Originally Posted by ChrisHB

I am also impacted.

I spoke to Virgin earlier and before being cut off gathered they could offer me same day flight via Johannesburg with Airlingus.

Being based in Manchester and only going to London because I booked with reward points (same rights) I would rather they fly me from Manchester with 1 stop rather than now have 2 stops.
They told me they can only do it from London on one of their partner airlines.

So the question is do I have to accept a partner airline as they are not offering like for like, 1 stop instead of direct?
I probably can't insist on Manchester but if I don't have to accept a layover rather than direct with different carrier there is a case for asking for goodwill as there is no cost differential, in fact it is cheaper from Manchester.