I have found my recent experiences with Virgin to be seriously disappointing on many grounds — but rather than focus on the little annoying things, this OP-ED will focus on two major criticism. \u00a0 First, I thought that their marketing of the limousine service to be very misleading; second, I thought that their failure\u00a0to deliver (pre-arranged and tripled-confirmed) Special Assistance support at the arrival gate to be shameful and unprofessional.<\/p>\n
Misleading Marketing<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n [ \u00a0I’m happy to write that this issue has since been ameliorated. \u00a0 In response to my experience with Virgin’s misleading marketing, I’d filed a complaint against Virgin to the UK’s Advertising Standards Agency<\/strong> and the ASA has ruled in my favour. \u00a0As a consequence, Virgin has amended their website and online booking system. \u00a0]<\/p>\n At the time I made my online booking, Virgin heavily marketed their car service as a part of the ‘Upper Class experience’. \u00a0At no point on primary Upper Class page\u00a0did Virgin advised the travelling public that this transfer service was restricted to a certain class of Upper Class tickets.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n BTW — this is what their amended website looks like now<\/em>:\u00a0 Thus, at the time I made the booking via their website, I had no idea that this service is restricted to just J, D, C or I booking classes.<\/p>\n In addition to not being upfront about their restriction in their web marketing, Virgin was — in my opinion<\/em> — \u00a0also not upfront about this restriction in the online booking system.<\/p>\n For this particular trip, my dates were\u00a0fixed. \u00a0Thus, I did not need extra flexibility with my tickets. \u00a0As such, when I booked the flights online, I obviously chosed the flight that \u00a0was the lowest fare in the class I wanted. \u00a0\u00a0I was not aware that the “flexible” fare had perks that the “lowest” fare lacked. \u00a0 I’d assumed that “flexible” meant that the ticket was flexible to future amendments (i.e. date changes). \u00a0Please note from the screenshot below that there was no mention that ‘lowest’ fare entailed restrictions.<\/p>\n The actual restriction was buried two-layers<\/em><\/strong> deep in fine prints. \u00a0( The first layer was the general summary and the second layer was the complete fare summary — see below screenshot for more details. ) \u00a0In truth, I did not look for this restriction because I did not know that it was in place given the very prominent marketing of this service. \u00a0In other words, it was as surprising<\/em> to me that the transfer was not included in the ‘Upper Class experience’ as if\u00a0<\/em> I was\u00a0told that access to the lounge, or, that access to the bar on the plane was restricted to just a subset of booking classes on Upper Class.<\/p>\n Furthermore, please note that during the ticket selection<\/strong><\/span>, purchase<\/strong><\/span> and confirmation<\/strong><\/span> phases, the ticket booking class was not published. \u00a0 Thus, assuming that I was aware that the transfer service was only available to\u00a0J, D, C or I booking classes,\u00a0it would NOT be possible for me to change my booking class because this information was withheld.<\/p>\n In the selection<\/span> phase, the ticket was simply describe as either “lowest” or “flexible”.<\/p>\n In the purchase<\/span> phase, the ticket was simply described as “Upper Class”. \u00a0There was no mention of ticket class type.<\/p>\n In the web\u00a0confirmation<\/span> phase (see below) the ticket was also simply described as “Upper Class”. \u00a0There was no mention of ticket class type.<\/p>\n That said, it was only<\/em>\u00a0at this phase that I saw the first upfront\u00a0(i.e.,\u00a0\u00a0not hidden in fine prints) notice that the service transfer was not included. \u00a0And bizarrely,\u00a0it was only in the\u00a0e-tickets<\/strong>\u00a0that the exact ticket type class is made known to me for the first time.\u00a0 BTW –it was a class “Z” ticket \u2026. pretty pointless<\/em> to know this information once I have purchased the flights.<\/p>\n On the whole, this was a very disappointing experience. \u00a0I therefore wrote to Virgin’s Customer Service regarding what I perceived to be misleading advertising (supported by an opaque booking system). \u00a0 I found their response to be disappointing (general apologies and offer of some air miles — I’d declined the air miles because my objective was not compensation but rather an acknowledgement\/ acceptance of the issues I’d raised). \u00a0As a consequence of their insipid response, I took my complaint to the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority.<\/p>\n No-Show Special Assistance\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I booked my mother-in-law onto an Upper Class flight and had made arrangements for Special Assistance to provide support (specifically, wheelchair) once she arrived at the gate in Heathrow Airport.<\/p>\n I booked this request by email. \u00a0I then confirmed the booking by email — twice. \u00a0In addition to this, at the check-in desk, I’d confirmed that Virgin was aware that she would need assistance once she arrived into London and Virgin assured me that they have the request ‘in the system’ and that Special Assistance will be there to help her at the gate.<\/p>\n Despite the pre-booking, email confirmations and the face-to-face confirmation, Special Assistance was over-booked and as such, she did NOT receive wheelchair assistance. \u00a0 She was advised by the ground crew that she needed to wait until another wheelchair became available and that this was anticipated to be a 30-minute wait. \u00a0But, as she was travelling by herself<\/strong> <\/em>and as she had a private car booked to\u00a0take her home directly, she feared that the driver would interpret her lateness as a no-show and thus leave. \u00a0She did not want to be left abandoned at the airport by herself. \u00a0In panic, she decided to not wait for the next available wheelchair. \u00a0Thus,\u00a0she followed (by foot and under her own steam)\u00a0the Special Assistance team wheeling someone else thru the terminal. \u00a0 Although my mother-in-law is\u00a0mobile, she had hip surgery a few years back and therefore could not walk long distances without experiencing pain.