Virgin/Mytrip.ie issues

cmssjone

Hi all,

I bought tickets to Las Vegas 3 months ago and the scheduling has now changed. This means that my connecting flight back from LHR to Dublin is not feasible as I would only have 5 mins to get off one plane and onto the other. The really weird thing is that they actually moved the Dublin leg forward to an earlier flight.

I contacted Mytrip who said that they would change the flight for me for a fee or I could contact the airline myself. I did this and Virgin told me that they would change the flight for free as it was obvious I couldn't board the last leg. They then stated that they were unable to do this directly and I would have to go through the 3rd party that I booked the flights with.

Has anyone else had this type of problem before? I don't want to pay the service fee as I haven't changed the flights.

Kev11491

I imagine if they moved it, its their problem.. If the airline did I'm not so sure.

Kev11491

"We have no control over airline's schedule changes and accept no responsibility for costs which may arise as a result of such changes." their terms and conditions. Is the flight back to Dublin from Heathrow with EI or BA?

cmssjone

Kev11491 wrote: »

"We have no control over airline's schedule changes and accept no responsibility for costs which may arise as a result of such changes." their terms and conditions. Is the flight back to Dublin from Heathrow with EI or BA?

Hi guys, thanks for the replies. The flight back to Dublin is with Aer Lingus. The weird/annoying thing is that the last flight has been moved from 14:15 to 13:25 when there was no need to bring that leg forward. If it had been left alone I might have been able to catch it. It would have been tight but doable.

x567

I'm having similar issues with a Mytrip booking involving Virgin and Aer Lingus.

Since the booking was made both VS and EI have made schedule adjustments which affect the viability of connections at LHR on both legs of the trip, which is in early January. I have been trying to resolve this with Mytrip since April this year still without success. I've lost count of the number of times I've spoken with them, patiently explained the situation to their staff and been promised a call back - which never happens. Calls to specific agents dealing with the case are not returned, and emails rarely responded to (and never adequately). Ironically we paid extra for the tickets to be flexible and to have an enhanced service from Mytrip. Frankly I have found them to be impossible to deal with...

cmssjone

x567 wrote: »

I'm having similar issues with a Mytrip booking involving Virgin and Aer Lingus.

Since the booking was made both VS and EI have made schedule adjustments which affect the viability of connections at LHR on both legs of the trip, which is in early January. I have been trying to resolve this with Mytrip since April this year still without success. I've lost count of the number of times I've spoken with them, patiently explained the situation to their staff and been promised a call back - which never happens. Calls to specific agents dealing with the case are not returned, and emails rarely responded to (and never adequately). Ironically we paid extra for the tickets to be flexible and to have an enhanced service from Mytrip. Frankly I have found them to be impossible to deal with...

Sorry to hear that you are having issues too. I'm not holding much hope that this is going to be resolved without having to pay an administration charge. I just don't understand why Virgin can't directly change the flights with me as they are the designated carrier for this trip. Once I have proven my identity I can't see what the issue is. Grrrrrrrr!

faoiarvok

Is it mytrip.com or .ie?

mytrip.ie appears to be a domain parking page with no active website.

cmssjone

faoiarvok wrote: »

Is it mytrip.com or .ie?

mytrip.ie appears to be a domain parking page with no active website.

Sorry, it's mytrip.com

faoiarvok

cmssjone wrote: »

Sorry, it's mytrip.com

It says they’re “IATA accredited”, maybe have a look into the IATA rules on schedule changes and rebooking? I’m not really familiar with them but I would be surprised if they allowed charging for rebooking as a result of a schedule change.

Perhaps they don’t but mytrip consider the totally unfeasible connection as completing their responsibilities, in which case look into IATA’s complaints procedures.

Kev11491

So, back to this

"We have no control over airline's schedule changes and accept no responsibility for costs which may arise as a result of such changes."

If Aer Lingus made a schedule adjustment and re-booked you themselves onto an earlier flight it would be Aer Lingus you need to deal with. Same applies to Virgin but Virgin would not have to change the Aer Lingus flight as technically they are separate tickets and its out of Virgins control.

In future when booking a flight with a connection I'd recommend booking a codeshare

Kev11491

cmssjone wrote: »

Sorry to hear that you are having issues too. I'm not holding much hope that this is going to be resolved without having to pay an administration charge. I just don't understand why Virgin can't directly change the flights with me as they are the designated carrier for this trip. Once I have proven my identity I can't see what the issue is. Grrrrrrrr!

