It gets worse

3:30am: We're woken by a call from a rude and abrupt Virgin rep., apparently the plane is fixed. We have to be downstairs between 6 and 7am.

We rise at 5:30am. I am very nervous about having to get on the plane (despite Virgin saying it's fixed) but I try and steal myself. We both just want to get home and back to work.

6:30am: We're in the lobby. Amazing ! - THREE Virgin reps. All here to tell weary and angry customers that there is no flight. Rumours abound that the pilot refused to take the plane back up. Customers are crying out for a manager. The reps are rude, unhelpful and bolshy. When I request a status report, I have to ask one to stop raising her voice. Everyone is now very concerned about how we're going to get home, especially as the Virgin staff re-iterate that there are no seats on any other flights - in fact every carrier is apparently over-booked because of the holiday weekend.

We start to chat to the other passengers. There are some very unhappy people:

- The lovely Sikh couple who just got married in New York and are now missing their traditional ceremony in the UK - their parents have spent a fortune on it.

- The stressed-out Indian family on their way back to see a sick mother who is having open-heart surgery.

- The woman who is on her way back to a poorly child

- Over ten teachers desperate to get back to their respective schools

- The terrified children

- People who own companies, losing money every day they are stuck in the US.

- The New Jersey family who hadn't flown since 9/11 because they were understandably very concerned at the prospect - and now this!

Every person we came across had a story.

The reps start handing out a compensation letter but they don't have enough for everyone. I sneak a look at someone else's - 50% off the next flight!! This is pathetic.

I ask a rep. if we could book with another carrier and am told that I could but there is no guarentee we could get on that flight. Plus we'd be worse off because Virgin would no longer be looking after our interests and we'd definitely not get a refund. I am shocked. I notice customers calling travel agents and getting flights - the group starts to dwindle.

We go upstairs to check online - there are LOADS of flights out of there. What the heck is going on?

10:20am. We're told by the reps that we're flying on Saturday but they're not 100% sure the plane is fixed. Again they tell us not to re-book elsewhere, as there are so many cancellations due to the recent bad weather. We're all furious - these reps are useless and just inflaming the situation. Customers are extremely agitated.

12 noon. The nice hotel manageress directs us to the conference room, so we have somewhere to sit. The reps join us and try to talk to us - everyone gets frustrated and starts shouting for the manager again.

1pm Susan Ratigan - 'Service Delivery Manager' - arrives and takes control. She's like a negotiator trying to deal with a bank siege - soothing words, promising that everything will be okay, she'll get us "outta here" but just trust her - "okay ?". Finally an apology but we're told if we want to leave we HAVE to get on the plane. As far as they know there is nothing wrong with this plane. However, some engineers flown in especially from London, will be conducting a 'borascope examination' of the engines. She's not sure what it means but it's a fairly thorough procedure. Although she can't 100% guarantee it, the flight should leave on Saturday morning. I notice someone is recording the whole thing - if you're reading this please upload it to YouTube and send us the link. I am sure we'd all like to see this again.

Another offer arrives - this time it says they're checking other carriers to get us out (hmmm) and that we can re-book on another flight with Virgin later, if we want.

People are shouting, some are crying, others are leaving to book with other carriers. If they can get seats - why can't Virgin ?. it's totally unacceptable.

Later on, another letter arrives. This one says we can get a free round trip flight but we get nothing if we book else where ( apart from a refund ) and there is nothing about compensation for the distress and delays. We go off and call work. A chink of light ! It appears we have travel insurance and following a couple of calls, we're booked on a BA flight the following morning. Unfortunately not everyone is quite so lucky. We check in online and go downstairs to tell Susan.

She acts surprised and the other passengers look cross that we have clearly managed to get other flights despite assurances there are none. It's obvious they don't want us flying with someone else and are happy to have us stay put, rather than placing us with another carrier. I'm livid.

I notice Susan picking customers off to do different deals - people start leaving to get on other Virgin flights. Again we all note that Business and First Class were obviously sorted out at the terminal. We're being punished for buying cheaper tickets. I get a call from one of the passengers, now at Newark airport. He tells me he's about to get on a Virgin Flight and they are STILL selling tickets for it. He's very upset.

Saturday
The next morning we get up at 3am (again) and head to JFK for our flight. Of course, this time everything passes without incident and we arrive on time at Heathrow.
I check the 'Arrivals' to see if the newly named flight VS118 is in - nothing there (it was supposed to arrive at the same time as the BA flight). When I get home I look online. It says the plane is due in at midnight, so clearly there were more delays but I still do not know if everyone is back safely. Despite Susan's best efforts to salvage a bit of Virgin's integrity, she's failed miserably. Hats off though Susan - great 'strategies'. But really...too little, too late!

During this whole miserable experience, I called Virgin's customer services THREE times. The first time I spoke to a woman (Danielle, very kind) who had no idea what was going on or how to help me. Twice I was put on hold for over 20 minutes (on my mobile, at my expense) until I gave up. I can not believe such a high profile company can be so bad at this kind of thing. No contingency plans, no real idea at all.

I have always respected Richard Branson but he should take notice of this - his reputation is being damaged by a team who clearly are unable to cope in a crisis. It's embarrassing.
I'm a reasonable person, I understand that planes are prone to occasional mechanical problems but surely a company's reputation is measured by it's response to such a situation.

So Virgin please tell us. What are you going to do about this?

I am now even more afraid of flying - getting on that BA flight took some serious guts, and I only did it so I could get home. They made me feel as comfortable as I could be but that doesn't mean I'll be getting on a flight anytime soon. This experience has opened my eyes - you're only as good as the ticket you buy!