VA29/30 SYD-AUH cancelled Apr-Jul 2016: Downgraded from Y+ to Y - $390 refund only!

[SusanZ]

In Sept 2016 I booked VA flights for May/June 2016 next year from SYD-AUH-MXP, returning CDG-AUH-SYD with the VA SYD-AUH and AUH-SYD legs in Premium Economy (and the AUH-MXP, CDG-AUH legs in Economy). In doing so, I forewent numerous very good Earlybird Y (eg Singapore) and Y+ (eg CX) offers that were available at the time.

This morning, VA informed me that all VA29 and V30 flights were cancelled from 7 April 2016 - 25 July 2016 for the 777 refurbishment.

They offered:

• Etihad flights in the economy cabin, with only a $390 refund per leg (which does not seem to adequately reflect the difference between Y+ and Y).
• Upgrade to Etihad Business Class for $1,199 per leg (which I definitely cannot afford)

Additionally, due to the time of the new Etihad flight, I'll miss my connection to MXP so either need to travel 24 hrs later; or travel a longer route via SYD-MEL-AUH-MXP (adding travel time and a misconnection risk).

Further, I would've gained enough status credits from the Y+ sectors to receive a status upgrade, which is a key factor in deciding to go Y+ with VA instead of other Y & Y+ offers. I also can't use my Velocity points to upgrade an Etihad-operated flight.

Lastly, VA only notified me today despite releasing its commercial policy on the re-accommodation back in 21 December 2015. It took quite a while for the operator to even realise that both flights were cancelled, and to identify alternate flight options.

VA have offered a refund, which is good, but all the deals available at the time of booking (4 months ago) are of course no longer available. If I wanted to fly economy whole way I would've gotten a better fare months ago, rather than going with whatever is available now.

Does anyone have any advice or recommendations on options??

VA's "Guest Service Charter" says

When We Need to Change Your Schedule

If your flight is changed or cancelled we will contact you in a timely manner via the details given in your booking and provide you with alternative flight details.
If the alternative flight time does not work for you, we will move you to another available Virgin Australia service, with no further cost to you (as close as possible to your original scheduled departure time and in the same class you booked).

However, in my case they have not offered an option in the same class at all.

I'm really disappointed and have wasted hours on the phone to the call centre and researching new flight options. Grr! Any help appreciated!

 

[aaronm]

Re: VA29/30 SYD-AUH cancelled Apr-Jul 2016: Downgraded from Y+ to Y - $390 refund onl

Good luck with this. I was in the same boat, ended up upgrading one way and taking the refund on the way back. IMO $390 is not much of a refund going from Y+ to Y (nor is the $1200 upgrade to J a bargain), but at least I'll still earn status and points at the flexi rate.

I made a few calls as well, there doesn't seem to be much VA will do about the price of upgrading (wouldn't even let me use points instead of cash, or a combination). But they were happy to let me move flights without any additional fees. I ended up modifying 4 of 6 flights on my booking, including a strategic move so my Y sector is on an A380 instead of Etihad's squeezy 777.

There is always the option of a full refund if you are really unhappy with the arrangement, I suppose.

 

[Bagpuss]

Re: VA29/30 SYD-AUH cancelled Apr-Jul 2016: Downgraded from Y+ to Y - $390 refund onl

They offered:

• Etihad flights in the economy cabin, with only a $390 refund per leg (which does not seem to reflect the difference between Y+ and Y).
• Upgrade to Etihad Business Class for $1,199 per leg (which I definitely cannot afford)

With the $390 will they still give you the full status credits and points as per the original booking?

With EY not having Y+ it's always a huge risk of being bumped down on the SYD - AUH routing direct.

There are still good deals going now with airlines.

