dede
Member
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2009
- Posts
- 490
from Crikey:
Consumer win: my triumph over Virgin Blue’s incompetence - Crikey
My triumph over Virgin Blue's incompetence
Adam Schwab writes:
Increasing oil prices, the global financial crisis hitting leisure and corporate travel -- and now, caught up by their own legal trickery. Australian airline Virgin Blue (and rival airlines such as Qantas/Jetstar and Tiger) has had a torrid time in recent years. Last week, the publicly owned Australian satellite of Richard Branson's airline empire was unsuccessful in defending a legal claim brought in the Small Claims division of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal by this writer. The tribunal awarded damages of $122 (being the amount of an alternative air fare), after Virgin Blue cancelled a booked flight and offered passengers an earlier flight that day or a voucher (rather than a cash refund).
The matter related to flight booked in January 2009, which was scheduled to depart from Hobart to Melbourne at 5.15pm on March 29. In February (approximately one month after the booking was made and a month before to the scheduled flight) Virgin contacted a large number of passengers informing them that the flight was no longer departing at the specified time (no specific reason was provided).
Virgin offered passengers an alternative flight time (at 10.15 that morning), which was not convenient to the writer (and presumably many other passengers) given that the reason for the interstate flight was to be in Hobart during March 29. A cash refund was sought to purchase a ticket with an alternative carrier. However, despite the cancellation of the flight being entirely due to Virgin Blue, it refused to provide a cash refund, offering only a credit to be used on Virgin Flights.
Such an offer was unacceptable -- not only is a voucher worth substantially less than cash, but it is unlikely that a Virgin Blue voucher would be welcomed on a Jetstar or Tiger flight. (In Virgin's defence, it is not the only airline to treat customers with disdain, in fact, it is probably one of the more customer-friendly operations in Australia. Last year, it was reported that after accepting bookings, Jetstar cancelled flights to Malaysia and held onto customers monies (which in some cases was thousands of dollars) for several months, while Tiger pockets taxes and charges after a customer cancels their booking).
However, in this instance, repeated requests to Virgin management for a cash refund proved futile, with the writer forced to lodge an application with VCAT, alleging that by failing to provide the promised flight, Virgin unilaterally breached an essential term of the contract. It was contended that Virgin’s breach should give rise to compensatory damages. The writer sought a declaration to that effect, as well as incidental costs
Consumer win: my triumph over Virgin Blue’s incompetence - Crikey
My triumph over Virgin Blue's incompetence
Adam Schwab writes:
Increasing oil prices, the global financial crisis hitting leisure and corporate travel -- and now, caught up by their own legal trickery. Australian airline Virgin Blue (and rival airlines such as Qantas/Jetstar and Tiger) has had a torrid time in recent years. Last week, the publicly owned Australian satellite of Richard Branson's airline empire was unsuccessful in defending a legal claim brought in the Small Claims division of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal by this writer. The tribunal awarded damages of $122 (being the amount of an alternative air fare), after Virgin Blue cancelled a booked flight and offered passengers an earlier flight that day or a voucher (rather than a cash refund).
The matter related to flight booked in January 2009, which was scheduled to depart from Hobart to Melbourne at 5.15pm on March 29. In February (approximately one month after the booking was made and a month before to the scheduled flight) Virgin contacted a large number of passengers informing them that the flight was no longer departing at the specified time (no specific reason was provided).
Virgin offered passengers an alternative flight time (at 10.15 that morning), which was not convenient to the writer (and presumably many other passengers) given that the reason for the interstate flight was to be in Hobart during March 29. A cash refund was sought to purchase a ticket with an alternative carrier. However, despite the cancellation of the flight being entirely due to Virgin Blue, it refused to provide a cash refund, offering only a credit to be used on Virgin Flights.
Such an offer was unacceptable -- not only is a voucher worth substantially less than cash, but it is unlikely that a Virgin Blue voucher would be welcomed on a Jetstar or Tiger flight. (In Virgin's defence, it is not the only airline to treat customers with disdain, in fact, it is probably one of the more customer-friendly operations in Australia. Last year, it was reported that after accepting bookings, Jetstar cancelled flights to Malaysia and held onto customers monies (which in some cases was thousands of dollars) for several months, while Tiger pockets taxes and charges after a customer cancels their booking).
However, in this instance, repeated requests to Virgin management for a cash refund proved futile, with the writer forced to lodge an application with VCAT, alleging that by failing to provide the promised flight, Virgin unilaterally breached an essential term of the contract. It was contended that Virgin’s breach should give rise to compensatory damages. The writer sought a declaration to that effect, as well as incidental costs
