Your journey home was delayed by the volcanic ash cloud ? and Virgin Atlantic added to the woes by only paying half your claim
I was delayed returning from Florida in April 2010 due to the volcanic ash cloud. I put in a claim to Virgin Atlantic for hotels, meals and phone calls for the period I was stranded after my flight was cancelled. Virgin has offered about half my �825 claim, which I don't think is reasonable. My claim is already much less than I am out of pocket, including the cost of travelling home by other means.
The Civil Aviation Authority has written to Virgin three times reminding them of their obligations to pay but now says it has closed my file "given the continued stance of Virgin Atlantic". SW, Twickenham
Virgin says it offered to re-route you home but you chose to make your own travel arrangements. That is a neat excuse but I know the stress of hoping there will be a seat left, within a reasonable timeframe, when you reach the front of the queue. When you have commitments at home you have to make every effort to get back as quickly as possible. As it was you lost four days' income.
Virgin had refunded your unused plane ticket but above this offered only what EU regulations demand, and that includes the cost of just two telephone calls for the whole time you are stranded. That allowance is clearly inadequate.
Virgin will also refund the cost of meals and accommodation, against receipts, until you left the US and, for this, set a fixed rate for Orlando hotel rooms of $105 a night which it reckoned was reasonable. You had to pay $93 (�62) more than that, which Virgin initially deducted from its offer but has now agreed to pay. It will, though, pay nothing for your stopover in France.
It also decided to allow you phone calls up to �15 a day, which added another �90, still short of the �256 you spent. It insists you should have used its toll-free number. Unsurprisingly, you found this constantly engaged and, when you did get through, you were held for an hour before being cut off. Virgin's total revised offer is �576 against the original �430.
The CAA denied it had closed your file and contacted you again, saying it understood that Virgin is now paying the majority of your expenses. You disagree but have accepted the offer.
You can email Margaret Dibben at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Margaret Dibben, Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include a phone number.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/dec/17/virgin-atlantic-claim-ash-cloud
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