Horrible experience with Virgin Australia, Canberra to Melbourne flight

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Virgin Australia

• 

  larrytate on 23/12/2013 - 16:26

  +6

  tl;dr

• 

  goosegog on 23/12/2013 - 16:26

  Did you not have travel insurance? NEVER fly anywhere or take holidays without it.

  • 

    Nobel on 23/12/2013 - 16:53

    +3

    I was just going to visit my friend. I have insurance already, in Australia, just not travel insurance as such.

    • 

      cookie2 on 25/12/2013 - 16:50

      so that was a no correct? what were u expecting Virgin to do for you? They probably had about 180 or so people in your same circumstance and every one of them would have a valid and important reason of why they needed to get home or to their destination. It isn't their fault, they don't need to compensate, you,as an adult, are responsible for yourself. I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, I don't meant it to be, but I understand the employees position, multiple people harassing them, pleading their case, abusing them (I am not saying you were, just mean in general). You're a student. It;s holidays and you had a friend that was nice enough to pick you up, a friend you were in the state to see. Now imagine being the mother or the father, the unaccompanied minor whos parent is waiting at the destination, the person on a connecting flight onto an international destination, the start of a tour.
      Sorry but you just need to move on. Just as you did what any other person probably would've done, they did what any other airline probably would've done.

  • 

    OutOfComplaintForms on 23/12/2013 - 17:42

    +26

    Why would anyone get travel insurance for a flight that doesn't even last one hour…? It's a domestic flight as well, so you have to specifically have domestic travel insurance as well.

    • 

      cookie2 on 25/12/2013 - 16:52

      because they insurance isn't always just for the flight, it's travel insurance, hence it covers for the complete journey- flights accommodation, delays, items and personal goods,documentation etc etc.

      • 

        OutOfComplaintForms on 25/12/2013 - 20:39

        +1

        If your flight is cancelled, the airline is required to rebook you free of charge anyways, so where's the insurance claim? The most you will lose is money for a hotel overnight, or one night of pre-booked accommodation. You can book cheap hotel rooms near the airport for less than the insurance + excess anyways, so I personally don't see the point.

        I wouldn't bother paying $40 (+50 excess) for domestic insurance, when the flight itself cost $95. The frequency of domestic flights are generally quite good anyways, so in the event of a cancellation, there are other slots (usually) available.

        Travel insurance is good for longer trips, especially overseas trips, not a one-day one hour, route with multiple flights per day. :P

• 

  OldBugger on 23/12/2013 - 16:28

  +7

  This situation does suck and totally understand your frustration. But in my experience, the airline has the right to do this (possibly something to do with the terms and conditions you accepted when buying these cheap flights) and will rarely do anything more than such a letter of response.

  True, taking out cheap travel insurance is the best way to go but I'm not sure if many people do this on short interstate trips.

  Just the way it is. Don't get stressed over it - move on.

• 

  neil on 23/12/2013 - 16:45

  +2

  I haven't heard of compensation being given at the origin of the flight especially for a short domestic flight. I've flown between cities in the US (e.g. NY-LA via Denver) where my flight was canceled on a connecting leg. I was given overnight accommodation.

  Even the EU who have the best passenger regulations only stipulate:

  If you are denied boarding or your flight is cancelled or overbooked, you are entitled to either:

  • transport to your final destination using comparable alternative means, or
  • having your ticket refunded and, where relevant, being returned free of charge to your initial departure point.

  And as for compensation:

  With cancelled flights, you won't receive compensation if:

  • the cancellation was due to extraordinary circumstances for example due to bad weather

  Your situation does suck but its just one of those fun life experiences.

  Travel insurance for 1 domestic flight would probably be as much as the flight.

  EDIT:

  Looking at Virgin's flight schedule, the last flights from Canberra to Melbourne are at 5PM which doesn't give you many options if that flight is canceled.

• 

  [Deactivated] on 23/12/2013 - 16:46

  +6

  Sorry if this sounds blunt, but if you are flying with any low cost carrier (Virgin, Jetstar, Tiger, Scoot etc..) then this is what they all would have done (left you on your ass).

  You should have had travel insurance, or booked with a full service carrier.

  Also - saying that you are a student and not having a car is not helping your case. Most people who are travelling do not have a car at the airport, and the student part is irrelevant. Generally you can only get leeway with airlines if you have a family emergency of some sort.

