Important question - do I trust Virgin Holidays to deal with my son's special needs?

[kevin harrison]

I have a really important questiuon that someone here maybe able to help me with..

I am tempted to buy 4 flydrive tickets from Virgin Holidays, for September 2011, the price is OK, and I will not have to pay upfront now.

As some of you know, Daniel has severe feeding issues and needs a lot of equipment taken onto the plane.

This takes a lot of planning and last September Virgin Atlantic's special needs department were first class, I had to give then serial numbers and all sorts of things before flying.

I am concerned that if I buy off Virgin Holidays, I will have to deal with them and there is no way on gods earth I trust Virgin Holidays call centre to deal with these requirements.

So the question is if I buy off Virgin Holidays, will VA deal with my son's needs?

 

[2Tiggies]

I have no experience with this first hand so you'll need to keep that in mind when reading my opinion on the situation.

I fly with VA because I too have had almost a decade of faultless service. More importantly, when there has been a problem on the rare occasion, they have certainly addressed the issue and corresponded with me fully as if I were their only customer. I give the 5 out of 5 starts.

VH on the other hand are fine when all goes well and according to the book. Very successful and many happy customers. I have however been deterred from booking with them because after numerous phone calls over the years regarding enquiries when I sought to obtain further details when considering booking through them I ended up extremely frustrated at the number of times I had to hang up and call back because I could NOT communicate with the person on the other end of the phone who was inevitably picking out a key word from my opening line and reading off a script by way of an answer.

Now if I had a child with special requirements I would not be willing to risk having to try and sort things out with them. On the upside, there are plenty VH reps in Florida and you need to ascertain whether, in the event of a problem, you would be able to deal with them instead of the call centre. As to whether VA will deal with your son's needs, you would need to find out whether, subsequent to booking, you could deal directly with VA. I would be inclined to ask VA and VH to verify this just to be sure. If the answer is yes, you are set to go.

This probably doesn't really help you, but it is my take on the whole thing.

 

[fairytale]

The last time we visited Disney through a "package holiday" as such was back in 2005 through VH.

DS has a severe food allergy and I remeber quite clearly we had to contact VA Special Assistance to deal with his condition.

The next year onwards we always now book DIY but with VA flights and its exactly the same number now as back in 2005 that I have to ring.

Fingers crossed you should be absolutley fine still

 

[Elise79]

My guess would be that you will still have to deal with VA special assistance anyway.

I had to ring VA to book the infant seat when we booked through VH last September so with something as detailed as medical equipment I definatley think it will vA you are dealing with.

OT but saw your Facebook status the other day and hope everything went well withe the team at Gt Ormand Street.

 

[JulieSharp]

We have used virgin hols and va special assistance for the past 13 years and they have been first class. Just rang the special assistance number gave them the information they needed. The staff were well informed at the airport and in the air.

 

[JulieSharp]

We have used virgin hols and va special assistance for the past 13 years and they have been first class. Just rang the special assistance number gave them the information they needed. The staff were well informed at the airport and in the air.

 

[scojos]

i wouldnt comment on your son, only you can make that decision.
however they were great with josh and his SN..

tx

 

[kevin harrison]

OT but saw your Facebook status the other day and hope everything went well withe the team at Gt Ormand Street.

Thanks, it's always very gruelling mentally though, still knackered.

 

[ClareH37]

You will still be dealing with VA special assistance VH special assistance now only deal with the accomodation side, they refer you to VA for the flights, so all should still be OK for you.

 

[kevin harrison]

We have used virgin hols and va special assistance for the past 13 years and they have been first class. Just rang the special assistance number gave them the information they needed. The staff were well informed at the airport and in the air.

We always use the VA special assistance number, so you are saying that I can book with VH and deal with the VA team like usual. That would be excellent.

 

[VailaTigger]

Not directly linked to your situation, but VH were brilliant with us through all the volcanic ash disruptions.

I found it easier (but a little slower) to deal with them by email when I had questions or changes before we left.

Wouldn't hesitate to go with VH or VA again.

 

[alisonbestford]

We booked with VH and used the special assistance number when we were travelling with DH

 

[kb1]

hello
Any request for special assistance on board the plane and at the airport will be dealt with directly with Virgin Atlantic. Once your booking is made just contact their Customer Care team who will make all of the arrangements for you.