ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
A local man has been left scratching his head this morning after Virgin moved his flight home on Christmas Eve to the 3rd of January.
Kevyn Drayne, a 34-year-old professional disc golfer, grew up in Betoota Heights but as his career began to take off, he was forced to make the move down to Echuca, which is the unofficial frisbee capital of Australia.
Drayne, who is ranked 433rd in the world, explained to The Advocate that he was excited to make it back to the Diamantina for Christmas after spending so many on the road, heading to tournaments or at his in-law’s place on Norfolk Island (where celebrating Christmas is illegal).
With all the negative press surrounding Qantas and REX being openly prejudiced against non-smokers, lapsed Catholics and adult men who think it’s acceptable to travel on a plane wearing board shorts and thongs, Drayne said he chose to fly with Virgin.
“In a moment of weakness, I decided to fly on Virgin,” he said.
“Which is something I now regret. Last time I flew with them, my competition frisbees got bent by the baggage handlers.”
For some reason, Virgin contacted Drayne to tell him they were moving him from the 10am Echuca to Betoota service on Christmas Eve to one in 2025.
“I got an email this morning with a new ticket. What’s the point in even going? I have the Mulligan Towing Swan Hill Invitational on in early Jan! So like anyone, I got on the phone to ask them what the hell they thought they were doing!”
After 2.5 hours, Drayne finally got on to someone.
“The bloke on the other end of the line just said he was sorry and there was nothing he could do about it,” Drayne continued.
“He said if I really needed to get home, I could just book another ticket or stop being such a lazy [extremely offensive slur redacted by legal] and drive. Fair enough, I thought. But when I asked for a refund, that’s when he turned on me,”
“He said a refund could take a while and it’ll be hard to process, so have I considered just copping it on the chin and acting like it was a parking fine or something? A bad one, like parking diagonally across two disabled spots and then pretended to be disabled in court when you went to challenge them. I don’t mind, I’ve got time and a strong sense of justice, I will get my money back.”
The Advocate reached out to Virgin for comment but were told they don’t speak to people who wear ties or brown boots.
More to come.
