[aki]

My husband purchased two adult tickets thru CheapAir.com. We were flying Virgin Atlantic (SFO-Heathrow) & British Airways (Heathrow-Frankfurt). On Nov 11, 2012, we checked in at the Virgin Atlantic counter. The lady at the counter handed my husband TWO boarding passes (to Heathrow & to Frankfurt) and only ONE boarding pass to me (to Heathrow). We were puzzled and inquired another staff about our boarding passes. She told us that it was not a big deal and instructed us to just follow the Change Airline sign when we got to Heathrow.

When we arrived Frankfurt, there was my husband's suitcase, but my suitcase was at Heathrow, due to the boarding pass error. I was told that I would receive my suitcase at our hotel, but it never came that night. I wear soft contact lenses and my contact lense kit was in my suitcase to avoid the security hustle, so I couldn't take my lenses off. I was not supposed to sleep wearing them, but I conked out at 4 am or so, I was exhausted... when I woke up, my contact lenses were stuck to my eyeballs and my eyesight was blurred. I wandered the downtown Frankfurt in the morning with my impaired vision to purchase a contact lense solution, makeup, etc...

During the Europe Tour, our suitcases (I got mine at our second hotel) kept flipping sideways. We examined them and found that they had a 3-5 inch crack by a wheel.

When I got back to US, I wrote to the Customer Relations with the pic of our suitcase. The Customer Liaison Manager wrote me from UK. He didn't have an explanation regarding the boarding pass error, so he suggested us to contact our "Travel Agent." Huh??? We never used such service. My husband purchased TWO IDENTICAL ADULT TICKETS. It was a human error done by Virgin Atlantic employees at the counter. For our damaged suitcases, he blamed British Airways, for being our final carrier. Our suitcases arrived Heathrow together on the same 10 hour Virgin Atlantic flight, and arrived Frankfurt separately on the 45 min British Airway flights, due to the boarding pass error. It's hard to believe that our suitcases were damaged in the exact same way on two separate occasions.

From now on, we wouldn't mind pay extra NOT to fly with Virgin Atlantic again. I ADORE Richard Branson, he's like Steve Jobs in my world, but our experience with them is just HORRENDOUS... Nobody was accountable for our mishaps. It was our first time in Europe and supposed to be our dream come true moment... Thanks so much, Virgin Atlantic!!

[lostinlondon]

Hi Aki,

Used to wear contacts and found myself more often than none without case or storing liquid. In such situations, I have found that keeping the contacts overnight in saliva works quite well as a short term alternative to leaving them on.
With regard to the baggage issue, it's important to clarify that Virgin are not merely trying to shift the blame onto BA. In fact, airlines have agreed amongst themselves that it would be down to the last carrier to whom the loss was reported on arrival at the destination airport to handle any claim. Once the claim is settled, BA will request VS to pay their share based on the distance flown by each airline.

[aki]

I'd like to update that Virgin Atlantic worked with me and I have no complaints against the company whatsoever.

Ms. B spent hours & hours to investigate my case and resolved it fairly. I am very grateful... Thanks so much, Ms. B!

Travelers, please travel safe... Happy Holidays!
Peace,
Aki