  • 

    Nobel on 23/12/2013 - 16:55

    -1

    Wow, I'm so lucky. The only time I don't take Qantas my flight is cancelled.

    • 

      JetBombat on 23/12/2013 - 19:50

      +1

      Only thing you can count on is statistics, your next 99% of flights should be better

  • 

    OutOfComplaintForms on 23/12/2013 - 17:44

    +8

    Virgin isn't a 'low cost' carrier. It's a full service airline. Virgin Blue doesn't exist anymore.

    • 

      cloudy on 23/12/2013 - 22:10

      +3

      Based on the prices of most flights virgin or qantas, I wouldn't consider virgin discount.

    • 

      Bargain4U on 24/12/2013 - 12:08

      It's not full service. Where the all the food? Not on every route like QF.

    • 

      Gav on 26/12/2013 - 10:43

      It's NOT full service. You pay for food, you pay for baggage. It's a full cost carrier with a budget airline offering.

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  Nobel on 23/12/2013 - 16:52

  -1

  I wasn't expecting compensation, but I know there were other flights on that day that some of the other passengers got on. I was put on the next day flight. I had hoped they would put me on the same day flight; at least even be more polite would have been good, or even help me get to my friend's place.

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  siejason on 23/12/2013 - 17:33

  -6

  Virgin Australia have a policy to get their guests to their final destination. As this was not achieved due to your connection and your final connecting flight being cancelled, The ground crew are hence in breach of their own policies (I believe if they're unable to transfer you to your final destination within 24hours but don't quote me on that). If they're unable to get you to your final destination, another carrier could be sought or transfers to and from the airport with hotel accommodation and a meal voucher issued. I would recommend that you contact Virgin Australia again and remind them of the above policy and request for reimbursement of the inconveniences.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 23/12/2013 - 18:26

    +3

    Nonsense, have you even read the Conditions of Carriage (https://www.virginaustralia.com/au/en/about-us/legal-policie…)?

    Specifically point 11.5:

    11.5 We may need to cancel or delay and reschedule flights or services due to industrial action, landing restrictions, airport loading restrictions, unsuitable weather conditions, technical problems, operational reasons, or any event beyond our reasonable control, and scheduled flight times or destinations are not guaranteed. Subject to the consumer guarantees referred to in paragraph 2.4 and to the extent permitted by any applicable Laws, we are not liable for any Loss which you may incur as a result of any such delayed or rescheduled flight or service.

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  LiamF on 23/12/2013 - 17:38

  Ok, so others have posted that you should have bought travel insurance. I can understand that you may not have wanted to, because it's extra cash and you're a student. I can sympathise. Try booking the first flight out next time - your odds are better in terms of getting rescheduled.

  It's not only VA - I've been dumped unceremoniously by cancellations on Qantas, Tiger, and Jetstar. In fact, Qantas has been the worst in my experience. It's firmly in the list of airlines I won't fly (it's not a particularly long list - there's also Aeroflot, Garuda and most regional carriers outside of Western Europe/the US/Australasia) - they're at about a 60% cancellation rate for myself and my partner. They're also the only airline that's publically chosen to cancel a flight on me for business reasons - that whole 'we're cancelling all flights to show the engineers that we mean business' debacle ruined more than a few plans.

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  Copydog on 23/12/2013 - 18:55

  +5

  I think these are the risks you take these days with discount airfares. Playing the devils advocate a bit, but what else can they do, they don't control the weather. They can't have spare planes floating around at all airports in case of these events. Maybe they were rude, which is never good, but dealing with so many angry customers , it's probably not surprising either.

  We, as consumers want everything ,cheap flights, full service, compensation for almost anything, but we don't want to pay for the benefit. Airlines aren't exactly raking in the profits, in fact they are struggling to compete in the current environment.
  So it heave shifted the risk onto us and requiring us to get insurance before we travel. I never buy insurance as I'm prepared to risk it (had some shocker flights but overall am in front).

  • 

    cloudy on 23/12/2013 - 22:18

    +1

    You play a good devils advocate. I agree with most of what u said, except the fact they can be rude because they have to deal with lots of angry customers. Of course they have to deal with lots of angry customers, they cancelled a flight and left many high and dry. The least they can do with each and every customer is be sympathetic, sorry but customer service is the cheapest way to make everyone happier. You don't need expensive equipment, you don't need to beg or steal, just smile and be as reasonable as you can as a representative of the airline u are being paid.

