Virgin T shirt protest

[Hvr]

And another person expecting the rules to be changed for them.

Man's T-shirt protest against Virgin | 3AW News

Mr Paxman was left astonished when he discovered that a simple typing mistake had cost him hundreds of dollars.


He entered his name incorrectly while booking his flight ticket to Bali - "I think I hit tab at the wrong time" - which made his ticket invalid.


Although Mr Paxman alerted Virgin to the mistake 48 hours before the flight, customer service insisted he had to buy a new ticket.


And so he made a T-shirt.

Of course he doesn't mention how long between purchase and 48 hours before travel. Still why let the facts get in the way of the truth.

 

[N860CR]

I do feel for him a little bit... If it was a genuine error like this, there's nothing stopping the airline just fixing it.

Had he "misspelt" his name from John Smith to David Jones... Well that's different.

 

[lovestotravel]

Okay so he hates Virgin so much... and it sounds like he had to buy another ticket as he did make it to Bali

Was that ticket on Virgin ?

BOGAN FAIL

Would have been even better if Virgin refused to let him fly with that T-Shirt on!

 

[robd]

I had a bit of a listen to the interview. In summary, he purchased the ticket thru online 3rd party (Expedia or et el). He printed the E-ticket a couple of days prior to the travel date and that's when he realised he had entered the name as "David David". VA charged him additional $450 for new ticket.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Reminds me of the time I was kicked out of the SYD F-Lounge.
Some of other flyers were offended by this t-shirt.

 

[JohnK]

VA charged him additional $450 for new ticket.

That is disgraceful.

 

[Spongbob]

The pax wanted both Wotif and VA to bend the rules for him when he was not careful in making the booking and it took him about 8 weeks to notice his error. T&C are there for a reason, and (I assume) he indicted he understood them when making the booking. If both Wotif and VA bend the rules for this pax, others are likely to expect the same treatment (why not me, you did it for someone else?). It is a simple "floodgates" situation.

It seems $450 did not mean much to him when he made the booking, otherwise why was he so lax in checking his e-ticket? But less than 48 hours from the flight $450 is important.

 

[quick_dry]

I think it is a pretty terrible way to deal with the problem by VA (based on the info posted) - I've been in a similar spot, though mine was a phone booking and the operator botched the spelling, and the first operator I got when I rang back after getting the email tried to pull the stuff about name changes (it was only a couple of letters e.g. correcting Stephen to Steven)

Pretty sure the intent of the rule was to prevent the ticket being used by a different person, not to screw people over spelling errors.

 

[Intra]

I think it is a pretty terrible way to deal with the problem by VA (based on the info posted) - I've been in a similar spot, though mine was a phone booking and the operator botched the spelling, and the first operator I got when I rang back after getting the email tried to pull the stuff about name changes (it was only a couple of letters e.g. correcting Stephen to Steven)

Pretty sure the intent of the rule was to prevent the ticket being used by a different person, not to screw people over spelling errors.

Afew key differences here though - Your case was the CC Agent's mistake; The case above was his own fault with spelling

Your mistake was noted almost immediately; The other dude here didn't not til 8 weeks after booking AND 48 hours prior to departure

True, not exactly a full name change, but I think VA are in the right. Learn the hard lesson and move on for him...

 

[under the radar]

just another example of an individual not taking responsibility for their own action/situation....then when a 'problem' arises...they look to blame others

 

[NFF]

It's partly due to computers taking over our lives.

 

[Bali Belly]

I was on the return VA flight leaving DPS the pax only doned his t shirt once in the air not at the airport but we had seen around Bali in his t shirt
I would say that the VA staff on board did not pay to much attention but was very hard to miss when walked to toilet

 

[Jack_OC]

I for one think this is shocking from VA. I also would bet that if he'd said nothing and just showed up at the airport, he would have been fine.

 

[Jack_OC]

just another example of an individual not taking responsibility for their own action/situation....then when a 'problem' arises...they look to blame others

I can't see where he has sought to blame others. He's accepted he made a mistake, and is complaining about the disproportionate consequences of that mistake - rightly so in my opinion. The T&Cs are there to stop people transferring tickets to others on the sly - in this example it was very clear that's not what he was trying to do, so it's not unreasonable to expect the airline to show some pragmatism.

 

[boomy]

I see it as a humorous protest. The guy didn't wear it at the airport because he didn't want to create a scene. He only put it once he was on the plane and most pax seemed to have a good laugh, nothing wrong with that IMO.

 

[boomy]

It's partly due to computers taking over our lives.

Apparently not enough as people still manage to make silly mistakes

 

[burmans]

I can't see where he has sought to blame others. He's accepted he made a mistake, and is complaining about the disproportionate consequences of that mistake - rightly so in my opinion. The T&Cs are there to stop people transferring tickets to others on the sly - in this example it was very clear that's not what he was trying to do, so it's not unreasonable to expect the airline to show some pragmatism.

I agree with this, as consumers we accept the airlines T&C's because frankly we have no other choice if we want to fly, but this doesn't make them "right" (or even in some case lawful) and we have the right to protest.

Getting names wrong is common, indeed the airlines have been known to do it themselves from time to time but you can be pretty sure they would object to such high penalties on themselves if such a suggestion was made they be penalised for this.

 

[Mrmaxwell]

I really do not understand the people here who have the opinion 'serves you right learn to type'.

It is obvious what mistake was made and VA could have taken the exceptional customer service approach to correct this for their customer and provide a great experience.

Jetstar Asia saved my a** last year when I rocked up to check in for an international flight and I had done exactly the same thing - my first name twice (their booking engine was really crummy and I booked via an iPad). The thing is the name format did not display the mistake on my itinerary for some reason.

The service manager came over, asked me a few questions and then instructed the check in agent to correct my name as per my passport - THAT is customer service.

 

[burmans]

I really do not understand the people here who have the opinion 'serves you right learn to type'.

Maybe they are keen for us to recognise their innate superiority? What can I say, it's not necessarily the impression we actually have of them.

 

[JohnK]

Name changes should be free of charge. And yes I do understand that it is possible for someone to purchase cheap tickets and then try and sell them. This is quite obvious though and should not be allowed.

Mistakes happen all the time more so when you do things online and you place all the responsibility on the person making the booking. I double check and triple check and still make mistakes.