Virgin Australia Gave Me A Free Hotel (For A Weather Cancellation)
- Konrad Tillman
- Jun 24
- 3 min read
Intro
Throughout the world, there are often different policies on whether or not you receive a free hotel when your flight is cancelled or not. As an example, in the US, airlines typically do not reimburse you for a hotel if a flight is cancelled for a reason outside of the airline's control.
However, with Virgin Australia, this is slightly different.
What Happened
After arriving on board Virgin Australia Economy from Nadi into Brisbane (somehow managing to get my ETA in time 😅), I got the dreaded news that my plane down to Sydney had been cancelled, and I had been rebooked for the next day. Great. At least I am so late minute, I hadn't booked a hotel in Sydney yet 😅.
So I headed off to see where I might enquire about potentially getting on a different flight. Seeing as I knew nothing about Brisbane whatsoever, I decided that my best option would be the domestic check-in.
It was a little bit of a wait (due to many flights being cancelled), but eventually I made it to the front to chat with the agent on duty. We discussed a few alternatives, but the moral of the story was that the Qantas flights were sold out, and they couldn't get me out that night.
Shooting my shot (call me Steph Curry), I asked, "Am I eligible for a free hotel"?
The kind agent responded with, "Let me check on that for you". As she typed away, I was beginning to get hopeful, primarily due to her body language. A minute later, she responded with this:
"As you arrived from an international flight and are departing domestic, you are eligible for a free hotel, free transport to the hotel, and a 30 AUD dining credit. If it was domestic to domestic, you would not be eligible"
Isn't that fantastic news? She asked for my email to give me the hotel voucher, and let me know that I could submit a claim for my Uber/taxi reimbursement online. I wished the lovely agent a nice evening and headed outside to breathe in some cold Australian fresh air.
A few minutes later, the email arrived, and I had been booked into a midrange hotel called "The Voco". At about 130 USD before taxes, I thought this was reasonable.
All in all, I ended up taking an Uber into the city and had a comfortable sleep at the Voco (full review coming soon).
Final Thoughts
If you are wondering whether or not Virgin Australia gives out a free hotel in light of a weather cancellation, well, I hope this cleared some stuff up. If one of the segments you are flying is international, and you get stranded at your transit point, you will be eligible for a free hotel. However, say you are flying Denpasar-Perth-Melbourne-Sydney-Nadi, andyou got stranded in Melbourne, you would not receive a hotel in Melbourne.
All in all, I feel like Virgin Australia handled this situation quite well. There was a bit of a wait, since multiple flights had been cancelled due to winds, but the agent was nice and it all worked out in the end!
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