Virgin's little secret

[mikejh]

Hi All

I have recently (the last week) heard of two examples where emails have been sent from virgin cancelling these special tickets.

The story goes virgin is doing an Audit of their system glitches at the time and are now going to customers and telling them, their super cheap ticket is no more....despite some of them being on the website for weeks.

Not sure if anyone else has heard of this, I would have thought after a few months and an Eticket being sent this would have been set in stone.

 

[Jama]

I think the majority have already taken the flights !

 

[markis10]

Not sure if anyone else has heard of this, I would have thought after a few months and an Eticket being sent this would have been set in stone.

Its not unusual for people to be denied boarding during the trip on mistake fares, nothing is set in stone.

 

[ojm]

My brother and partner went to Bali with these fares last month. I am scheduled to go with my partner and my parents (their first time in J) in September.

If Virgin cancel these flights, I will be back to Qantas (the biz will have to buy QP access until I get status again though!). Even though this was obviously a bug with the Sabre system change over, a lot of other flights and accommodation has been arranged around these..so cancelling after all this time will not be acceptable, especially after that email.

(And after being kicked out of the LAX lounge during the Sabre changeover as the flight back to Aus was so delayed, this is my reward!)

I am sure this won't happen but and have confidence in Virgin doing the right thing.

 

[basso]

I think the majority have already taken the flights !

That is probably true for the flights affected by the original email. However, they related to a particular problem, and that problem has not been the only problem that has occurred with Sabre. There was a much more recent bug in the booking engine - and people that found that bug are having some of their booking cancelled. There are some very good discussions on this out there in the interwebs....(including some armchair analysis of the legal aspects of the cancelations)

 

[Glaciar]

Humbly suggest the lid is kept firmly on this one whilst in the public domain, and all discussions are moved to a private area.

 

[straitman]

Humbly suggest the lid is kept firmly on this one whilst in the public domain, and all discussions are moved to a private area.

Hi Glaciar,

Welcome to AFF.

Whilst I personally agree with the sentiments in your post, AFF is a public forum and people can post what ever they wish (within the forum rules). Unfortunately that means that if people don't think things through and then publicly discuss matters such as this then so be it.

 

[Glaciar]

Hi Glaciar,

Welcome to AFF.

Whilst I personally agree with the sentiments in your posts, AFF is a public forum and people can post what ever they wish (within the forum rules). Unfortunately that means that if people don't think things through and then publicly discuss matters such as this then so be it.

Hi straitman,

Thank you! this situation brought me to AFF.

I understand that people can post whatever they wish, and I understand that I cannot force people to stop posting. My post was just a warning to any careless members.

Hope you understand.

 

[Kitkat271]

First post here after lurking for a long time ...

Can Virgin actually cancel a ticket unilaterally? I thought that if you'd booked through a legitimate channel and accepted the airline's offer (erroneous or not), made a payment was made and a contract issued (ie an e-ticket), there's nothing a merchant can do but to honour that contract (ie let you fly). My very basic knowledge of consumer law would say that if Virgin cancels the ticket, then they have breached that contract. Is this an overly simplistic view?

 

[blackcat20]

First post here after lurking for a long time ...

Can Virgin actually cancel a ticket unilaterally? I thought that if you'd booked through a legitimate channel and accepted the airline's offer (erroneous or not), made a payment was made and a contract issued (ie an e-ticket), there's nothing a merchant can do but to honour that contract (ie let you fly). My very basic knowledge of consumer law would say that if Virgin cancels the ticket, then they have breached that contract. Is this an overly simplistic view?

That's my understanding too, but I can also understand why they'd be having a shot at cancelling, even if they are in the wrong.

 

[markis10]

First post here after lurking for a long time ...

Can Virgin actually cancel a ticket unilaterally? I thought that if you'd booked through a legitimate channel and accepted the airline's offer (erroneous or not), made a payment was made and a contract issued (ie an e-ticket), there's nothing a merchant can do but to honour that contract (ie let you fly). My very basic knowledge of consumer law would say that if Virgin cancels the ticket, then they have breached that contract. Is this an overly simplistic view?

