Hi Matt

I would return both to Virgin along with a letter as to why you do not find their offer acceptable. Make sure that you can justify anything you are asking for then you cannot be deemed as being unreasonable. If you cash the cheque this could be misconstrued as your acceptance of their offer. As they have admiitted the blame lies with them you are in with a chance of getting an improved offer.

Delayed flights?

Sam, what's the point of making a guess as to what the problem was. The OP asked a question that as far as I can see, you have not answered. It is this sort of answer that has caused comments on the board just recently.

Madsue, sorry If I am missing something here but I think Sam is only asking what we are all thinking, which is what exactly happened with Virgin as the OP hasn't actually said.

Matt, I would do as sunaddict says

I would return both to Virgin along with a letter as to why you do not find their offer acceptable

Sarah

Sorry sarah, if I seem to be jumping the gun! Just I can't see in the original post where it says the problem was flight delays, and was just thinking about the "welcome" some new posters have been having just recently!!!! Apologies

No problem Sue. It doesn't say anything about flight delays but it also doesn't say anything about what actually went wrong. I took it that Sam meant "sounds like you had flight delays"?

I agree new members deserve a warm welcome.

Sarah

sun addict thanks we will do this,

long story short

We were not booked on any flights with Qatar Airways, due to Virgin not tranfering the details, When we went to the Virgin help desk they sorted the flights for the next day and put us up in a hotel in Heathrow.

Only to return the next day to check in and be told the help desk didn't ring back and we were not booked on the flights again, both of which were by then full.

We eventually got on that flight in the staff tickets at the back of the plane.

this caused alsorts of knock on effects with transfers etc, etc, etc.

We finally arrived two and a half days late.

forgot to mention the help desk gave us a booking form for Emirates on the return flight as the Qatar flight was full.

The same happened again on the way not booked on any flights, flights the next day full booked. We ended up flying to Sri Lanka and then direct from Colombo to Heathrow.

And then they get aggresive on the phone when we complain.

Thanks for telling us your story Matt and welcome to Holiday Truths. I hope you resolve your problem. If you need any help try contacting Ros Fernihough for some free advice, she has help many of our members her number is 01922 705134

Sarah

oh my goodness- that is dreadful. I'm not surprised you feel you need another honeymoon. I can't add to the advice given but I wish you luck- you certainly deserve more than you were offered.

Hi Matt and welcome to HT!

Thanks for the explanation as it makes things a lot clearer and easier for members to advise.

I would take Sarah's advice and call Ros's office. It will only cost you the price of the call and you will be advised on how to proceed. Ros works on a no win, no fee basis and is well known by the travel companies.

All we ask is that you come back and update us on any progress.

luci

Sam, what's the point of making a guess as to what the problem was. The OP asked a question that as far as I can see, you have not answered. It is this sort of answer that has caused comments on the board just recently.

Sue that's a completely over the top and quite rude response, and completely irrelevant to this thread.

My question was a friendly prompt so we could possibly get more details, and help identify the problem better. There has been a serious breach somewhere, and by more fully identifying the problem and fault someone might be able to analyse the issue better.

Matt - I presume you had tickets (albeit e-tickets?) for your original flights on Qatar Airways? It's strange that they said they didn't 'transfer' the booking, as Virgin will have booked it within Qatar Airways system. If you had tickets then there shouldn't have been a problem (if you have tickets you are booked onto a flight - the airline can then cancel, or overbook, but that doesn't seem to be the case). I've had a clients turn up at Heathrow on a Sri Lankan flight before with seemingly 'ghost tickets' for a full flight they weren't allowed to board, but it turned out to be a moot issue as we could re-route them on Emirates an hour later. Irrespective, this is not your problem to fix!

I'm shocked at how Virgin Holidays have treated you after the initial problems happened. There are many ways to get you to the Maldives. You should have had a Virgin senior rep with you each step of way once the initial problems started, and certainly guaranteed 100% there would be no problems with the return flights. Can I ask what time of the year you flew?

From what you say they have not explained to you in full what went wrong. To lose 2 1/2 days from your honeymoon is horrendous. Certainly don't cash their cheque, demand a full explanation, and explain that the compensation falls a long way short of your expectations, and threaten to escalate it.

Sam

We were due to fly on Sunday August 3rd at 14:30, but flew Aug 4th 21:30, this year.

Thanks for the advice

Matt

I, along with others I presume, assumed Sam meant "Was the problem a flight delay" but written in short hand. I can't see any hidden agenda and being one of those who did comment previously on rude posters I wouldn't have put Sam in this category . No point in making something out of nothing.

Matt..I'm sorry to hear about your honeymoon. I hope your wedding was fab and that you and Mrs Matt get enough compensation to have a Honeymoon Mk2 and put it all behind you!!

My question was a friendly prompt so we could possibly get more details, and help identify the problem better. There has been a serious breach somewhere, and by more fully identifying the problem and fault someone might be able to analyse the issue better.

Absolutely correct.

Peter

Thanks everyone, as I did apologise right back in the beginning of this thread, perhaps that could be accepted, rather than brought up again by other posters?

On that note- lets keep this thread purely for practical help and support for Matt. To that end further non helpful posts will be deleted.
Hopefully the advice Matt has had so far has been useful to him and perhaps others have more helpful ideas