Virgin america ticket cancellation

[BARNABY]

I had paid-up bookings on Virgin America to travel LAX to JFK and JFK to LAS next month on 5th and 14th May.
Because of a family matter I can no longer take that trip and have cancelled the bookings on-line this morning.
The cancellation was approved immediately (with the $75.00 cancellation fee charged).
However, the email receipt from Virgin America states "your account with Virgin America has been credited $249.20 in the form of Virgin America Credit Files, redeemable for future travel on Virgin America".
As well as being disenchanted with my money not being refunded to my original credit card, I do not plan to travel in the USA within the next (redeemable) 12 months.
Can any members advise what recourse I may have in recovering my money from Virgin America. Many thanks.....

 

[Dave Noble]

It depends on what the cancellation policy was. If the cancellation fee was $75 with the rest available for a future purchase, then this would be perfectly correct. If the fare was genuinely refundable, then it should have been refunded back to method of purchase

Looking at the cancellation policy of the cheap VX fares it states

UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED
CANCELLATIONS
TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE.
NOTE -
PRIOR TO SCHEDULED DEPARTURE RESERVATIONS MAY BE
CANCELED FOR A FEE OF 75 USD THROUGH
WWW.VIRGINAMERICA.COM OR 100 USD THROUGH ALL OTHER
CHANNELS. ANY REMAINING BALANCE WILL BE PLACED
IN A CREDIT FILE GOOD FOR TRAVEL ON VIRGIN AMERICA
FOR ONE YEAR FROM DATE OF ISSUE. GUESTS WHO
NO-SHOW WILL FORFEIT THE AMOUNT OF THIS FARE.
ANY FUTURE SEGMENTS WILL ALSO BE CANCELED AND
THE FARES FORFEITED.

So would seem that what they have done is quite correct. Do you have travel insurance which will cover the cancellation costs?

 

[samh004]

This is quite common practice, even on Qantas fares you’ll find you get a Qantas credit for use within 12 months.

 

[BARNABY]

Thanks Dave and Sam, now it makes sense.....