AUH- PER Flight cancelled

[scullkr]

I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar experience in the past and what is best to do, or whether anyone is in the same boat.

Myself and my partner were supposed to be flying Etihad J DUB-PER via AUH one way October 9th. I booked using Velocity points via Virgin Australia. We have a 5 day turn around in Ireland for a wedding so I was very keen to fly J the way back (thankfully I used LifeMiles for the departing journey). Obviously the second leg is now cancelled- I wouldn't have known only for the forums which is annoying in itself to say the least. Isn't it a bit ridiculous to cancel a route within a 6 month time frame and tickets already sold?

I have contacted Virgin for advice as I booked through them and as of yet they don't know what will happen- apparently it has been escalated. They have told me we may be rerouted from Abu Dhabi, or we may receive a full refund- presumably points and taxes paid. However they could not answer as to when I should expect to hear from them. I'll try Etihad tomorrow- there was quite a wait earlier.

What should I do, what are my rights and what are the likely solutions to be offered?
Am I likely to be rerouted and if so can I expect a free transfer to Perth?
Has anyone else been affected by the cancellations and have Etihad contacted them about their booking?
Should I just cut my losses and ask for a full refund? I have no idea when they will get back to me and it is already a bit late to be trying to secure J flights from Europe at this point.

Any advice appreciated as always.

 

[jase05]

I’d be hoping to be re-routed through SYD on their A380 and then transferred back to PER without costing you a cent

 

[docjames]

I’d be insisting on a re-route not a refund.

Expect to end up on EY to SYD or MEL then VA to PER.

Only other possibility would be to look at flight options ex-SIN and try and get them to re-route the EY leg to DUB-AUH-SIN and an SQ seat SIN-PER. But I’d be insisting on that at VA’s expense.

 

[ozstamps]

Yes you should be re-protected on an alternate route at their cost.

I've flown DUB-AUH-PER in J several times and VV.

Are you saying the PER service is now totally cancelled - or just on the day you had booked?

 

[EtihadAirways]

I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar experience in the past and what is best to do, or whether anyone is in the same boat.

Myself and my partner were supposed to be flying Etihad J DUB-PER via AUH one way October 9th. I booked using Velocity points via Virgin Australia. We have a 5 day turn around in Ireland for a wedding so I was very keen to fly J the way back (thankfully I used LifeMiles for the departing journey). Obviously the second leg is now cancelled- I wouldn't have known only for the forums which is annoying in itself to say the least. Isn't it a bit ridiculous to cancel a route within a 6 month time frame and tickets already sold?

I have contacted Virgin for advice as I booked through them and as of yet they don't know what will happen- apparently it has been escalated. They have told me we may be rerouted from Abu Dhabi, or we may receive a full refund- presumably points and taxes paid. However they could not answer as to when I should expect to hear from them. I'll try Etihad tomorrow- there was quite a wait earlier.

What should I do, what are my rights and what are the likely solutions to be offered?
Am I likely to be rerouted and if so can I expect a free transfer to Perth?
Has anyone else been affected by the cancellations and have Etihad contacted them about their booking?
Should I just cut my losses and ask for a full refund? I have no idea when they will get back to me and it is already a bit late to be trying to secure J flights from Europe at this point.

Any advice appreciated as always.

Our flights to Perth will be suspended from October 1. All guests that have booking for this date or any date after October 1 will be rerouted via Sydney or Melbourne, or they can get a refund of the ticket. You can call our Contact Centre to assist you with both options. *Marc

 

[scullkr]

Thanks for the replies. I’ll contact Etihad call centre and post back how I go.

 

[scullkr]

Brick wall from Etihad as expected. Any change has to be through Virgin Australia as they issued the ticket.

Looking up VA flights, DUB-AUH-SYD would require an overnight stay in Sydney before a flight the next morning. DUB-AUH-MEL would at least get me back to Perth that night with only 2 hours stopover in Melbourne.

DUB-AUH-SIN-PER was a great idea, but I’d just miss the morning flight in Singapore and would have to hang around until the evening departure.

I’ll continue to hassle Virgin but they seem to know as little as I do so far.

 

[ywwol]

Don't cancel. Some dummy will probably slug you with penalties giving you more headache. If the cancellation is within the airlines control and this is, itţs up to them to reschedule you on another service. You will probably get DUB-AUH-MEL-PER or DUB-BNE-PER landing midnight instead of in the afternoon.

 

[scullkr]

Don't cancel. Some dummy will probably slug you with penalties giving you more headache. If the cancellation is within the airlines control and this is, itţs up to them to reschedule you on another service. You will probably get DUB-AUH-MEL-PER or DUB-BNE-PER landing midnight instead of in the afternoon.

Yeah I’ll hold out. When I’ve called I’ve gotten the impression I would make life much easier for them if I cancelled

The latest line has been that the rescheduling team will be in contact ‘but there is no guarantee of a J booking.....’ considering that Guest seats are no longer available.

 

[Bagpuss]

Yeah I’ll hold out. When I’ve called I’ve gotten the impression I would make life much easier for them if I cancelled

The latest line has been that the rescheduling team will be in contact ‘but there is no guarantee of a J booking.....’ considering that Guest seats are no longer available.

I would hold out.
As it's ticketed by Virgin it's possible that you may end up on a Virgin flight without an Etihad codeshare number which may open up some better options. If you are given a choice of flights, ask for a330 flight over a b737 service.

I wouldn't be concerned about seat availability with a business class booking as long are seats are available they will move you.

 

[scullkr]

Well the latest wasn't very reassuring. Missed another call from Virgin today- they tend to ring very early and had to call back the usual Velocity number to speak to an operator who doesn't seem to know much- this is about the 3rd time this has happened.

The latest offer today was that I would have to be rerouted through Sydney or Melbourne as there is no availability with Singapore (I am presuming they are only searching award availability) BUT I would have to pay the difference in points. I thought this was ridiculous and said so. The other option was to cancel the flight.

When asked how to speak to the actual team trying to contact me 'they work in the back office and only make outgoing calls'.

I said I would seek legal advice and call back.

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

It never fails to amaze me just how much bad will companies are willing to generate so as to not help customers fix an issue they didn't cause.

Virgin really can't afford to make their velocity reward scheme any less rewarding.

 

[scullkr]

It never fails to amaze me just how much bad will companies are willing to generate so as to not help customers fix an issue they didn't cause.

Virgin really can't afford to make their velocity reward scheme any less rewarding.

Yes, this one is really leaving a bad taste in the mouth.

 

[scullkr]

Well the saga is over at last.

Quite a few phone calls to Velocity over the last few months, with promises of call backs etc to no avail. I rang them the other day and they confirmed that unless Etihad released some extra guest availability there was nothing they could do. Rerouting me in economy was the best offer they could do.

So I rang Etihad again at the weekend. I’m not sure if my recent Gold upgrade has anything to do with it but they told me they would release availability for me and call me back in 24 hours. Then it was just a case of calling Velocity to get the new ticket issued. This all went as planned.

End result is DUB-AUH, AUH-MEL, MEL-PER all in J, arrival 9 hours later than originally booked.

I’ll take it.

 

[AIRwin]

End result is DUB-AUH, AUH-MEL, MEL-PER all in J, arrival 9 hours later than originally booked.

MEL-PER in The Business on the A330?

 

[scullkr]

MEL-PER in The Business on the A330?

737 unfortunately. I had the option of going via Sydney which would probably have involved better planes but I’m doing the trip on a 5 day turnaround and just want to be back in Perth ASAP!