Virgin Atlantic Adds Appeals Process For Flying Club Fraud Accusations

@Ben: When this happened to me with an Air France award booked through VS, I was able to get my account reactivated and the miles refunded after contacting their executive office and providing passport copies and utility bills. But then the award space was gone.

I am currently suing Air France (my lawyer said we have to sue them, not VS, then if AF loses, they can try to recover the cost from VS). Feels a bit unfair to me, but it is what it is. I’ll keep you posted how this goes.

Clearly the case which is mentioned in Ben’s article is a matter of speculation as to where the fault lies (we are all entitled to our opinion), however, what I take from this case is my gratitude to the aggrieved party for bringing the case. My reasoning is that if VA are in error then that injustice has been addressed. If the VA fraud identifier system was in error then that has been addressed too. Thereafter, if anyone else should fall victim to the VA fraud system, than at least now there is a complaints process for all to follow.

There needs to be stronger consumer protection. If this was just an FFP that's a "value add" proposition, then there's a stronger case for Virgin claiming they can do whatever they want with the loyalty account, but when they're selling miles and essentially doing a swap of their own currency (miles) for fiat currency, then they can't just close accounts without proper justification.

Get a new lawyer.

Even the fake Skadden Arps knows better than that.

Yet another example why government agencies are needed to protect the rights of Jon Doe against big companies, Without the DOT all airlines could arbitrarily do as they want.

I agree with Eskimo. Common sense dictates that it was VS at fault. AF can’t control who books award space they make available to partners and they sure didn’t cause this delay. Not sure why the lawyer thinks AF is at fault?

Not sure what VS means by “now” having an appeal process? It has always been there as far as I understand. I was at the receiving end of one of these VS “fraud” identification processes, and I could appeal by providing documents that proved that the booking was for a family member. My account was restored, miles refunded and new bookings honoured. Isn’t that an appeal process?

your lawyer is wrong. Virgin is the issuing carrier and is responsible for any issues surrounding ticket issuance/cancellation.

@ DMoney -- Good to hear that was possible for you, but lots of reports suggested people were told their accounts were shut down, and there were no ways to appeal the decision or provide documentation to the contrary.

Glad the consumer got a positive outcome in this case, and doubly glad Virgin set up a process for people to appeal. Just goes to show that automated systems like these still require human oversight and escalation, because they will generate false positives. Just shutting down accounts that have done nothing wrong is quite obviously harmful to the brand.

Possibly an obvious question DMoney, did your claim originate from a UK or U.S. standpoint?

@omar

Blasphemy.
Throughout history, they are so many thing including but not limited to bloodsucker, vampires, or hypocrites.
The only one thing they never are is wrong.

Regardless the verdict in favor of plaintiff or defendant, they always win and earn money just for playing the role.

Are they gonna reimburse the customer for the cost of a new out of pocket ticket? That would be the bare minimum I'd expect from the airline.

The regulatory framework really doesn't seem to be sufficient here.

This is the result of the commentary here and elsewhere about the operating carrier being contractually responsible for transporting passengers who have bought tickets from other carriers.

Let's make it crystal clear. If it's not a 261 claim, it's ALWAYS the responsibility of whoever took the money (and/or miles) from you, not anyone else's.

I had a similiar case with a German airline. Sued them. Made them pay for my replacement tickets on QR J, 12kEUR.

Personally.. if that’s how Virgin does things, fsck Virgin, appeals process or not.

Virgin Atlantic also seems to have been into blocking some bank card point transfers into Virgin Atlantic loyalty program accounts from some members who seemed to have been flagged by the airline for fraud even when the accounts were not blocked from points being redeemed.

Canadian standpoint

VA is Virgin Australia.

But, as always, it's always nice to see you commenting on US time.

Thanks, DM.

"VAA has nevertheless decided to enhance and invest in an enhanced fraud detection tool to strengthen its abilities in this area"

Enhance an enhanced tool? Anyone else think they are using AI to write this word salad?

I’d say sue everyone in sight & let the judge decide whom to hold responsible. It’s the American way!

It is fascinating how ever darn company now throws the AI jargon into darn near every conversation as though it is some panacea to fixing everything.

The account was reinstated because they made a mistake. If they didn't, they would never have reinstated the account.

Funny how Virgin insists it did nothing wrong, yet can’t explain what exactly was 'fraud'. If you have no explanation, it’s not fraud detection - it’s arbitrary punishment. Absolutely shameful.

The regulatory framework is indeed insufficient in this regard — and that is why the recourse ends up being having to follow the path of potentially having such matter land in court if having standing in a jurisdiction where the courts and laws may be more helpful to consumers adversely impacted by airline loyalty programs using fraud as a means or even excuse to cause damage to the consumer for the benefit of the airline/airline loyalty program.

In order to raise your dispute, please contact our team at [email protected] and a review will take place.

Virgin can be real as$ hats sometimes
I had a business class award ticket booked out of JFk to Europe and without any notice they canceled & rebooked it out of dreaded Newark
They refused to rebook out of the same airport
They did let me cancel without penalty the heroes and luckily I found a better deal elsewhere but they truly suck
Bad enough they cancel but worse they don’t even notify you!
If I didn’t garden my reservations I might have easily shown up at jfk #@#!

Or you can email our Fraud Manager [email protected]