Territorians have criticised Virgin Australia after last-minute flight revisions saw many looking for costly alternatives to see loved ones interstate.
Some passengers travelling from the Top End were given less than 48 hours notice of changes, with people having their flights changed to Christmas Day and others to trips more than half a week after their original booking.
Kate Nichols is planning a trip back to Sydney to see her family and said her flight was cancelled and changed to Christmas Day.
“I think it’s obvious that people would like to get back to their families before Christmas Day, so it’s frustrating to have the flight land on the day instead,” she told SBS News.
“Another friend of mine had her flight moved from 23 December to 27 December and had to buy a new set of return flights costing up to $1,500 with a different airline.
“She was notified of these changes less than 48 hours before her flight during an extremely busy period of the year.”
In 2020, , which led to it closing its budget airline Tigerair, laying off a third of its staff and cutting back operations to 58 aircraft for its mainline operations.
Earlier this month the airline’s financial report said it was planning a “progressive recovery in the group’s domestic airline operations to pre-COVID capacity levels during 2022.”
To achieve this goal, Virgin announced in November that 600 staff were to be recruited across the business and their fleet was to increase to 84 aircraft to cater for the rising vaccination rates and opening of borders.
But Ms Nichols said her confidence with the airline has wavered through her experience which left her also looking for costly alternative flights.
Territorians have criticised Virgin Australia after last-minute flight revisions saw many looking for costly alternatives to see loved ones interstate. Source: AAP
“I understand that airlines change their flights a couple of hours here and there but to change it over 24 hours later is not reasonable especially during this time,” said Ms Nichols.
“The new tickets I had to purchase were nearly double the price and the refund I’ve arranged is travel credit which is only equal to the original price of the ticket.”
Ms Nichols said that Virgin told her that they had experienced “difficulty with crew in isolation”.
“We have been living in a pandemic for close to two years, it should have been obvious that some people may need to isolate so a contingency plan should have been put in place,” she said.
Emma Henke booked her flights two hours after Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner announced eased quarantine restrictions.
She said her flights were revised to arrive earlier than expected but understood the frustration many were facing following two years of uncertainty around the pandemic.
“I would have been sorely disappointed if I couldn’t make it back home for Christmas,” she said.
“People are feeling fatigue around COVID impacting their plans, a lot of things they and I have wanted to do have been cancelled and I feel like we’ve all been taking it on the chin.
“I know there are people far worse off, but these cancellations and revisions aren’t because of health, it’s because Virgin have a staffing issue.
“I feel like open lines of communication weren’t in place with Virgin and the consumer.”
Laura Wade, who is travelling to Sydney with her partner Matt Behling, agreed and said they weren’t offered an explanation for why they’re now “$700 out of pocket.”
“We were rebooked on another flight two days later [than our original flight] so we cancelled that one as we have very limited time home,” she said.
“I know at least two more people who had the same thing happen, but they had to get back for something specific in Dubbo so had to frantically book new flights.”
Ms Wade said getting back to family is important to her now that she can travel.
“We were probably going to spend Christmas in Darwin until they announced the easing of border restrictions,” she said.
“Both our families are very understanding of the situation, and we would have figured out a way to celebrate but it would have been disappointing.”
A Virgin Australia spokesman said the airline has apologised to any guests impacted by the cancelled Darwin services.
"We are working tirelessly to ensure all guests reach their final destinations in time for Christmas,” he said.
“We are currently in the process of moving guests onto a number of alternative services, including an additional direct flight we have scheduled from Darwin on Thursday.”
The airline hopes to finalise contacting impacted guests within the next 24 hours, it said.
