For free legal advice regarding this problem I would suggest you ring Ros Fernihough on 01922 621114 she will explain to you where you stand legally.

It seems Air Jamaica have decided to withdraw off the Manchester - Montego Bay route due to aircraft shortages within their fleet. I don't expect Virgin Holidays are too thrilled about this either. Unfortunately, but somewhat outside of Virgin Holiday's control.

I would have hoped that Virgin, in order to show good customer relations, would have paid for the connecting flights to Heathrow as a gesture of good will.

Not least if you could travel to Heathrow by Virgin Trains ....

Booking conditions with most operators offer a sliding scale of compensation for "major" changes to holidays. This should be classed as one but the scale of compensation does not offer payment if the change is notified +56 days from departure (poster travelling in May 2005). Unfortunate - but terms accepted as condition of booking.

Ah but had the customer needed to make an alteration then it would have been a different kettle of fish they would have had to pay an amendment fee or cancellation fee.

The situation seems to be that this customer has to fork out extra expense through no fault of their own. And a major change it surely is as the new departure airport is many miles away from the original. If I had signed a contract to take me from Manchester to Montego Bay then I wouldn't be happy having to travel to London.

As I said earlier a gesture of goodwill on the part of Virgin wouldn't go amiss

Good point Glynis but Virgin did offer a full refund if the customer so wanted. As traveller correctly said, the consumer signed the terms- and conditions of contract when making the booking and although these are always in the favour of the tour operator they offer some kind of compensation for the consumer if they fail on any part of the contract.

I doubt it very much if Virgin is going to offer any goodwill gesture towards the customer. All you can hope for is a potential free upgrade to premium economy on either of the legs of the journey when space permits as this will not hit their pockets. I certainly would try to push Virgin for that.

Agent 132335,

I agree that pushing for an upgrade is a good idea in this situation, at least this should provide the customer with some compensation - although not as much as they would have liked i'm sure!

All tour operators guidelines have customers in trap in this situation, unfortunately, as they offer a full refund instead of compensation or a "good will gesture". This does not cost them anything extra and is written into the terms and conditions (as a situation beyond their control) - which a lot of customers do not read. In future I would suggest reading these to find out where you stand first, before entering into any legal contract.

I'm sure Virgin will stand by their T's and C's in this situation as they will have many customers in the same position as this poster.

jazzykeeb, have you considered going from Heathrow and staying in a hotel overnight. You can get up to 15 days free parking and the room should be no more than £100, so the Virgin compensation should cover this? We are going to Jamaica with Virgin at Easter. I'm worried as firstly our Hotel (jamaica Grande) isn't open and may not open in time and secondly, Air Jamaica's punctuality is really poor, they are rarely on time and this week had to cancel 2 flights for technical reasons. So pulling out of Manchester may free up a plane or two, unfortunately for you! Hope things work out.

Thank you all for your advise and comments.
I fully take on board the comments regarding company policies.
but my argument with virgin is that,
although they gave me the option to cancel the holiday,
this is not an option as my son is getting married in Jamaica & that is the whole point of the holiday.
had it been just another holiday I would have gladly changed.
but we did book the holiday to fly from Manchester
1) because of the distance.it only takes about 1 hour to Manchester from our house,and it can take up to 4 hours depending on the m25 traffic to get to Heathrow.
2) we can travel to Manchester by rail at a very reasonable price,but to travel to Heathrow we are talking around the £200 + mark.

virgin would not offer an upgrade on the seats as we will still be flying air Jamaica from Heathrow.

And rachie-m thanks for the suggestion but we have flow from Heathrow with virgin several times (our own choice) but find the drive back of 200 miles a killer after doing the very long haul flight.
and as far as compensation goes , what compensation I haven't been offered any.

I don't think I am expecting the earth from virgin, just a little customer service.
I would at least expect them to offer to transport us to Heathrow at their own expense, that is all I am asking of them.
as an example-if I were to travel anywhere on British rail and trains had been cancelled at the station I was due to travel from, they wouldn't expect be to travel to the next available station at my own expense,they would provide the transport for free.
why should virgin treat their loyal customers any different.

This will be the third long haul holiday I have booked & travelled with virgin in the last 12 months and spent over £9000 .
I am also a member of their frequent virgin club.
so much for loyalty.

I have sent in a letter of complaint just waiting to hear the out come.
I will post when I get the reply.

And I would like to wish you all on the board a very merry Christmas & a happy new year!

We too have had our April Air Jamaca flight cancelled and the alternative was unacceptable. We had booked through Leeds Co-op travel who originaly set up our booking, when the flight was cancelled we found out that the Co-op had not linked our internal flights and our holiday, so we as it stands at the moment have lost £160 of internal flights we can no longer use.

We booked the holiday on the understanding that if the wedding dates changed then we could transfer all parts of the holiday with no cost to us.

We have been so disapointed with the attitude of the staff and have now cancelled the holiday altogether and booked through another travel agent.

We have expeienced so much grief over this and am still not happy that we are having to stand the cost of the internal flights as it was the Co-op who messed up not us.

We have complained but not had any response other than its our problem.

virgin just not worth the hassle these days , they are totally ruyining the experience of my weddign ( see previous posts) and r no damn use helping at al

I agree!
virgin like a lot of other company's don't seem to care about their customers needs.
I know they are all in business to make money but virgin did used to care about their customers.
not anymore,their attitude seems to be take it or leave it.

fortunately my son & fiancee had a change of mind (due to virgin messing us about)and decided to get married in the u.k
this resulted in 14 of us cancelling the holiday to Jamaica with virgin.

I know we are only a small proportion of fish in their big blue sea,but if all their loyal customers have the same attitude to them as they have with their customer, they could find themselves in difficulties in the future.
bad attitudes looses custom.