Hi All

I just wanted to add my comments about how shockingly we were all treated by Virgin, from the nightmare bus journey with an unsafe driver and nearly 7 hours with no food, drink or toilet facilities, to the constant lies from all Virgin staff and the rude attitudes from them all, I have never felt so annoyed and stressed out after a holiday. I also wanted to add when we eventually got back to Newark airport after it was clear the driver didnt know where he was going, we tried to get a Virgin rep to come help but the only one there ran away from us!!! Here is the response I got from Virgin, after reading it I felt again let down, they have avoided the issues totally and again fobbed off our complaints. What about the letter that Jet Blue passengers received? Just wanted to add I emailed Watch dog with my complaints, if we all do it they may listen!!


Our Ref: 943940/WNSCRW/1
Dear Ms Doyle
I'm so sorry to read that you were delayed by two days after flight VS18 diverted to JFK, following its departure from Newark on 15 February.

The precautionary decision to divert was taken after the crew discovered a technical problem. It was clear from the outset that the necessary repairs would take some time and two engineers were flown in from London to start work.
Ordinarily we would have re-booked everyone onto other flights with us, or with other airlines, but there were only a handful of spaces available.

We arranged hotel rooms in New Jersey, as there weren't enough in the New York area, and five coaches to take everyone there. A combination of bad weather and confusion over the correct route meant that this was a very long journey too. We accept that this wasn't handled very well and we took this up with the bus company before they returned on Saturday 17 February to collect everyone again.

Although Virgin Atlantic staff were sent to the hotel, we're aware that some didn't arrive until after the coaches. By early morning on Friday 16, we knew that the flight wouldn't be leaving until Saturday so staff were on hand to answer questions and handed out letters explaining this.

On Saturday 17 February, your flight was re-numbered VS118 and left JFK at 10:43, 50 hours and 23 minutes late.
I appreciate what you have said about some passengers being offered an upgrade. I'm disappointed if this happened as I can appreciate how annoying this must have been. Unfortunately, I'm unable to confirm this.

It's very difficult in a letter, to acknowledge how much frustration an experience like this causes and we're so sorry that you were affected. Of course, we occasionally have flight delays but rarely this long and very rarely when there are no options to move people to other flights. It was for this reason that we offered a free round-trip ticket on a future service. Could I request you to send us the postal addresses of Ms Michelle Payne and Ms Claire Watson, so that we can send these free tickets to you. I'm afraid though, that I can't offer you a refund of your ticket fare.

If you incurred any costs for your immediate needs during the delay, like meals, phone calls, emails etc, please send us the receipts for consideration.
Our address is
Virgin Atlantic
Customer Relations
PO Box 747
Dunstable
LU6 9AH

We will also be passing on your comments within the airline, when we assess how this was handled.
Thanks very much for taking the time to email us and once again we're sorry about what happened.
Kind regards
Winston D'Lima
Customer Relations Executive