 

[tania73]

Re: VA29/30 SYD-AUH cancelled Apr-Jul 2016: Downgraded from Y+ to Y - $390 refund onl

Qatar has some great specials on - I would be looking at prices f I was you, 390 per leg is rubbish

 

[Mattg]

Re: VA29/30 SYD-AUH cancelled Apr-Jul 2016: Downgraded from Y+ to Y - $390 refund onl

I do think this is pretty poor. Personally I would consider paying the extra to fly Business, but I realise that won't suit everyone.

Have you checked thoroughly if any other airlines selling reasonably priced Premium Economy tickets? The best option may well be to get a refund and rebook with them if so.

 

[Ausbt]

Re: VA29/30 SYD-AUH cancelled Apr-Jul 2016: Downgraded from Y+ to Y - $390 refund onl

If the OP had of been in J, I wonder if VA would have moved them to EY J?

 

[JohnK]

Re: VA29/30 SYD-AUH cancelled Apr-Jul 2016: Downgraded from Y+ to Y - $390 refund onl

Very poor. Why do airlines continue offer poor compensation for downgrades?

Ask Virgin if one paid for economy can they upgrade to premium economy for $390?

 

[eastwest101]

Re: VA29/30 SYD-AUH cancelled Apr-Jul 2016: Downgraded from Y+ to Y - $390 refund onl

In Sept 2016 I booked VA flights for May/June 2016 next year from SYD-AUH-MXP, returning CDG-AUH-SYD with the VA SYD-AUH and AUH-SYD legs in Premium Economy (and the AUH-MXP, CDG-AUH legs in Economy). In doing so, I forewent numerous very good Earlybird Y (eg Singapore) and Y+ (eg CX) offers that were available at the time.

This morning, VA informed me that all VA29 and V30 flights were cancelled from 7 April 2016 - 25 July 2016 for the 777 refurbishment.

First question is, how on earth you even booked those flights as I can't even get ITA matrix to construct PE seats from SYD-AUH with Y AUH-MXP and then CDG-AUH in Y with then AUH-SYD in Y+. I am just assuming that you booked these over the phone?

If its any ammunition in your arguments about the compensation for downgrade from Y+ to Y on the SYD-AUH legs then we might need to know approx. how much you paid for the original itinerary before its possible to judge if the offer of upgrade to J at $1199 per leg is reasonable (or not) and if the refund compensation of $390 per leg for the downgrade from Y+ to Y is fair or not.

I had a look at Nov 2016 mixed cabin class airfares SYD-AUH-MXP then CDG-AUH-SYD (so both SUD-AUH legs are Y+ on VA and the shorter AUH-Eurpoe legs are on Y class) and they come in around $6200 AUD. You would expect that a pure Y itinerary all the way on VA/EY would be say $1500 ish? So what did the mixed cabin class Y+ on VA with Y on EY actually cost per person?

 

[aaronm]

Re: VA29/30 SYD-AUH cancelled Apr-Jul 2016: Downgraded from Y+ to Y - $390 refund onl

^I booked MEL-SYD-AUH-FRA, with SYD-AUH legs in Y+, for $2700. Could have booked this online but I went over the phone as I wanted a stopover in AUH. Economy saver round trip on the same flights would have been around $1700 at the time.

Somewhat OT, but originally I was planning to do MEL-SYD-AUH-CDG, for some reason going into CDG would have cost $6600 with the stopover!

 

[eastwest101]

Re: VA29/30 SYD-AUH cancelled Apr-Jul 2016: Downgraded from Y+ to Y - $390 refund onl

^I booked MEL-SYD-AUH-FRA, with SYD-AUH legs in Y+, for $2700. Could have booked this online but I went over the phone as I wanted a stopover in AUH. Economy saver round trip on the same flights would have been around $1700 at the time.

Somewhat OT, but originally I was planning to do MEL-SYD-AUH-CDG, for some reason going into CDG would have cost $6600 with the stopover!

Yes - when I think about about it - the OP must have booked those flights over the phone - no way the VA web site could of handled those flights. Plus the fact that the OP hasn't mentioned a travel agent (either online or physical store) leads me to believe they booked this themselves over the phone.

