AUSTRALIA (WKRC) - A woman said she would have had to pay $8,000 on flights to claim a free cruise she won.
According to Business Insider, an Australian woman said she and her partner would have had to pay $8,000 in total for flights to claim a Virgin Voyages cruise she won. Per the outlet, the unexpected expense was due to a change in the ship's itinerary.
The woman, who was simply identified as "Morgan" spoke with Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in an interview and said the flights would have cost more than the value of the adults-only cruise.
"We definitely don't love Virgin at the moment," Morgan told ABC. "I think we feel pretty used to be honest."
Per Business Insider, the woman was on a Virgin Airlines flight from Melbourne to Tasmania in November when passengers were informed they had won a free cruise.
A video was shared to Virgin Voyages' official Instagram account, in which a flight attendant called Virgin founder Richard Branson to make the announcement. Per ABC, Morgan and her partner used the prize to book a cruise out of Brisbane, Australia, but in February, they were informed that all Virgin's Australian cruises had been cancelled due to the ongoing tensions in the Red Sea.
The couple contacted Virgin and were told the only way they could still redeem the prize was to book a cruise out of Europe or the Caribbean. Morgan did research and found that two roundtrip flights to the Caribbean would cost them around $8,000, which was more than the $7,000 value of the original prize, per ABC.
"We were genuinely shocked, we thought Virgin would provide us with an alternative prize like a flight credit or they would allow us to rebook on a later season," Morgan told ABC. "They sort of gave up on us, like 'you're a bit of a problem now'.
"We apologize to our winners who can no longer redeem their prize due to the cancellation of Virgin Voyages' Australian and New Zealand cruises amid the conflict in the Red Sea," a Virgin spokesperson said in a statement obtained by Business Insider.
The company added that "safety is always our number-one priority," adding that it had offered all affected individuals complimentary cruises on other international sailings.
A marketing lecturer at the University of Tasmania told ABC that the move could damage Virgin's brand, adding that it could make the situation right by "covering the cost of flights to Europe of the Caribbean."
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