Virgin is the designated carrier for your long haul flight, they have nothing to do with the Aer Lingus flight as its not a codeshare.

x567

Kev11491 wrote: »

So, back to this

"We have no control over airline's schedule changes and accept no responsibility for costs which may arise as a result of such changes."

The reason that I broke with the habit of a lifetime and used an agent for this booking rather than deal with the airlines direct is that I assumed (seemingly incorrectly) that someone would have a level of responsibility for changed or missed connections. If this isn't the case it would have been better to book separate tickets with the three airlines involved; at least then you can deal with them directly and efficiently if there are problems.

I also took a look at the IATA website as suggested and it looks like there isn't much that they can do to help with the black hole that is mytrip.com...

steve-o

Kev11491 wrote: »

Virgin is the designated carrier for your long haul flight, they have nothing to do with the Aer Lingus flight as its not a codeshare.

This is nonsense. A connecting ticket does not need to be a codeshare. Assuming the OP bought a single ticket Dublin-Vegas, then it's a Virgin ticket, even if it has an Aer Lingus leg.

OP, the way it works is that the agent that sells a ticket "owns" the reservation until the day of departure, and the airline won't mess with it. If a schedule change reduces your connection time below the minimum connection time, then you can of course change the reservation for free. But only the MyTrip can do this for you. If they don't sort it, you should report them to the appropriate Greek regulatory body and IATA. Unfortunately there have been other threads regarding MyTrip so, the more complaints, the better.

But it's not a disaster. Virgin will always rebook you for free on the day if you miss the connection.

Kev11491

steve-o wrote: »

This is nonsense. A connecting ticket does not need to be a codeshare. Assuming the OP bought a single ticket Dublin-Vegas, then it's a Virgin ticket, even if it has an Aer Lingus leg.

OP, the way it works is that the agent that sells a ticket "owns" the reservation until the day of departure, and the airline won't mess with it. If a schedule change reduces your connection time below the minimum connection time, then you can of course change the reservation for free. But only the MyTrip can do this for you. If they don't sort it, you should report them to the appropriate Greek regulatory body and IATA. Unfortunately there have been other threads regarding MyTrip so, the more complaints, the better.

But it's not a disaster. Virgin will always rebook you for free on the day if you miss the connection.

No it doesn't, however if Aer Lingus moved their flight it is not Virgins problem as there is no partnership or code share in place, that's what I meant. Its the travel companies problem or Aer Lingus', not Virgins.

"Assuming the OP bought a single ticket Dublin-Vegas, then it's a Virgin ticket, even if it has an Aer Lingus leg. " Its an Aer Lingus ticket from Dublin to Heathrow, then a Virgin ticket from LHR - LAS. The travel company sold it as one journey, however the airlines look at these tickets being separate.

Kev11491

"If a schedule change reduces your connection time below the minimum connection time, then you can of course change the reservation for free. But only the MyTrip can do this for you." Agreed.

"But it's not a disaster. Virgin will always rebook you for free on the day if you miss the connection." Considering its an issue with EI changing their schedule, Virgin are not obligated to.

steve-o

Kev11491 wrote: »

Its an Aer Lingus ticket from Dublin to Heathrow, then a Virgin ticket from LHR - LAS. The travel company sold it as one journey, however the airlines look at these tickets being separate.

Please stop now. Aer Lingus and Virgin have an interline agreement. Aer Lingus interlines with dozens of airlines, most of which sell tickets that include Aer Lingus legs. There's a list at the bottom of this page: https://www.aerlingus.com/travel-information/baggage-information/checked-baggage/#/tab-2-partner-airlines (but in true Aer Lingus fashion it appears out of date).

The OP bought a round trip from Dublin to Vegas, not two separate tickets. That's the whole point of buying a connecting ticket. All legs will have been issued on a Virgin (932) ticket. The OP has already said that Virgin have acknowledged that they can fix the problem, but only via the travel agent.

Yamanoto

Kev11491 wrote: »

Its an Aer Lingus ticket from Dublin to Heathrow, then a Virgin ticket from LHR - LAS. The travel company sold it as one journey, however the airlines look at these tickets being separate.

Both flights will have separate PNR's but it'll be ticketed solely under a VS #.