    Plus, virgin is not discount, anyone that flys to Canberra enough, which I unfortunately have to, knows they are not much less than qantas.

    As for compensation, the issue here for op is that it's no ones fault. So I can't say I'm inclined to side with either party on this.

    And oh a quick note on profitability of airlines, Canberra to Melbourne is one of the most profitable routes for airlines, probably only cond to melbourne to Sydney.

    Most of airlines lose money due to international routes, our domestic routes are hugely profitable.

    • 

      Copydog on 24/12/2013 - 20:35

      Thanks for the compliment. It's true that customer service is easy and cheap and a good employee can smooth over almost any situation. Its cheap as long as you can find that right type of employee who's already trained in it, if not training and/or recruiting trainable staff costs a lot and that again adds to the ticket price.

      Virgin, is trying to compete with thousands of other customer oriented businesses to find the relatively small number of people (often gen-y ) that not only know how to handle situations like this, but are able to put them into practice after a long shift of dealing with many unreasonable customers with only a spattering of reasonable ones, all on a fairly minimum wage. Not an easy ask.

      I agree that some of the flight routes are more profitable than others, but they can't be seen in isolation. Profitable routes are needed to justify the less profitable ones. Can't really run an airline on only the most profitable routes! So a compensation policy needs to be consistent across all routes, or you can imagine the consequences!

      So who should bear the risk on the "noones fault" type situation? I likes someone's idea of an annual travel policy as these can be good value, but of course it depends on how often you travel. Either that or you need to pay for the full service/full flex ticket, and have your accommodation, taxi and meals covered for any overnight delays.

      Other than that, it's a tough one. Perhaps Virgin needs to add a small optional premium to its ticket to cover such circumstances. At least it would make it easier to explain when a weather event happens and the customer hasn't selected it.

  • 

    parisienne on 24/12/2013 - 11:11

    +1

    The whole "but their dealing with a mob of angry customers" is ,i'm sorry to say…BS.I am a nurse,who cops being sworn at,spat at,hit,threatened and some of my colleagues have even had guns and knives at their heads ( and we haven't had anything to eat or drink since shift started,won't finish at our proper time because we have to finish up what we started and having time to pee….forget it)and YET we have to still kiss A,and cop it.If we speak to the masses like that,a complaint goes to the HCCC and disciplinary action is commenced…do that s#!t at an airport,store or business….security comes,cops are called,you are banned from the place and that's it.Whilst i don't condone for one second acting like that,as you said,the public today want it all,but don't want to pay for it,and if they do…..YOU BETTER KISS MY A LIKE YOU NEVER HAVE BEFORE OR WE WILL HAVE PROBLEMS.Truly,i think it's a sad reflection of what we have become,and i believe that either everyone gets a grip and acts how they would want to be treated or shut up when people reciprocate your behaviour.

    • 

      Copydog on 24/12/2013 - 20:39

      Yes, I'm familiar with this having worked in the health service until recently, and nurses and also police, I really feel for. I'm always the one who sympathises with the public servant who gets a little heavy handed with a drunk abusive patient or bar patron.

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  adamvlad on 24/12/2013 - 07:59

  I flew Virgin Sydney to Cairns with an 8 year old several year arrived safely, however, my sons luggage didn't turn up. Waited and waited. Fortunately I had cheap travel insurance. However, the real problem was that Virgin staff refused to communicate with me. Would not tend to any customers at their counter, and would not answer the phone. Virgin, never, never again. I only fly with Qantas now,.and I wait until they have a good sale. If I can't afford Qantas, I don't go anywhere. It's not worth the stress. Better to stay at home and pretend you are somewhere else! Maybe try McMurray Coaches.??

• 

  Thundaja on 24/12/2013 - 08:00

  My mother travels with Virgin fairly frequently (silver membership I think so nothing spectacular).

  She came down from Sydney for a visit last week and Virgin cancelled her flight. They put her up in hotel accommodation however…

  This has happened to her before and the same thing has occurred: free overnight accommodation. I thought this was normal behaviour for an airline (ie: no more flights, yours has been cancelled, we'll put you up in a hotel until tomorrow)?

  Anyone care to shed any light on this?

  • 

    neil on 24/12/2013 - 09:05

    Was she at her origin (Sydney) or destination (guessing Melbourne)?

