good deal at that time. Its unfortunate for you that the prices did drop and you feel a bit grumpy about that.

Let's say for example the prices went upwards instead? So the seats you bought for $1700 each is now $2000. Do you think the airline could ask you to pay an extra $300 each now? Of course not and you would probably feel good that you got a great deal.

Forget about the $1k loss - and go and enjoy your honeymoon, make it a priceless one.

 

[yo yo ma]

I bought some Qantas shares about a year ago for $3.95 and again for $3.30 - They are today worth ~$2.40. Unfortunately, that is the way the market works. It is based on supply and demand and similar to your airline booking.

You stated that you took a "gamble" and that is correct. You do the same when purchasing a hotel room. You can buy early and guarantee the booking, or you can delay hoping for a last minute discount but risking not getting the booking.

There is nothing that V Australia is able to do about your concern, so just sit back and enjoy your honeymoon.

 

[Travel Guru]

As someone who's been in the industry for years, I can tell you that this isn't an isolated incident, it happens every day, but I can also tell you that for every person who finds a cheaper fare after they've booked, there's at least 10 who find it more expensive when they wait.

As you say, you took a gamble, noone knew the world's economy was going to fall so far into the toilet so quickly, it's life, just accept it, otherwise it won't be costing you only $1100, it will be costing you 18 days of potentially sensational memories.

I can tell you now wholeheartedly that you're wasting good energy complaining to V Australia, for starters your letter comes off way too much like an orchestrated sob story, and secondly, I don't see why V should refund you, they're running a business and just as many have said in reply, you wouldn't be willing to top up the fare you paid if it went up, so why should you be willing to expect them to refund you just because the markets dried up and has become extremely competitive?

Move on, let it go and have the trip of a lifetime instead of looking back 5 yrs from now and realising what else you lost in your fight for a refund.

TG

 

[nlagalle]

Classic example was i booked 6 or so flights to Kalgoorlie last year for travel at xmas and in the new year.

I copped two lots of fuel fines (flight went via PER). i booked them at the time due to the possibility that they would go up more - they were booked in June. Anyway the opposite happened, so it cost me around $320 more than had i waited and booked closer to the time! I didn't see QF sending me a refund..

Nick

 

[Evan]

I have paid 2300 for a fare that 2 days later i could have got for 1400.... but i honestly did my research and checked the loads etc and i really thought it would rapidly get worse not better. Not i don't earn a lot but i just got over it in a day or 2, no point stressing about it. My educated guess backfired.
Just enjoy your honeymoon !
E

 

[jandj]

I bought some Qantas shares about a year ago for $3.95 and again for $3.30 - They are today worth ~$2.40. Unfortunately, that is the way the market works. It is based on supply and demand and similar to your airline booking.

You stated that you took a "gamble" and that is correct. You do the same when purchasing a hotel room. You can buy early and guarantee the booking, or you can delay hoping for a last minute discount but risking not getting the booking.

There is nothing that V Australia is able to do about your concern, so just sit back and enjoy your honeymoon.

Must be a bigger gambler than you YYM , bought some for $5.51....ouch....!!!! still, no regrets. Only did it to stop future t/o's

 

[oz_mark]

Must be a bigger gambler than you YYM , bought some for $5.51....ouch....!!!! still, no regrets. Only did it to stop future t/o's

I won't mention my Telstra shares!

 

[jandj]

I won't mention my Telstra shares!

No, we wont mention our Telstra shares

 

[Alanslegal]

How about we mention Babcock & Brown shares then?