One hour to go!!

[ejones999]

Just one hour to go until taxi comes to pick us up to train station. Manchester airport hotel tonight and then off to Florida in the morning!
Eric
See yah in a little over 2 weeks
Have a nice day now!

 

[squitty]

Have a great holiday

 

[maleficent_man]

Eric

Safe journey - have a great time!!

 

[FloridaSam]

Hi Eric

Have a lovely time!

Sam

 

[KayleeUK]

Have a great trip

 

[mandymouse]

Hope you have a fab holiday

mandymouse

 

[ejones999]

Well we are back. Holiday not without its problems. Due to fly out on 15th Feb but flight was cancelled and we had to stay an extra night in Manchester and only got 13 days not 14. Eventually we departed on a replacement Air Atlanta plane which did not have seat back tv's or even any duty free( even if you pre-ordered).
Anyone else on these boards who were in same boat as us?
Virgin flight VO75 Manchester - MCO 15th Feb 2005?

Has anyone got any idea what Virgin will offer us as compensation? I have written to them along the lines that we booked a 14 day holiday but only received 13 etc asking for their comments BUT telling them straight away that a credit voucher or flight reduction voucher on future holiday not acceptable. Is this right type of approach?
Eric

 

[AndRu]

That was exactly a week after we flew on the same flight without a hitch, I'm so sorry that you lost a whole day

I've had a look on the Virgin Atlantic web pages which point to the European Union Regulations on delays and cancellations. Part of this document says:

Compensation will not be offered if the cause of the cancellation is beyond the control of Virgin Atlantic, or for cancellations which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. This includes, the impact of weather conditions or air traffic management decisions, national disasters, technical faults with the aircraft that may affect its safety, industrial disputes, political instability and security risks.

Which, I guess, is their get-out clause I'd wait to see if anyone else replies that has experience of this type of thing. Again, I'm sorry this happened, it must be a horrible feeling. I hope you get the situation resolved to your satisfaction.

 

[alisonbestford]

Morning

Well, we were in Orlando, on the flight that should have been coming back from you so we, effectively, were at the other end of your delay!

In total we were delayed 36 hours in Orlando. Virgin put us up in a hotel that first night, gave us food vouchers for all the meals and then took us to the airport at 9pm the following night - to spend the night on the airport hotel lounge before a 7am flight - not too good but at least we got an extra day and a half in the sun rather than Manchester

As we boarded the plane we were all given letters from Virgin detailing the reason for the delay (mechanical problems) to send to the insurance company and stating the fact that they will provide half price flights over the next 18 months (not sure whether that's singular or plural) or 25,000 airmiles (only available for the adults - not children).

Like you we had an Atlanta plane with no backseat tvs and the films, to my mind, being shown on a flight full of small children and families, were totally unsuitable. One was about a firefighter burning to death (which was very good but, thankfully DD (6) slept throughout, the other was some sort of Dustin Hoffman detective farce which confused me and bored the pants off DD
Anyway, I sent the letter to M&S insurance and, within the week, they sent me a nice cheque for £270 - £30 each for each 12 hour delay
The half price flight dilemma I've been looking into and it doesn't really work out at such a great deal as it has to be a full price, non discounted price.... etc, etc and the fly drives and packages work out cheaper, or comparible!
I've written to Virgin to see if they will offer anything else as, due to DH's health we may well not be able to fly anywhere within the 18 months anyway but we've yet to see what happens on that one.... The letter stated that it was a 'goodwill' gesture so guess they can say no quite easily.

Have you heard anything yet?

Good luck.

Alison

 

[Miffy2003]

Eric,

I've no advice to give but I am so sorry you lost a day of your holiday.

 

[ejones999]

Well I have written to Virgin asking for compensation. We will see what happens. We too got a letter in Manchester with the half price FLIGHT offer which must be used within 18 months. This is probably no good for us as eldest daughter will be 12 next year so classified as adult and whole holiday price increases - so will probably save for the next couple of years to have a great holiday then.
I have had claim form from Insurers but they want a letter from Virgin confirming the delay - so I have to wait for that before sending the claim off.
Will keep you posted!
Eric

 

[alisonbestford]

Morning
I sent the Virgin letter about the flights to the ins as it also had a bit saying why we were delayed.
I sent it registered mail and enclosed a sae for them to return it, and the flight tickets - stating why. It was back within a couple of days and they even used their own envelope
Good luck.
We've still heard nothing this end either - might be worth nipping to a CAB and finding out what all the new legislation is about flight delays etc.I'm not sure what, if anything, we can ask for
Alison