Connecting Flight Delay + Downgrade
 

My wife booked SAN-LAX-LHR through Virgin Atlantic in premium. However on the day of the flight the Delta flight from SAN-LAX was delayed to the point where she couldn't make the LAX-LHR flight. They rebooked her on the later flight LAX-LHR which got her in around 8 hours later. This flight was sold out in premium so they put her into economy classic. I'm not very familiar with EU compensation so does she have a claim even though it was the US positioning flight that was delayed? Also what should we be looking for here?

Any help would be appreciated.

There are two separate issues here - the delay and the downgrade.

She has no claim under EU261 for the delay because as you say it was the SAN-LAX flight that caused the delay and so aren't covered by the EU regulations.

I'm not sure what the DL policy is on compensation for delays on their flights so she should contact them.

However, VS as an EU airline is covered by EU261 so if VS downgraded her on a VS operated flight then she is entitled to reimbursement (note this is the wording of the regulation not compensation) of 75% of the base fare she paid for the LAX-LHR sector.

There is a claim form on the VS website to make a claim though an email with a couple of short sentences with the booking ref and flight details etc would suffice making clear she is claiming reimbursement as per EU261.

I will be surprised if VS pays the downgrade reimbursement in this circumstance. The passenger was not downgraded on her ticketed flight. Rather, she missed that flight and was reaccommodated on the next flight with availability. That is not an involuntary downgrade by VS.

You are not going to get anywhere with EU261 as the delay was on Delta and outside of the EU. However, you are certainly due something for the delay and the downgrade.

You may find this thread https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/virg...owngraded.html useful.

The TLDR is that in similar circumstances, a short Delta flight connecting onto a Virgin Premium TATL took a delay and the rebooking was in economy, Delta offered a $150 voucher.. and refused to up it. It took the OP emailing Virgins CEOs email to get a more appropriate offer. Alas they did not specify what that was other than "adequate".

Also remember that if you bought the ticket off Virgin and have potential usage for Virgin Miles, the compensation offer could be far higher if you asked for miles over cash (in most peoples valuations), but taking cash/vouchers may suit your better.

Similar but different
 

Light, classic and delight are still the economy cabin - the on board service is the same for example - and so this is not a downgrade as far as EU regulations (and possible compensation) are concerned.

The most you might get back is the equivalent of the seat selection fee part of the fare should you not be able to be moved back into a delight seat plus some miles as a gesture.

They weren't bumped down from Delight to Classic, they were bumped from Premium Economy to (per their comments) Classic (which implies that they might not have gotten one of the extra-legroom seats in Economy). I think they're due downgrade compensation of some sort (even if not under EU regulations), though how much is TBD. So, in trying to figure what you should poke for:

(1) What was/is the price difference between the two classes?
(2) Did you get an extra legroom seat or not?
(3) I'll ask for clarity since I presume paid, but was this a paid reservation or an award?

i was clearly responding to Louidenise not the OP of this thread who has a totally different situation which has already been addressed.