Virgin Atlantic cancellation – what next?

[bogof7478]

Morning,

Travelling to Vancouver over the summer. Outbound is thankfully operating this week- ticketed by Virgin and flight is operated by Delta LHR-SEA-YVR.

I’ve just had an email this morning from Virgin saying that a return Delta leg (SEA-LHR) has been cancelled. This is at the end of August 28th (imagine it’ll be super busy). Email states they’re trying to rebook and will contact us. Or i can log onto deltas website and rebook myself- when I try this it doesnt show the flight as cancelled but isn’t showing complete information for the flight either (equipment/ meals etc)

Is it a case of waiting and seeing? Anything else I should be aware of? When i look for flights for that date back from vancouver on virgins website seems like extremely low availability- few options via KLM and Air France.

[Richie]

Decide the best option for you on Skyteam/VS metal and then call and ask for it.

[bogof7478]

Thanks- was hoping a direct Westjet to gatwick would appear but KLM/AF seems the only option now.

[JDB]

bogof7478 wrote:

Thanks- was hoping a direct Westjet to gatwick would appear but KLM/AF seems the only option now.

Yes, as your return is on a US carrier you don’t have UK261 rights, so they aren’t obliged to book you on a carrier outside their alliance unless they wish to.

• This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .

[bogof7478]

I couldn’t get through to the Virgin (waited 1.5 hours) but they have come back with changes to my itinerary.

Now it’s been re routed to

YVR-SEA-SLC-LHR

connection time at SEA is 40mins and at SLC is 45mins- sounds a bit stressful.

Is this enough? Do i have grounds to argue that they should put me on a less stressful routing?

[The real Swiss Tony]

So long as you haven’t accepted the reroute then you should still be able to push for something else.

Two points….

1) You will land in SEA as a domestic passenger, having already cleared US customs & immigration in Vancouver.
2) DL – in my limited experience – are incredibly proactive when it comes to reroute options. A few years ago I was routing AUS-DTW-LGA. The DTW-LGA picked up a modest delay whilst I was flying up from Texas and the app was immediately offering me alternatives.

I would however be very cautious about this route if you have checked bags as that double connection is a bit red-flag.

Looking at availability it seems like they are trying their hardest to keep you on DL metal. There are other options out of SEA but that means an early start – possibly before the first plane gets in from YVR. Also via CDG or AMS both show with seats.

I’d be tempted to either wait for them to call you or go to the ticket desk at LHR next week and have a word. Check availability before hand and just say “I’d like to route XYZ”. The problem is if you accept that change then it’s down to them to sort only once the connection is missed and that’s a late departure from SLC so you’re likely going to end up stuck there overnight, too.