    • 

      Thundaja on 24/12/2013 - 13:09

      In this case it was her return flight Melbourne to Sydney.

• 

  boccos on 24/12/2013 - 08:29

  -1

  Methinks that my experience with Jetstar was worse. On a 3hour+ flight Cairns to Adelaide, the captain forgot to turn on/ or had the temperature setting too hot, for the cabin air-conditioning. I complained to the hostess who had a pleasant but patronizing attitude. But she did nothing while I watched her chat to a peer. A little later I asked for a glass of ice but was told there was none available. Half hour later a woman collapsed from heat exhaustion a few rows back.
  Suddenly and miracuously, ice appeared and the flight was suddenly rushed into landing with Ambulance awaiting.
  Any flights I take nowadays I take a notebook just in case I have to document a complaint with a crew member. I also take some seat-beads to sit-on in order to reduce the heat build-up from the leather seats, just in case the same thing happens again.
  A long time later I was told that the coolest part of the plane was towards the rear, so books seats in this region if you suffer the heat.

• 

  Benicio on 24/12/2013 - 08:56

  +2

  the old storm-causes-flights-to-be-cancelled-but-of-course-its-the-airlines-fault routine.

• 

  imolared on 24/12/2013 - 09:36

  +1

  As most of the posts above, having a travel insurance would have saved you the trouble. It sucks but Virgin was within their "terms of agreement".

  I automatically get travel insurance when I pay for my tickets in full via my credit card.

  I highly suggest looking in to the ones that offers free travel insurance such as certain Citibank and Bankwest credit cards (my credit card doesn't have annual fees either) so will cost you nothing to keep the card just for these situation.

• 

  thefreelunch on 24/12/2013 - 09:49

  This is all about service. There's a way to communicate bad news and make it palatable. I also had a poor experience with them a year ago. I had a $50 gift voucher which I couldn't use online (in breach of their own terms). I needed to fly so booked anyway and wrote them an email. They acknowledged that it was an error on their behalf - they had just installed a new IT system. In my view they should have then applied the voucher manually and refunded me $50 from my booking price. Needless to say, that offer wasn't made.

• 

  derpdeder on 24/12/2013 - 10:03

  +2

  No one buys domestic travel insurance and unfortunately interstate travel inconvenience insurance is generally only complimentary with platinum cards which are mostly out of reach of students.

  It is odd that Virgin would not put you up somewhere for the night but you did have a couple of options that you could have helped yourself.

  1. Stump up for accommodation somewhere and wait for the alternative flight. YHA Canberra is about $30 per night, Ibis is $80 if you don't like sharing.
  2. Get your refund and find alternative transport. There are overnight buses from Canberra to Melbourne for around $80.

  Of course the airline is going to look after their frequent flyers first. Platinum/Gold members would get priority and after they are reassigned, there would possibly be some seats left. Yes, they are more important to the airline than an infrequent flyer.

  • 

    lisss on 24/12/2013 - 12:02

    +1

    I get an annual policy which covers domestic insurance for this reason. Obviously you have to travel enough to justify the cost, but it works well for me.

  • 

    webbj on 24/12/2013 - 22:45

    Australia post offer domestic travel insurance, around $50 per person for 12 months coverage.

    It has basic coverage for expenses if your travel is delayed, also good for saving money on rental car excess insurance premiums.

• 

  Bargain4U on 24/12/2013 - 12:22

  Was that reply from Guest Relations? If not call them on Monday.

• 

  altomic on 24/12/2013 - 17:37

  -3

  I feel sorry for you for having to go to Canberra.

• 

  SirFlibbled on 24/12/2013 - 20:08

  If I was you id have jumped on a train. Would have taken a while but youd have had somewhere to sleep

• 

  bich.light on 24/12/2013 - 20:19

  What do you expect? They're Virgin, they're inexperienced ;)

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  jason101 on 24/12/2013 - 21:42

  Pretty poor effort - I missed my staff Xmas party in QLD because Jetstar CANCELLED my flight after I had checked in (and was sitting at the gate with 15 mins to go), same kind of BS you went through, at the end of the day they had no more flights that day and I was stuck in Sydney, I had to buy a new ticket with Virgin at the airport and fly home missing the Xmas party!

  Poor marks by all carriers…..

