Flying back to London Heathrow from San Francisco with Virgin Atlantic, my wife and I packed our house and car keys into our checked luggage, given the heightened security situation at the time.
Whilst in Virgin's charge, my bag was opened and our keys were removed. Virgin's ground staff refused to offer any practical help, and wouldn't even call a locksmith to get us into our house. The cost to us of replacing locks etc came to £358, only £155 of which we were able to claim back through insurance.
When I wrote to Virgin about this, they at first simply ignored me. After several attempts and nearly two months, they replied but have never apologized for losing our keys and say they are not legally obliged to offer any compensation. The offhand manner in which they have dealt with this incident is, in my view, disgraceful. I won’t be flying with them again and recommend that others avoid them too.
Incidentally, our flight was also delayed for 6.5 hours on the way out. As I said, there was a heightened security situation at the time but Virgin Atlantic seemed to have the biggest queues and the longest delays.
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