Feb 29, 2008 3:54 pm US/Pacific
Bay Area Traveler Gets Runaround From Airline
(CBS 5)
Airlines have strict policies regarding rebooking flights if you get sick. One South Bay viewer turned to ConsumerWatch after spending months getting the runaround from one airline.
Roland Borges hadn't been to India in 30 years. So when his 94 year old mother wanted to visit her homeland for a family reunion, Borges was thrilled to take her. "We went to see where she was born and where my grandparents lived. It was a wonderful experience," said Borges.
But at the end of their trip, his mother was hospitalized with pneumonia and an embolism. They needed
to postpone their 22 hour flight home on Virgin Atlantic. "I tried to contact their customer service in Mumbai and find out what kind of paperwork I needed," said Borges.
He called repeatedly, but to no avail. Borges finally submitted a doctor's note, hoping it would be enough to reschedule flight at no cost. But Virgin told him later it requires a note on hospital letterhead. "Because of my mom was pretty sick, and we had a long flight ahead of us, I decided to just pay the fee, the extra fee, and deal with it when we got back to the U.S.," explained Borges.
He was charged more than $600 for rebooking the flight. Once he got home, he contacted his credit card company to contest the charges. "They could not get a hold of anyone with Virgin Atlantic, they tried the bank, and the bank just refused to deal with it," said Borges.
Borges contacted ConsumerWatch. After working on the case for months, our volunteer, Gerald, managed to get him a full refund. But Borges is still disappointed with Virgin Atlantic.
"They have very slick ads about customer service, but if this is their customer service, I don't think i'll ever fly with them again."
In a written statement, Virgin Atlantic press officials responded to the situation: "I'm so sorry for any difficulty that Mr. Borges and his family experienced. At the same time, this will indeed help other travelers in the future. As you can imagine, Virgin Atlantic is constantly maintaining and improving the quality of service we offer to our passengers."
If you have a problem, call our volunteers Monday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 888-5-HELPS-U. Any other time, please leave a message.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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