Virgin Oversold Flight

[Big John]

So I’m in the queue for a BNE to SYD flight when there is trouble with the barcode.

I find out that this is because VA oversold my flight. Got placed on the next flight, which is an hour later.

As compensation, I was given a $100 travel voucher.

I have no idea as to whether this is a fair price, but accepted it so as to not cause a scene.

I politely asked for lounge access (I don’t have status) but was declined.

I FULLY acknowledge that this happens occasionally and FULLY accept that it occurred.

Whilst overselling flights is common o/s (especially in the US) this is the first time it has happened to me here in Oz.

I’m curious. Has this happened to anybody here in Australia ?

 

[Saab34]

Overbooking compensation is another shortfall down under. $100 is a joke.

I got caught out in an overbooked JetBlue flight once. I got about $1000 and a free upgrade to a mint seat. Cost me 90 mins.

Should be a % of the fare. Say for 1-2 hours. Say 200-300% value of fare. Anything longer 400-500%. That is the system the US works to.

Looking forward to movement in this space, but I have zero faith in Labor bringing in anything of interest.

 

[MarkD]

So I’m in the queue for a BNE to SYD flight when there is trouble with the barcode.

I find out that this is because VA oversold my flight. Got placed on the next flight, which is an hour later.

As compensation, I was given a $100 travel voucher.

I have no idea as to whether this is a fair price, but accepted it so as to not cause a scene.

I politely asked for lounge access (I don’t have status) but was declined.

I FULLY acknowledge that this happens occasionally and FULLY accept that it occurred.

Whilst overselling flights is common o/s (especially in the US) this is the first time it has happened to me here in Oz.

I’m curious. Has this happened to anybody here in Australia ?

I reckon you did really well, as a platinum I have never recieved sweet FA from them and delays were much longer than that plus cabin downgrade. Further they never did apply original business class status credits as promised. I think you did well for a 1 hour disrupt. As stated above though, its really poor on a world scale

 

[ozstamps]

The US system is entirely at the discretion of gate agent in charge. There is a MINIMUM, and you can very often negotiate upward if they get no takers.

We once got a United $US750 voucher each, a hotel room, meal and cab vouchers, and an guaranteed First Class seat on first flight next morning, when they were calling for volunteers at gate for a domestic flight they'd oversold. Last flight of day Friday and no-one interested, except us. Our tickets had cost $US150 each. D

We were top tier 1K flyers and that doe help if multiple 'volunteers' but if no takers they'll offer it to anyone.

Agree the MINIMUM here needs to follow EU (very strict and well outlined) for IDB and airline delays, and the USA rules. They are appalling right now.

 

[JohnK]

From one BigJohn to another @Big John I think you've done great with $100 travel voucher. So if you don't need to be anywhere in a hurry it's almost enough for another flight.

 

[Blinky]

I don’t know what I’ve done wrong, but I reckon I’ve been on 500+ VA flights and have never been bumped due to over booking.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Overbooking compensation is another shortfall down under. $100 is a joke.

I got caught out in an overbooked JetBlue flight once. I got about $1000 and a free upgrade to a mint seat. Cost me 90 mins.

Should be a % of the fare. Say for 1-2 hours. Say 200-300% value of fare. Anything longer 400-500%. That is the system the US works to.

Looking forward to movement in this space, but I have zero faith in Labor bringing in anything of interest.

Agree. At a minimum the downgrade compensation should be the difference between the lowest fare paid in the cabin by any passenger on that flight, and the highest fare paid by any passenger in the cabin on that flight.

So if you paid $379, but you were bumped and another passenger had paid $985, you should get the difference. Airlines should never make a profit out of overselling.

If you were paying the highest fare, and got bumped by someone else paying the highest fare, you should be credited with the the lowest fare in the cabin, $379. This should cover your expenses if you choose to fly another carrier at a walk-up fare.

 

[Zanzaid]

A few years ago my partner and I were flying PER-BNE and there was an issue with the flight which meant they needed several to volunteer to go through next day. Offer was $100 travel voucher each, considering we had family to stay at, this felt okay considering.

Unfortunately there wasn't really any true record of this, I had to chase Virgin about it and even then they would only provide one. Hopefully it's better organised now!

 

[Big John]

I should have expected this, but the travel voucher has failed to materialise !

Luckily, I have kept my boarding pass, so I have grounds to chase this up.

Short of ringing Virgin, does anybody have an email address to send a follow up to ?

 

[Big John]

Apologies for the tardy update.

Travel voucher has since appeared and been redeemed.