6foot7

Got a call saying they are honoring the fare as well! Booked through Delta.

earlyriser

Out of those that have had flights honoured, did you use the words "Bait & Switch" or not?

invalyd

I doubt this language has anything to do with fares being honored or not. The DOT sends a generic response to all complaints that it either falls under valid complaints or not, then forwards to the airline for further review.

Clearly after receiving a certain number of these complaints around this fare DL higher-ups made an executive decision. I'm sure a number of people claiming non-refundable expenses also contributed to their decision.

kade Reid

I just got a message from VA saying they won’t honour the fares.


Thank you for your email.

I am sorry to hear of your ongoing disappointment.

Your concerns have been escalated to myself in the Guest Relations team.

As mentioned to you previously by our team, due to incorrect fare filing and human error, your flight from New Zealand to Oakland was incorrect. As a result, we are unable to honour this ticket within the Business Class ticket.

This decision is in line with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Enforcement Policy and The Fair Trading Act 2017 (NZ) which extends to overseas businesses that supply services within NZ.

I have reviewed your booking and can see that your ticket has been downgraded to Economy. If you were wishing to cancel your booking, Virgin Australia is able to provide you a full refund of your airfare.



In addition to this, we will reimburse you for any reasonable, verifiable, non-refundable out of pocket expenses you have incurred in reliance on your Booking. To request reimbursement, please respond to this email with a copy of your receipt and proof of cancellation along with the following bank account details:

nichojo

That's incredibly frustrating.

Quinlanty

The booking on DL website was wonky, never got a confirmation email or success screen and it seemed like it didn't process. But I have a confirmation number in my DL trips tab. Do I call Delta and ask am I ticketed? Don't want to break the FT "DO NOT CALL" rule. Any other workaround to see if my ticket is actually valid? TIA

pushmyredbutton

Bolding mine; I find it ironic that a carrier that so unreasonably cancelled fares over a week later has the audacity to claim that only reasonable expenses will be covered.

bhatnasx

It looks to me like Virgin isn't actually telling the truth here...here's 2 snippets from the NZ Fair Trading Act:

From the NZ Fair Trading Act:

Bait advertising
(1)
No person shall, in trade, advertise for supply at a specified price goods or services which that person—
(a)
does not intend to offer for supply; or
(b)
does not have reasonable grounds for believing can be supplied by that person—
at that price for a period that is, and in quantities that are, reasonable having regard to the nature of the market in which the person carries on business and the nature of the advertisement.
(2)
Any person who has advertised goods or services for supply at a specified price shall offer such goods or services for supply at that price for a period that is, and in quantities that are, reasonable having regard to the nature of the market in which the person carries on business and the nature of the advertisement.
(3)
In a prosecution of any person in relation to a failure to offer goods or services to a person (in this subsection referred to as the customer) in accordance with subsection (2), it is a defence if the person proves that—
(a)
he offered to supply, or to procure another person to supply, goods or services of the kind advertised to the customer within a reasonable time, in a reasonable quantity, and at the advertised price and where the offer was accepted by the customer, the person has so supplied or procured another person to supply the goods or services; or
(b)
he offered to supply immediately, or to procure another person to supply within a reasonable time, equivalent goods or services to the customer in a reasonable quantity and at the price at which the first-mentioned goods or services were advertised, and, where the offer was accepted by the customer, the person has so supplied, or procured another person to supply, such equivalent goods or services.

***

21 Demanding or accepting payment without intending to supply as ordered
No person shall demand or accept payment or other consideration for goods or services, if at the time of the demand or acceptance that person—
(a)
does not intend to supply the goods or services; or
(b)
intends to supply goods or services materially different from the goods or services in respect of which the payment or other consideration is demanded or accepted; or
(c)
does not have reasonable grounds to believe that that person will be able to supply the goods or services within any specified period; or if no period is specified, within a reasonable time.
Compare: Trade Practices Act 1974 s 58 (Aust)

Rowyourboat

I found out that [email protected] is the direct email for their customer care/guest relations. I emailed them to express my frustration that Delta tickets are being honored and asked if they're going to honor VA tickets. I'll see what they have to say.

Encourage others to email too, to pressure them.

bhatnasx

Agreed. I did the same.

earlyriser

Same.

ristasm

I have 2 bookings...one with DL one with VA...however i can't access my DL booking at Delta website and the VA booking is showing as economy...i've just sent an e-mail to [email protected] asking them to reinstate the ticket to J...anyone else can't access the booking at DL? i guess that means they've already cancelled it?

nichojo

Got same email from VA, replied and copied gentleman from US DOT. This is so unethical it 's funny.

bhatnasx

They wrote back to me:

Dear bhatnasx:

Thanks for your reply email.

We have considered all relevant factors including our legal obligations under the Fair Trading ACT (NZ) and the US DOT and are familiar with section 399.88 of U.S. Regulations. The DOT is not enforcing section 399.88 with respect to mistaken fares while it completes a review of this section.

***

Bolding mine - I'm a Platinum with Virgin Australia, but I guess they don't actually consider customer service or loyalty to be a relevant factor.

I just booked 3 tickets for my team for SYD-AKL on QF instead of VA. And I'm going to SIN in January for a week for business - it would now seem that ticket will be booked to QF instead of VA as well.

zebranz

"Lucky" says DL will honor all tickets: http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...res-after-all/

Let's see how it effects VA considering even VA stock has DL flights.