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Old Jul 17, 2010 | 3:42 am
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Help/Advice needed.

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We booked flights from London to Orlando with FLYBMI via Manchester where they use a codeshare on the Virgin flight to MCO (Orlando). I have an email confirmation of all my flights. When I went to manage my flights online shortly after booking I got a message saying that something had changed with my flights yet it listed the flights on screen so I assumed perhaps one of the times had changed slightly. However a week or so after I booked I eventually managed to get on the Virgin site to see my booking ( as I wanted to try and reserve seats) where I noticed that it had our outbound flight but only the transfer from MAN to LHR was showing for the return. I rang Virgin and they said there was no return flight booked MCO to MAN.
Since then I have rung FLYBMI a couple of times and they have said not to worry it's being taken care of check back in a week. There appears to be no seats left on the Virgin flight if you try and book a single seat on our return date. Now when I go to manage my flights on BMI the return MCO to MAN flight is no longer showing.
I'm getting a bit concerned as we fly in a couple of weeks and I'm not sure exactly what is going to happen.

Any advice or idea what BMI are doing? Is there anything I can or should be doing?

Thanks.
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Old Jul 17, 2010 | 3:56 am
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Old Jul 17, 2010 | 5:16 am
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Welcome to FT catflap ^

Where did you book the flights?
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Old Jul 17, 2010 | 12:00 pm
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Originally Posted by wiluk
Welcome to FT catflap ^

Where did you book the flights?
Hi,

Thanks for the welcome.

Flights booked via FLYBMI website.
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Old Jul 17, 2010 | 3:16 pm
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The call centre's 'it'll be fine next week' response is alarming and certainly untrue.

I would go to the top of this forum, look at the sticky and call the bmi HQ phone number and as for Senior Pre-Travel Support as they are the crack team for sorting this sort of thing out.
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Old Jul 17, 2010 | 4:24 pm
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Originally Posted by GoldCircle
The call centre's 'it'll be fine next week' response is alarming and certainly untrue.

I would go to the top of this forum, look at the sticky and call the bmi HQ phone number and as for Senior Pre-Travel Support as they are the crack team for sorting this sort of thing out.
Thank you. That's exactly what I needed to know as I couldn't find who else to ring about this problem.

Any idea's on what will likely happen? Assuming there is no room left on the return flight I thought I was on will they offer me an alternative route back?

What can I ask for, realistically expect?

Thanks .
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Old Jul 17, 2010 | 4:32 pm
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I assume you have been charged the full amount for the intended itinerary?

Well, SPTS will try to get you on your original flight. Or a reasonable alternative. Or offer you a refund. Play nice with these guys - they are the real deal and will do their best for you. If they can't do it, then, it cannot be done.

Then, and only then, you get (mildly) stroppy with and demand your flight be reinstated as it was booked and paid for - and any changes, cockups of IT SNAFUs are their responsibility. They'll know this anyway. Be cheeky and ask them to put you in a different cabin if economy is not available.

As for compo - I suggest you ask for nothing. If you get what you paid for, then that's that. If you don't get it and they ruin your holiday or cost you a fortune making alternative arrangements, I suggest you ask them for the name of their legal representative.
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Old Jul 17, 2010 | 4:46 pm
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Originally Posted by GoldCircle
I assume you have been charged the full amount for the intended itinerary?

Well, SPTS will try to get you on your original flight. Or a reasonable alternative. Or offer you a refund. Play nice with these guys - they are the real deal and will do their best for you. If they can't do it, then, it cannot be done.

Then, and only then, you get (mildly) stroppy with and demand your flight be reinstated as it was booked and paid for - and any changes, cockups of IT SNAFUs are their responsibility. They'll know this anyway. Be cheeky and ask them to put you in a different cabin if economy is not available.

As for compo - I suggest you ask for nothing. If you get what you paid for, then that's that. If you don't get it and they ruin your holiday or cost you a fortune making alternative arrangements, I suggest you ask them for the name of their legal representative.
We have been charged the full amount (four passengers).

All I want is to get what I paid for (or something very very similar) not after any compensation.

Just a bit worried as we have spent 3000 on Hotels and Park tickets based around these flights and it's too late to cancel any of them and get any money back.

Are they open Sundays or do I need to ring Monday morning?

Thanks.
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Old Jul 17, 2010 | 4:52 pm
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Monday morning, 9am sharp. 01332 854000 and ask for pre-travel support. If you get anything that sounds vaguely like the call centre in India hang up and call back. The usually answer the phone as "pre-travel support" so if you get anything else you need to call back.

These guys are absolutely the real deal and they have sorted out many a c*ck up for the esteemed members of this forum. As GC suggests, play nice and they should be able to sort you out somehow. If you've been fed bull by India, politely point this out and ask them to listen to the tapes of your calls.

Last edited by Tiger_lily; Jul 17, 2010 at 4:58 pm
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Old Jul 17, 2010 | 4:58 pm
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Originally Posted by Tiger_lily
Monday morning, 9am sharp. 01332 854000 and ask for pre-travel support. If you get anything that sounds vaguely like the call centre in India hang up and call back.
It's the Indian call centre that was driving me mad and giving me no confidence that this was going to get sorted. I was trying to find a UK number to ring but had failed until now.

Thank you FT and all who have given me advice.

I'll update with what happens on Monday.
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Old Jul 17, 2010 | 5:04 pm
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There is only one option in cases like this and it doesn't involve calling India. The "we are dealing with it and keep calling back" line is usually a complete fob off because they have no idea how do deal with it because it's off script.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.
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Old Jul 17, 2010 | 5:06 pm
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Originally Posted by Tiger_lily
If you've been fed bull by India, politely point this out and ask them to listen to the tapes of your calls.
I don't know if I have been fed bull, however it sounded like they had just sent off an email and were expecting everything to get fixed. Told me not to worry as I'd paid for a return LHR-MCO-LHR (via MAN) and they would sort out the problem with Virgin. I asked when things would be resolved and they said check back in a week.

They did little to convince me that everything would be OK!
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Old Jul 17, 2010 | 5:15 pm
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Honestly, if you did a search on stuff like this you would be surprised how many threads you would end up reading. And these threads are only from people who know about or stumble across FT.

I would really like to know how many people turn up at the airport and find that their bookings have been cancelled or not ticketed because stuff ups at the call centre.
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Old Jul 17, 2010 | 5:20 pm
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Originally Posted by Tiger_lily
I would really like to know how many people turn up at the airport and find that their bookings have been cancelled or not ticketed because stuff ups at the call centre.
I'd rather not - it'll be probably more than I imagine it to be
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Old Jul 17, 2010 | 5:45 pm
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Originally Posted by Tiger_lily
Honestly, if you did a search on stuff like this you would be surprised how many threads you would end up reading. And these threads are only from people who know about or stumble across FT.

I would really like to know how many people turn up at the airport and find that their bookings have been cancelled or not ticketed because stuff ups at the call centre.
I was wondering what would have happened if I hadn't spotted the flight missing on the Virgin Website, would it have gone unnoticed until we tried to check in?
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