<\/p>\n I __specifically__ purchased an Upper Class ticket for her so that I could be assured that she would be “well looked after”. \u00a0What happened to her was exactly what I was hoping to avoid<\/em>. \u00a0I was completely wrong to expect that ‘Upper Class’\u00a0meant good service.<\/p>\n Given that\u00a0my mother-in-law was travelling by herself, I do not have first-hand experience about what transpired. \u00a0I have to rely solely on her words and her description of what happened. \u00a0Based on her testimony, I wrote to Virgin Atlantic to complain.<\/p>\n Virgin’s response to my complaint was disappointing.\u00a0\u00a0This was their response:<\/p>\n Thank you for your e-mail, regarding Mrs xxx\u2019s experience at London Heathrow.<\/p>\n It goes without saying that I am genuinely sorry for the discontent felt, about the wait for assistance, which your mother-in-law had when she arrived at London Heathrow. I know you had done all possible to ensure this was provided, to make her journey seamless for her and I do apologise for the upset which transpired.<\/p>\n I would like to assure you we take your comments and Mrs xxx\u2019s experience very seriously, as it\u2019s not our intention to disappoint you or your mother-in-law.<\/p>\n I completely understand your frustration and upset about what happened, particularly as you had booked your mother in Upper Class and understandably expected a more appropriate service for her.<\/p>\n As required by the EU regulation 1107\/2006 concerning the rights of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air, it is the responsibility of the managing body of the individual airport to establish and deliver the assistance required by a passenger in the airport<\/strong><\/span>, as long as they have received at least 48 hours\u2019 notice from the airline. If notification has not been given the managing body of the airport will make all reasonable efforts to provide the assistance.<\/p>\n I can confirm that notification of the assistance your mother-in-law required was sent to London Heathrow airport and I am sending your e-mail directly to the airport management, and asking them to respond to you. Whilst they use external companies to provide the service they prefer any complaints to be sent directly to them. I have also logged your complaint in our database in order to monitor the on-going performance of the services delivered at the airport.<\/p>\n I do realise how this entire situation reflects very poorly upon us, however I am afraid we have no control over the service contract provided by the airport authority.<\/span> They do indeed have service level agreements, which are set for them by the airport authority and the delay, which resulted in Mrs xxxx\u00a0\u00a0managing independently, is indeed unacceptable.<\/p>\n \u00a0I want to assure you that we do have regular meetings with the airport management and work closely with them to improve the services provided to our customers, as we know how we are being perceived as a result of poor service.<\/p>\n \u00a0I do apologise unreservedly for the anxiety this has caused and as a gesture I would like to send your mother-in-law a bouquet of flowers. I would be grateful if you could advise the best address to send this to and I will organise these straight away.<\/p>\n \u00a0I understand that you also had various other concerns and these have been passed to the appropriate department for them to be addressed directly.<\/p>\n \u00a0Once again, I am so sorry you feel so let down by us. We truly are committed to providing the best care we can to any customer who needs that extra consideration throughout their journey. If Mrs xxx\u00a0\u00a0travels with us again, please do let me know and I will gladly oversee the arrangements and help facilitate a much better service for her throughout the airport.<\/p>\n Yours sincerely<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n (I’d declined the offer of flowers. \u00a0The purpose of my letter was to affect change and not to receive token apologies.)<\/p>\n In short, this issue was punted over to airport management. \u00a0First, airport management claimed that my mother-in-law arrived at Immigrations via buggy. \u00a0This was NOT the case. \u00a0 The Special Assistance team at the gate was over-booked. \u00a0So the Special Assistance person scanned my mother-in-law’s boarding pass so that she was registered in the system. \u00a0But, she was neither transported via wheelchair nor via buggy. \u00a0She confirmed that she walked the entire distance from gate to the car by her own steam.<\/p>\n To settle this matter, I’d requested that airport management review the CCTV footage. \u00a0Unfortunately, airport management has advised that this is protected information under the Data Protection Act. \u00a0 Thus, this issue remained unresolved<\/em> — airport management system has her in the system as transported by buggie and I have her testimony that she had no assistance at the airport.<\/p>\n The above aside, I am bitterly disappointed with Virgin for not ensuring that my mother-in-law’s wheelchair was not allocated out to someone who didn’t reserve one in advance. \u00a0 \u00a0What was the point of reserving (and confirming) the Special Assistance request if the Virgin ground crew allocates-out the wheelchair on a first-come, first-served basis?<\/p>\n Overall, a disappointing and shockingly bad experience . . . . .<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Once upon a time, Virgin Atlantic was my ‘darling airline’ and I would bend over backwards to fly with Virgin. \u00a0If my office booked me on a non-Virgin flight, then I would cough up the difference and pay from my own pockets so that I could fly with Virgin. I flew Virgin so often and … Continue reading OP-ED: Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class – seriously disappointing experience<\/span> ![\"limo1\"](\"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/limo1.jpg\")
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