Mackay families shattered by Virgin’s $9k flights nightmare blunder

Two Queensland families trying to give a teen a dream holiday to Disneyland before she potentially loses her sight and hearing have been left “shattered” after being stonewalled over almost $9000 in Virgin flights.

Two Mackay families trying to give a teen a dream holiday to Disneyland before she potentially loses her sight and hearing have been left “shattered” after being stonewalled over almost $9000 in flights.

But the airline in question has maintained the group was given the wrong information.

The Cronins and the Dixons, who have been friends for many years, began planning this family “trip of a lifetime” for the children to Disneyland in early 2019, before Covid altered the travel landscape.

Casey Cronin said she booked an amazing deal through Flight Centre with Virgin for return flights from Brisbane to Los Angeles for about $900 per person.

“I watched flight pricing for a year before we purchased our tickets,” Mrs Cronin said.

All four children, then aged between 12 and five, were excitedly committed to saving for the including foregoing to the annual show and crushing cans to maximise pocket money – they were even gifted US dollars in lieu of presents for birthdays and Christmas.

Then Covid struck, Disneyland – the main purpose of the trip was closed, and the families were forced to cancel their plans as the world was thrown into chaos.

FAMILY HIT WITH UNEXPECTED HEALTH BLOW

Since then Paul Dixon’s middle child Kadie, now 14, was diagnosed with two rare auto-immune diseases: Cogan syndrome, which impairs eye tissue and hearing, and juvenile dermatomyositis, which is the deterioration of the joints.

It was an unexpected blow for the family and Mr Dixon said it “took a long time to diagnose”.

Kadie Dixon, who has been diagnosed with two rare auto immune diseases, with her father Paul. Picture: Michaela Harlow

“Nobody was ever looking for these two things … together,” Mr Dixon said.

“She’s one of the only kids in the southern hemisphere who has both these conditions combined.”

He added they could also “spiral very quickly”.

With this now in mind and with travel back on the table in 2023, the families set about picking up the pieces of their broken holiday.

“We wanted to do this while the kids were old enough to have a good time and remember and before any future possible medical complications came into play for Kadie,” Mr Dixon said.

Mrs Cronin said every accommodation and entertainment service they had booked through had given them refunds, except Virgin which had offered travel credits.

Two Mackay families are fighting with Virgin Australia over when they can use their flight credits offered after bookings were cancelled during Covid. Picture: iStock

But there was a kicker, Virgin – which had also since gone into voluntary administration – was no longer offering long haul flights and the credits could not be used with any affiliate carriers.

Mr Dixon said the “travel bank” containing all their credits had in writing an expiry date of January 9, 2024.

But when he phoned Virgin he was told they must be booked and used by end of 2023.

They had been hoping to extend the expiry date to January 18, 2024 and use the credits to cover flights to and from their international departure point – with both families working, and the kids being in school, this was the only suitable time frame.

Mr Dixon said he was directed to the airline’s customer relations, which could only be accessed via email.

So he wrote a detailed email “begging” for the extension including an appeal regarding his daughter’s condition and he received a response that in essence read, so long as the Virgin flight was booked before December 31 they could return after the expiry date and use the credit.

Dream holiday at stake: Kadie Dixon, Kamden Dixon, Paul Dixon, Tanis Cronin, Scott Cronin, Casey Cronin and Keeley Dixon. Picture: Michaela Harlow

But when they tried to book, it wouldn’t go through and when Mr Dixon followed it up he was told the credits had to be used by December 31.

“I said no no I’ve got a letter here saying that as long as we book in December 2023 we can do that,” he said.

He was told “no that was a mistake, you can’t do that”.

Mrs Cronin, a business owner, said, “I kind of felt that Australian Consumer Law meant that whatever was in writing, you had to uphold.

“I’ve been in retail a long, long time, you advertise a price, that’s what you’ve got to sell it for.”

‘WE’VE TAKEN PUNCH AFTER PUNCH ON THIS’

The families are angry the airline was not honouring the commitment it made in writing, even though it was a mistake.

Mr Dixon said Virgin had fallen back on its company policy and was refusing to budge, even though it was in its discretion to do so, and adding to their frustration, Virgin also refused to let him speak to anyone on the customer relations team.

Paul Dixon is frustrated with Virgin Australia’s policy on flight credits. Picture: Emma Brasier

“The only way you can talk to someone is through this email process so they can basically fob you off or do some scripted response,” Mr Dixon said.

“It’s been a long rollercoaster … We’ve taken punch after punch on this.

“We weren’t looking to get anything extra, we just wanted to use what was there towards our trip.”

Mrs Cronin said they had also learned Virgin only allowed a certain number of seats per flight to be used for flight credits and as such the eight of them might not even be booked together.

“The amount of money is irrelevant, it’s not as much as some people lost to travel companies during Covid,” Mrs Cronin said.

“But it’s our money … and they’re putting more and more restrictions on it that are making it impossible to use the credit.

Tanis Cronin, Scott Cronin and Casey Cronin say people should be aware of what is happening with flight credits. Picture: Michaela Harlow

“Even if we never get our credit, I want people to be aware that this is happening.”

Mrs Cronin said because of the ongoing debacle, when the group finally booked their return flights from Sydney for $2600 per person, there was no excitement.

“It was like, oh OK we’re going but we’ve still got this fight on our hands and in the end we may have to pay for the domestic flights,” she said, adding there had been no compromise and no flexibility from Virgin.

“We’ve worked really hard to do a holiday like this.”

“It’s been one kick in the guts after another really,” Mr Dixon added.

‘VIRGIN REFUSED TO EXTEND BY TWO WEEKS’

The two families have reached out to consumer advocate Adam Glezer, who has taken on their case.

“I think it’s disgraceful to tell you the truth,” the Consumer Champion owner said.

“They now don’t have the option of using their credits to fly to the US because the credits can’t be used on affiliate airlines.

“Virgin have also refused to extend the ticket expiry by 2 weeks”.

Mr Glezer said Virgin was still not honouring the extension “even though they confirmed it in writing”.

Consumer advocate Adam Glezer, of Consumer Champions, is helping Mackay families the Cronins and the Dixon with their Virgin flight woes. Picture by Wayne Taylor

He is currently going back and forth with the airline to try and smooth out the issue.

“The flights were cancelled through no fault of the customer,” he said.

“Virgin’s blatant refusal to help is completely heartless given Mr Dixon’s daughter’s condition.

“It’s not known how much longer she’s going to be able to see and hear for.”

Mr Glezer is pushing for an overhaul of the complaints process labelling it “extremely inefficient and very robotic”.

“Customers tend to get a templated response in the majority of situations. In my experience, looking at cases properly on an individual basis is extremely rare” he said.

Virgin Australia has maintained the families were given the wrong information about the Future Flight credits, which had been extended for a third time since Covid.

“We sincerely apologise to our guests for their experience,” a Virgin Australia spokesperson said.

“Our Guest Relations agent unfortunately provided the guest with incorrect information about the ability to travel after the expiry of their Future Flight credits.”

The Future Flight credits were issued to customers who had bought tickets before the airline entered voluntary administration on April 20, 2020, where flights were cancelled, so they could retain the full value of their bookings.

It is understood the customer relations worker involved in the error would receive refresher training.

“We remain committed to helping customers who were impacted by flight cancellations because of COVID-19, border closures, or Virgin Australia’s voluntary administration,” the spokesperson said.

Originally published as Mackay families shattered by Virgin’s $9k flights nightmare blunder