Corporations are not obliged to honour mistake pricing issues even after the invitation to treat has been taken up under consumer laws. Most do because of the PR ramifications that result when they say no, such as Coles $15 beer and numerous Dell debacles.

 

[straitman]

I understand and agree.

Hi straitman,

Thank you! this situation brought me to AFF.

I understand that people can post whatever they wish, and I understand that I cannot force people to stop posting. My post was just a warning to any careless members.

Hope you understand.

 

[Glaciar]

Corporations are not obliged to honour mistake pricing issues even after the invitation to treat has been taken up under consumer laws.

Surely the amount of time they've taken to detect errors and respond would bite them in the behind? It's 2.5-3 months since booking for some.

 

[markis10]

Surely the amount of time they've taken to detect errors and respond would bite them in the behind? It's 2.5-3 months since booking for some.

Mistakes are hardly secret in social media these days, the $$$ involved are significant, making anytime spent in recovery worthwhile I suspect.

 

[Jama]

Even if you didn't know the whole Sabre story, the give away fares are clearly due to a system error, although you might be able to justify some of the other heavily discounted ones. Reasonableness always seems to go out the window when money is involved.

No one will like it, but I am going to say it anyway. There are two kinds of people. Those who find something and hand it in, genuinely happy the rightful owner might get it back and then you have those with the finders keepers attitude happy to live life at the expense of others. After all its their fault for losing it.

Its commendable that VA has honoured many of these fares, but there shouldn't be any compulsion for them to do so.

 

[serfty]

...

Its commendable that VA has honoured many of these fares, but there shouldn't be any compulsion for them to do so.

On June 29th a VA representative displayed a copy of the letter in the OP as part of a power point presentation to a group of about 40 Frequent Flyers - the indication was they would honoring these 'mistake fares'. Of course, things changed once the sabre issue got "out".

I would suggest that those bookings cancelled were made subsequent to then.

 

[burmans]

Its commendable that VA has honoured many of these fares, but there shouldn't be any compulsion for them to do so.

Except IMO in those cases where they have said they will. I also have a bit of a problem with the circumstances where they don't notify for a considerable period of time, the example of people being denied boarding as a case in point. Given it is their error it is in my opinion their responsibility to pro-actively advise of that error and that it will not be hunoured. So I essence in my mind it's not necessarily a case of either/or as regards who's right.

While $0 fares are clearly incorrect, airlines and others have over the years legitimately posted fares that I thought must be a mistake but weren't for reasons best known to themselves, so the only people who should be relied upon to say a fare is a mistake is the person who makes this mistake, if they haven't told you how do you really know.

 

[serfty]

Its not unusual for people to be denied boarding during the trip on mistake fares, nothing is set in stone.

Are you aware of VA doing this to any as per this instance?

 

[markis10]

Are you aware of VA doing this to any as per this instance?

This is the first I have heard of VA not honouring any fare, but past performance is of course not indicative of future possibilities.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

There are two kinds of people. Those who find something and hand it in, genuinely happy the rightful owner might get it back and then you have those with the finders keepers attitude happy to live life at the expense of others. After all its their fault for losing it.

And that relates to this thread, how?

Finding a wallet in the street and handing it into police is a big difference to legitimately buying a product where the seller has mucked up the price. In business, twice in my life I've stuffed up a quote and sold my companies services for less than what it has cost me to supply them. I had to honour the contract price or I'd have been sued. Some companies go broke trying to honour contracted prices which they've signed to. Some companies try to cut corners and ignore specifications to make the figures work (and that does not constitute a valid and legal option either).

I see very little difference in an airline stuffing up fares (or rewards) and a contracting company stuffing up a tender offer. The only difference may be the contract conditions (T&Cs in VAs case). If they state they can pull out of their deal without penalty, then............

I see no relationship to someones personal morals in returning a genuinely lost article to the rightful owner.