• 

  RockyRaccoon on 24/12/2013 - 22:52

  +2

  Flights get cancelled, so do buses and trains. Even cars breakdown.
  You have to accept that.

  But like all situations the way the issue is handled makes it easier to accept.

  Without knowing the other side of the story, and yes there is always that, its hard to make a judgement.

  While I totally feel for you, being a student with limited funds, it shouldn't change things. The staff will give you assistance if they can. They are not able to give out free accommodation or bump other passengers from flights just because you are a poor student.

  While is frustrating and annoying and makes you angry (been there done that), you have to accept that life throws up things that you have to put down as "shit happens" the sooner you understand this the easier life will become.

  Not everything will be fair, no matter what your teachers try to tell you, people, and things are not equal.

  You have to take deep breaths and realise that next time you travel, you have to put this behind you, otherwise you will always expect the worst, and you will get what you fear.

  So when you relax, and are calm, things will also just work out. Try it next time, if you exude anger then you'll get anger back. You survived your experience, you are still alive, and live to tell a tale, so its not all that bad.

  It's something age will assist you with. And in the meantime change airlines until the next delay.

  Have a wonderful christmas…

  • 

    Nobel on 25/12/2013 - 06:50

    Merry christmas to you too.

    In fact, I thank God that I was totally calm at that time. I definitely did not feel 'angry' as such, and thus did not exude anger. I did not expect "anger" back. I think in this case you are wrong this couple in front of me kept arguing with the customer service and they put them on the next flight back.

    In many situations of the world, it is the unruly customers that get what they want. Life is like that.

• 

  rick1227 on 25/12/2013 - 01:00

  Four of my friends and I got the similar situation on the last day of our trip 4 years ago. We booked the last flight from GC to Canberra with Qantas. However, the airline company did arrange free accommodation and transportation for all the passengers left in the airport due to the flight cancellation finally. I remember that they called us first around 8pm and only agreed to offer us free ticket of the first flight next morning on the phone. We refused that. After arriving the airport, we told the staff that we were tourists, checked out the hotel rooms and returned rental car as well. The staff told us to wait for their manager. Later, We met nearly 15 other passengers booked that flight on the airport. After half hour negotiation, the manager arranged shutter coach to load all of us to the outrigger twin towns resort and picked us to the airport the next morning. Btw, I checked the hotel is 4.5 stars.
  The poor service nowadays might be the outcome of weak economy these years.

• 

  Repi on 25/12/2013 - 10:18

  -4

  Toughen up princess, such is life.

• 

  akd on 25/12/2013 - 12:34

  I do have similar experience with Virgin Airlines with flight from Canberra to Melbourne on Sunday 08 Dec. The flight timings were 5.00 PM to 6:10 PM. But during check-in, Virgin airlines told me that I have to go via Sydney because "The plane could not land here due to technical reasons". So my flight was from Canberra to Melbourne via Sydney and the new timings were 5:05 PM to 8:40 PM.
  Interestingly there was another flight with timings 6:30 pm to 7:40 PM. When I requested the seat in that flight, I was told that the flight was full. My friend came in that flight and he said there were few vacant seats.
  Very poor customer service at reception. Staff has no idea what is going on.

• 

  ozhunter on 25/12/2013 - 18:24

  +2

  In July, I was waiting at Perth airport to pick up my sisters flying from Melbourne who were to arrive at 11:45pm. Around midnight there was an announcement that the plane couldn't land because of the extreme fog and they had to fly back to Melbourne.

  They landed in Melbourne airport around 6:30am and just stayed at the airport until 3pm, as they weren't feeling that well. No compensation or nothing from Jetstar(as it was out of their control) but they still don't mind flying with them again.

  They just took it as that these things happen and got over it.

• 

  Paul Atreides on 25/12/2013 - 22:02

  -1

  learn and move on, things like this will happen with other airlines too.

  similar situation where jetstar delayed my flight, then canned it altogether.

  another situation where my flight was canned and they moved me onto a qantas flight straight away.

• 

  Luminary on 26/12/2013 - 19:49

  I don't believe you get compensated if things are out of their control. Virgin doesn't control Mother Nature. If you were on a connecting flight and the first flight was delayed and caused you to miss the second flight then I would imagine you'd be compensated. Also, I've worked in retail before and we have been told to never apologise and 'claim fault' in a situation as that makes us liable. Could be the same kind of thing hence the lack of apology.