Thank you Virgin

[Blinky]

I thought people here might want to know my very recent experience with Virgin. I booked a return flight for my wife and me to Sabah, on a Saver fare (stupidly in retrospect as the difference between saver and Flexi wasn't great). Anyway, we were due to depart on March 20, but my mother-in-law died on March 18 (she was 95, but it was nevertheless unexpected given her health for her age). I rang Virgin to cancel, fully expecting to be told that the fare was non-refundable, and that I would have to run through the gauntlet with my travel insurer.

I told the call centre lady the reason, and she put me on hold. After about 10 minutes or so, during which she spoke to her manager, she told me that they refunded the entire fare into their Travel Bank.

So congratulations and well done Virgin. You have made a sad and stressful time a bit easier to bear.

 

[straitman]

Sorry to hear about your loss Blinky and congratulations to VA for their helpful customer service.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Sorry to here your sad news Blinky - commiserations to your wife - and very we'll done VA.

 

[AusTraveller]

Sorry to here your sad news Blinky - commiserations to your wife - and very we'll done VA.

Likewise fom me. Glad to hear that the stress has been lessened somewhat by not having to dea, with travel insurers. Sorry for loss (especially Mrs Blinky) and I'm glad you were well looked after. A great result.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Condolences Blinky, and well done to the customer service team at VA.

 

[lewyVA]

Glad you had such a positive experience in tough circumstances. I was faced with similar last week... My fiance had to change a flight from Monday morning to Friday night as her father took a turn for the worse and she needed to get to the other side of the country fast enough to say goodbye. As the last flight to Perth left in under three hours on the Friday I made the changes through the Gold Helpline and was of course hit with the $80 change fee despite my circumstances being clear. It is an interesting dilemma I guess it's the sort of situation that could be easily abused, but sometimes you wish there was a little more wiggle room. Having said that I fully understand the fare rules and was happy to pay the $80 change fee at the end of the day.