Hello! I made the mistake of booking two Virgin flights through Booking.com - only to find out that they charge $80 each flight to cancel. My fare was $109, so it's not really worth it for me to cancel, but I can't make the flight anymore.
Virgin still does double status credits and I was wondering if I would still be able to collect them, if I don't make the flight? I'd happily take them over the measly $29 I would get refunded.
Appreciate any advice you may have, thanks!
You get credits/points after you fly so you shouldn't get them in this instance.
Make sure you cancel any flights you're not taking rather than just missing them. Some airlines do note absentees and can object to you flying with them again in future.
Some airlines do note absentees and can object to you flying with them again in future.
Noting absences - sure, all airlines would have this data. Objecting to you flying in the future, after you've paid for a seat. I doubt it. Gonna call BS on that claim, unless you have a credible reference.
If I was in the OPs position, I'd go out of my way to check in and print a boarding pass, so they airline doesn't resell the seat.
Gonna call BS on that claim, unless you have a credible reference.
It's a thing overseas - especially in the US and Europe - but I haven't heard of Aussie airlines doing it. Hope Guardian coverage of Lufthansa suing a passenger is credible enough.
Most of the time it's to stop 'skiplagging' which exploits differential pricing involving high demand hub routes. For a range of reasons it's often cheaper to buy a multi-leg ticket that goes from City A to City C (via a hub airport at City B) than it is it to buy a direct flight on the first A-B segment only. The airlines get pretty shirty about the lost revenue from people buying the cheaper ticket and then bailing on the next leg, and have responded by putting some pretty onerous no-show conditions in fares.
I recall some pretty heavy handed instances of US airlines refusing to let passengers they'd flagged for this behaviour board subsequent flights (itself a terrible user experience. Better to reject at the time of sale than dump a confrontation on the staff at the gate).
Hope Guardian coverage of Lufthansa suing a passenger(theguardian.com) is credible enough
It's not. You've given an example of skiplagging, which is different to a no-show. The consequence in the article is a civil suit - @Hybroid said the consequence of a no-show might be an airline ban.
Yeah, there might be some vague relevance to the OP, but it's really really really vague. If you spend 30seconds on google, you'll see the appeal was eventually dropped by Lufthansa. Perhaps a reference saying the passenger was banned from flying Luftansa might be more relevant.
Passengers no-show all the time - change of plans/running late/missed connection … list goes on for their reasons. Airlines know it and they deliberately oversell flights because of it. Trying to impose further penalties on a passenger because of it is non-sense.
@salmon123: Vague relevance to OP, sure, but you specifically called BS on Hybroid's claim that some airlines object to people flying after a no-show. You also specifically said you doubted an airline would object to "flying in the future, after you've paid for a seat".
This article showed exactly that. Whether or not Lufthansa's suit was successful is beside the point as its clear they did object, and the article referenced other airlines dropping lawyers at gates.
Skiplagging is a subset of the broader no-show definition, but still a no-show. Whether it's the right approach or not, the airlines have generally gone for the blunt approach of referencing no-shows in their contracts, rather than skiplagging, and it has a host of downside consequences at times.
But sure, neg away.
The booking terms and conditions were available before pressing 'Proceed'.
Virgin's policy allows you to cancel / change flights free of charge due to COVID, but I wasn't aware that this didn't apply when booking through third-party.
Sounds like my best bet would be to get someone else to fly, so at least the $29 is worth it.
Virgin's policy allows you to cancel / change flights free of charge due to COVID
That is correct, flights booked DIRECT are free to change (ends this month though), those booked via a 3rd party have to be changed via them and whatever fees they charge.
would still be able to collect them, if I don't make the flight?
Someone has to fly to collect the status credits. If you also miss your 1st leg, then all future legs are cancelled. aka don't make your flight out then your return flight is cancelled too.
Sounds like my best bet would be to get someone else to fly, so at least the $29 is worth it.
As long as they don't have luggage to check in, and virgin doesn't do a spot ID check when boarding.
you can claim status credits and points for flights that you "miss" due to being re-routed or having your itinerary changed by the airline (eg: a MEL-SYD-BNE flight gets turned into a direct MEL-BNE flight) but i'm pretty certain you can't claim status credits or points for a flight you never got on
You won't get the credits unless you fly.
Looks like spending the $80 to get your $109 back is going to be most economic (unless you can find someone who wants to fly as you).
Thanks for all the responses! I'm keen to get the status credits as I'm nearly Gold and don't want to waste the flights, especially since they're still counting double.
Will try my luck and ask my friends who wants a free flight.
Pre-covid there was lots of people on gumtree/fb selling domestic tickets without name changes. I believe airlines didn't really check your ID before you boarded.
No idea if they've started checking ID now, but you could probably sell your boarding pass for a few bucks and collect the status credits at the same time.
If you don't fly, why should you get them? Lol