Paid Business Class rebooked into Economy :(

[Spacetravel]

Hi All,

Cliffs:
- Paid J on VA cancelled
- Rebooked into Y NZ
- Myself and travel partner on different flights
- What happens to my SC earn
- Refund?

On Saturday myself and travel partner were flying from ZQN to SYD at 2:45PM in paid up J. Saturday morning I receive an email from Virgin advising my flight had been rebooked due to my flight being cancelled. Upon investigation I found it was an Air NZ flight with Economy only at 2:45PM. I then received a 2nd email for my travel companion advising they had been rebooked on to the 6PM Air NZ flight. Yes we had been on separate booking however prior to my travel I called Virgin to "link" the bookings which I had been advised to do previously so they know to keep us together in events like this.

Shortly after I received a call from Virgin to discuss, I confirmed we had certainly been put in Y and we had been separated. I travel all the time and obviously fine being on my own however the person I was travelling with does not. I asked if they could move us onto the same flight even if it had to be later, which was denied as they said all flights were completely full. I also asked if we could swap flights so I could see my travel partner off on to the plane, which was also denied as they said the flight was 100% booked and they couldn't risk taking us off to switch around. I even asked if we could go via Brisbane as the flight was still going, I was also advised this was fully booked. I understand full is full, but it really seemed like they didn't even try to help out.

I had the rep explain the situation to me, they said the Sydney flight was cancelled due to mechanical issues and due to myself being Platinum I received first priority at rebooking onto the 2:45 PM flight, however due to my travel partner being Red they had less priority and were put on a later flight.

What really annoyed me, when I got onto my flight, AirNZ flight attendant recognised my status (great) and moved me to the exit row. I had the entire row to myself, there was also quite a few empty seats. Now my travel partner said the same thing, they didn't receive a row to themself but they did have a spare seat next to them.

The original booking was part status run with the recent double SC promo and using family pooling, hence the 2X paid J tickets. What status credits would I receive? Also no one has mentioned anything about a refund, Business was over $1000 Economy is certainly not worth that much, do they give a refund on the fare difference?

Edit: I just checked my account and received 30 SC each.

 

[serfty]

So you should have earned 60 SC each rather than the 30 - looks like you were rebooked into Flexible Economy.

I would contact Velocity and request "Original Routing Credit" as the rebooking was the fault of Virgin Australia.

 

[drron]

And a few extra points for VA reps not knowing the definition of full.

 

[docjames]

With two different bookings, ending up on different flights falls into the stuff happens category, although clearly it could have been handled better.

VA and NZ dont have a great working relationship, it may well be that all the seats the VA agent could "see" in the system was full (with NZ holding/hiding/blocking some for release). Who knows. They may also have just been unhelpful and not looked.

SCs should definitely be paid at your J earn.
A partial refund should be forthcoming (although unlikely to be at an amount that's particularly satisfactory).

I'd contact VA and be very clear what you are seeking - the SCs (plus applicable double SCs which were "offered" at the time of booking), plus an acceptable refund.

I'd personally forget about trying to discuss the poor customer service issue lest it cloud the outcome on your SCs and refund. It's not worth it.

 

[Mattg]

I believe VA's downgrade compensation policy is to refund the difference between the fare you paid and the economy fare that was available at the time of booking. Let us know how you go!

 

[JohnK]

Sounds like it was handled poorly. You shouldn't have too much issue with SCs. You should be able to claim original routing credit.

I believe VA's downgrade compensation policy is to refund the difference between the fare you paid and the economy fare that was available at the time of booking. Let us know how you go!

Sounds a bit better than full fare economy on day of travel.

 

[Pushka]

And a few extra points for VA reps not knowing the definition of full.

Maybe no shows?

Qantas didnt link our 2 bookings recently even though they said they did. It’s always a risk.

 

[ozstamps]

I'd seek some points - ask for 10,000 each, plus the clearly owed refund difference, and the SC will not be an issue,

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Unless Virgin is different for other carriers... linking bookings only has an effect IF the agent looks for the flag alerting to the other booking. If they don’t look, they won’t see the link. AFAIK there’s no red flashing light that comes up when you access one booking that has another linked to it.

After cancelled flights it’s not uncommon for alternatives to be ‘full’. In many cases airlines or actively move status and other passengers onto noes flights, but the passengers haven’t even had the change to confirm the new flights are acceptable. So the flight can be full, but subsequently people ring in to make other arrangements, freeing up seats.

This happened to me last year when BA cancelled out of AMS... the cancellation email had five flights available, tuesday when i went to select my preferred on 30 seconds later they’d all gone (auto allocated).

 

[Spacetravel]

After waiting some time for the Guest Relation's Team to answer my complaint, the response I received was quite dreadful.
They sent me a link to the seating policy and said seating isn't guaranteed and that they will pass my feedback on to the cabin crew team. They also told me I will need to call the GCC regarding my status credits and I will receive a refund of the fare difference in 21 business days.

Now I have worked in a complaints role for almost a decade, I know how to formulate a complaint without the emotion and dribble. I made no mention of being upset with seating or any problems with cabin crew (since I wasn't even on a VA flight). It baffled me they completely misunderstood everything I was asking, which after all that they just asked me to call in to sort out the original routing credit.

I did what they asked and called, which I can confirm I received both the AirNZ status credits and points. I also received the status credits and points I was due for flying in business class at the double status credit rate under which I booked the fare. That part was a great outcome.

Sadly I am yet to receive the refund of the fare difference, which I know they said 21 days from when they responded to my complaint. I still can't believe I had to write a complaint, wait 10 business days and now have to wait another 21 business days just to receive a fare difference refund.

Thanks guys for your help so far, hopefully I won't be back next month upset that I haven't received the refund.

 

[Mattg]

Did you ever receive the correct refund for this?

 

[Spacetravel]

Did you ever receive the correct refund for this?

I did, it came just over a month after the flight around the first week of September.

 

[Mattg]

I did, it came just over a month after the flight around the first week of September.

What was the amount of the refund? Did you get the difference between the business class fare and the cheapest economy ticket or the full-price flexible economy fare?

 

[Spacetravel]

What was the amount of the refund? Did you get the difference between the business class fare and the cheapest economy ticket or the full-price flexible economy fare?

Sorry, missed your reply. Haha year later I'll answer you. Sadly all the refund was, was the difference between my J fare and full price flexible Y which turned out to be about $50 a ticket.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Sorry, missed your reply. Haha year later I'll answer you. Sadly all the refund was, was the difference between my J fare and full price flexible Y which turned out to be about $50 a ticket.

This is the insidious part of the whole affair... the refund calculation. It should be mandated - as it is in the EU - that the refund is against a discount economy fare (or a set refund like 75% of sector price). It's fairly easy for the airline to check the sales for the flight and determine the lowest economy class ticket paid. That should be the standard.

 

[hydrabyss]

Sorry, missed your reply. Haha year later I'll answer you. Sadly all the refund was, was the difference between my J fare and full price flexible Y which turned out to be about $50 a ticket.

Considering some Freedom fares are dearer then Business Saver would they ask you to pay the extra.