So lets say the OP considered or could have seen an all Y class return fares SYD-MXP-CDG-SYD for say $1800 per person, and the compensation offered for the two downgraded legs from Y+ to Y is 2 x $390 = $780 then that means that the OP possibly paid say as little as around $2600 per person for the original mixed cabin class fare? My bet is that they didn't pay only $2600 ea for the original booked fare, but something much more than this, possibly with a 3 or even 4 in front of it, and I presume that VA/EY are simply trying to pocket the difference. We won't really know until the OP comes back with the amount they paid for the original ticketing and whether they compared with mixed cabin class fares with J or all Y class flights.

If there is a big discrepancy in the fares then its exactly the same as a customer walking into a car dealership and looking at a Corolla for $19990 drive away and also a Lexus IS300 for $39,990 on the show room floor. Say they compare both, like the IS300 and order the Lexus and plonk a $10,000 deposit down.

Several month later the dealer calls back and says that "unfortunately" they don't have any Lexus IS300s in stock at all but can offer a Corolla, unfortunately the price of the Corolla has gone up and now the recommended retail price is $38,990 so they will demand the remaining $28,990 as payment to take delivery of the Corolla.

End result is that if the customer were stupid enough to agree to this, the dealership would sell a base model Corolla worth $19,990 for $38,990! An excellent result for the dealer but not so much for the customer....

 

[JohnK]

Re: VA29/30 SYD-AUH cancelled Apr-Jul 2016: Downgraded from Y+ to Y - $390 refund onl

We've had this with Qantas refunds after downgrades.

Makes no sense for the airline to try and profit from a situation where their customer is inconvenienced.

 

[moa999]

Re: VA29/30 SYD-AUH cancelled Apr-Jul 2016: Downgraded from Y+ to Y - $390 refund onl

Qantas at least has published tables for downgrade amounts -- albeit they are also ludicrously small amounts compared to the normal fare differences at time of booking

 

[Oxy]

Re: VA29/30 SYD-AUH cancelled Apr-Jul 2016: Downgraded from Y+ to Y - $390 refund onl

Yes - when I think about about it - the OP must have booked those flights over the phone - no way the VA web site could of handled those flights. Plus the fact that the OP hasn't mentioned a travel agent (either online or physical store) leads me to believe they booked this themselves over the phone.

So lets say the OP considered or could have seen an all Y class return fares SYD-MXP-CDG-SYD for say $1800 per person, and the compensation offered for the two downgraded legs from Y+ to Y is 2 x $390 = $780 then that means that the OP possibly paid say as little as around $2600 per person for the original mixed cabin class fare? My bet is that they didn't pay only $2600 ea for the original booked fare, but something much more than this, possibly with a 3 or even 4 in front of it, and I presume that

VA have long highlighted on their specials page mixed class flights to EU, with SYD-AUH in PE and the last leg in Y. I have eyed them off for a while but never bit the bullet. I have got as far as the payment page, so it looked like it would go through on their site, without the stopover of course though!
They have been listed often from $2400-$2800 depending on destination, mostly low season.

I don't know the EU market that well, but I would estimate an open jaw in Y booked on special with EY in late May could be got for $1600-$1700. If that is the case, by the time you take out taxes, $390 each way would be about legit.

Not that it makes a great or happy solution, I would not be happy with that outcome either.

 

[serfty]

Re: VA29/30 SYD-AUH cancelled Apr-Jul 2016: Downgraded from Y+ to Y - $390 refund onl

Qantas at least has published tables for downgrade amounts -- albeit they are also ludicrously small amounts compared to the normal fare differences at time of booking

Specific to this, VA have published their specific policy for this - the $$ figure above are as per the policy.

Note that with Qantas current policy, the PE->Y for each segment between Oz and Dubai (Middle) east is $871 for W and $469 for W or T classes.

Qantas - Fare Refund table