British Airways hid the option to get a refund for cancelled flights and United retroactively changed their rules to refused refunds for major schedule changes and then told customers they’d have to wait a year for their money back.
Airlines that aren’t providing transportation that was purchased are trying to keep customers’ money, even as they seek more of their customers’ money in the form of government bailouts. While the international airline trade group is trying to get governments to legalize this theft, some carriers are doing it on their own regardless of the law.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation,
If your flight is cancelled and you choose to cancel your trip as a result, you are entitled to a refund for the unused transportation – even for non-refundable tickets. You are also entitled to a refund for any bag fee that you paid, and any extras you may have purchased, such as a seat assignment.
Miles From Blighty couldn’t get this policy honored by United.
Meanwhile Andrew shared his interaction with JetBlue, trying to get a refund for a cancelled flight from Bermuda to New York JFK next week. This isn’t a flight where he’s ‘decided not to fly’. This is a reservation that has been cancelled with the flight not operating.
JetBlue told him that refunds are not available for cancelled flights, because the cancellation is outside of the airline’s control.
The reader cites the airline’s contract of carriage, which specifies a refund for a cancelled flight. The airline agent says that commitment is void under the current circumstances.
The airline then continued to debate the language of their contract of carriage claiming that they aren’t required to provide a refund when they’re forced to cancel a flight. The passenger wouldn’t receive transportation they paid for, wouldn’t even get their money back, just a future flight credit.
This is the sort of absurd claim that chargebacks are for, and at this point that’s what the reader threatened.
JetBlue hung up the chat with this,
Thank you for your feedback. I will be sure to pass this along. Have a great day!
Eventually he got a telephone agent after a long hold time and they granted a refund ‘as an exception’ because the agent misunderstood and believed the airline had stranded him in Bermuda (he lives there).
Airlines seem to be refusing refunds. In Europe, they’re required to refund cancelled flights. There are required to do this in the U.S. also. Any government enforcement or government fine, though, is something that will only come down the line. Most people won’t file complaints. And in the meantime the airline gets an interest free loan. Don’t accept that.
That is what Royal Air Maroc did when they cancelled my intra-Africa flight from Egypt to Morocco. They gave me a voucher good for 1 year. What use is that to me?? I won’t be able to use that within a year. They cancelled my flight and rescheduled it for the next day, which at this point does not matter as Morocco has closed their borders.
I have a non-refundable hotel reservation at the H10 Cubik Barcelona next week. The hotel is of course shut down but also refusing to refund, instead offering me the ability to rebook within the next year.
For a multitude of reasons I’d rather have the refund. But I absolutely will take it up with Chase—disputes and not insurance.
I get that hotels like airlines want and need to hold onto cash, but that’s not the consumer’s job.
In life, there is the theory and the practice. Offering vouchers by some is nothing new, nor is the evasion of refunds, even before this crisis. It’s a game that Airlines are well versed in and with online communication it becomes easier still to look consumer friendly whilst really just delaying or avoiding their responsibilities. Then there is supply and demand and the notion of power, not to mention cross-border tranactions and legalities. In the current market Airlines have sniffed power. i.e Which Governement or Body has the time, staff or to discipline these acts of evasion? The answer is nobody except that is the Payment Processor who can charge back if they want to. Now is the time for all those Banks to show whose side they are on… as if!
@ Gary — When I am put in this situation (which seems inevitable given that I have paid travel booked with AC, AS, BA, DL, KE, LX and QR), I will refuse a credit and will file for a chargeback. What kind of protection is granted under the circumstances by the travel insurance provided by credit cards?
Do you know about Mexico? We cross over to fly from Tijuana to Mexico City. Is AeroMexico under this same refund policy? At this point they are onlyoffeeimg flight credit
This article is a sad attempt of click bait and firing up consumers on something that is not the airlines fault, it’s not the consumers fault, it’s a natural disaster. Instead of writing a constructive piece of content that looks at both sides of the situation, you are taking advantage and using this as opportunity to build hate against the airlines.
The reality is if the airlines give refunds, there will be no airlines after this is done. You won’t be able to travel, as all the airlines will go under. No one will be in business. If the airlines would be required to issue refunds to 100% of the sold tickets during this time, they will be in bankruptcy in day 1. The airline business is not a very profitable and a very leveraged business to be able to provide consumers affordable costs on travel.
This article is ignorant and as someone who writes about airline travel all the time, should take both sides and look at what’s really going on.
They are letting people reschedule at no cost for a future date. You will get what you paid for. No one is taking your money with no value.
I bought a business class tkt to New Zealand on Fijian Air on June 20, 2019, through Amex Platinum Travel, for a flight scheduled to commence this weekend. When NZ announced a 14 day quarantine on arrival and my 2 week vacation was obviously impractical, I called Amex expecting a credit valid for 12 months from the date of the flight (or of my cancellation date which was similar), and is what Fijian is promising its direct customers on its website. The Amex agent worked hard to call and negotiate with Fijian, but I am told that all they would offer was a credit valid only for travel to be completed by Jun 20. So I am penalized for allowing them to hold my money for 9 months, by losing a future 8-9 months of potential validity. I do not think that Fijian flies anywhere I will even be allowed to fly within the next 4 months.
Lessons learned – beware of using 3rd party agents as you will lose leverage with the airline in the case of irregularities, and do not book overly early, as you will lose present use of your money, and possible future value. Airlines will also be the losers in the long term if they break trust with their customers this way.
A lot of corporate greed going on now a days. I’m in the live entertainment business and Ticketmaster use to give you a refund for postponed events without an issue. They changed their T&C’s a week ago and now are saying its up to the “event organizer” which they won’t tell you who it is. I’m also a MLB season ticket holder and I’m paid in full for this upcoming season. They’ve cancelled the first month and a half and no chance baseball season gets going in mid May and all I’m hearing from the team is they’re waiting to hear back from MLB.
What an absurd excuse to use a weather cancellation as something the airline CAN control! I’m glad these screenshots exist.
Air France is doing this too. (I tweeted at you with screenshots — I especially like the note that refunds are “no longer possible,” as if I was too slow to act.) My ticket with them was booked with miles, though. I’m trusting they’ll refund, without a fee — but do you have any other data points on award tickets?
I’ve filed 5 DOT complaints against United this week because of their refusal to refund the ticket because they’ve cancelled flights. I encourage everyone else to do the same. This is criminal and they should be punished for this.
What a pack of effing weasels. One of the ironies here is that if the airlines actually provided the refunds, they would have a better argument to beg the government for money since they had to refund so many customers as well as losing future business that hadn’t yet been booked. Past revenue lost as well as future.
A lot of corporate greed going on now a days. I’m in the live entertainment business and Ticketmaster is doing the same. You use to be able to get a refund for a postponed event without an issue. They’ve changed their refund policy as of a week ago and no longer giving people refunds for postponed events. They’re saying its up to the “event organizer” and they won’t tell you who that is. I’m also a MLB season ticket holder. My team rep says they’re waiting to hear back from the league, but they have my payment in full. They’ve cancelled the first month and a half of the season and no chance the season begins in mid May.
Travelguy must live on a different planet. It’s not the consumer’s job to be the airline’s line of credit. The airline does not get to change its own rules, rules that by virtue of being a contract of adhesion are almost unilaterally already in the airline’s favor, because it finds itself light on cash and demand. The customer was charged in advance for a service that was discontinued before the customer could receive the benefit. To not provide a refund is theft, pure and simple, and to withhold the refund even after the customer explicitly requesting the refund is fraudulent and criminal.
I had the exact same response from jetBlue – over online (website) chat, Twitter, and phone. This is likely their new canned response.
On a more general note, I’m tired of the consumer being the one left holding the bag in events like this when everyone plays the “not my problem” “out my control” game.
Daycare closes? Still should pay us tuition so we can pay our teachers. Wasn’t in our control even though daycare owner keeps the profits. Paying daycare staff is my problem because these events “are out of their control.”
Don’t have house cleaners come because it could jeopardize their health, but also get Twitter shamed into still paying them because they probably can’t afford to go without. Wasn’t in our control.
Buy a bunch of restaurant gift cards to places that have a 50/50 chance of still existing in a month because this “wasn’t in their control.” But you should still be out the cash.
Make over 100k but lose your job? Eat it because you’re not getting any stimulus, but you should still pay the resulting tax because it was out of everyone else’s control.
Airline cancels flights due to no demand? Not their problem, wasn’t in their control but you doin’t get your money back either. Your problem.
I’m pretty damn sick of everyone else getting to pass the buck on events “out of their control.” Guess what, Coronavirus isn’t in my control either so why are we always the ones that bear the brunt of it?
This was a rant and it felt good. Sorry.
I had a confirmed flight from Zurich to LAX with a stopover in Istanbul on Turkish Airlines. The flight was March 17, 2020. When I arrived at the airport I was denied boarding because Turkish Airlines wasn’t allowing anyone who had been in Switzerland to travel (even just in transit) to Turkey unless they were Turkish citizens. They stranded me and others and we were not given any compensation. We had to purchase other tickets to return home.
I just had this happen with JetBlue as well! They cancelled my flight and moved me to a new one, and when I asked for a refund for the cancelled flight they said “Your flight actually wasn’t cancelled. We’ve had to make some changes due to current issues with travel advisories. If the new time doesn’t work for you, we can move you to another flight that works better on the same day…”
I responded by showing that this wasn’t a schedule change, that they moved me to a new flight, including a new flight number. Luckily, they agreed to refund me after that. But yeah, it’s clear they are *desperately* trying to hold onto money here.
Sam Chui reports that Turkish is offering refunds in miles at one cent a mile. Now that’s smart business.
gleff,
Washing hands with warm water is more efficient than washing with cold water.
Consider what solubility and ionization mean when it comes to cleaning with water. Solubility varies by som
factors with temperature being a big one when it comes to washing action.
Now that the Senate vote to proceed to a vote on the stimulus has failed, it’s an excellent time to email you legislators about the airlines.
YOU’LL GET NOTHING AND LIKE IT.
My airport has a much higher credit rating , as does my county and city.
They get nothing in the CARES Act. The state of Nevada loses 37% of it’s revenue, and the cities are dependent on the sales tax for 85% of revenue. Where is their bailout. Nevada has 25% of it’s work force laid off.
@GUWonder: So the salt system installed to soften my water is actually making it harder to remove the virus?
@Travelguy: It is the airline’s fault. It’s not up to a customer to stabilize an airline’s finances. The will not go out of business.
Perhaps you’re confusing what you perceive as justice, with what exists in law.
Airlines still have enough stock value to issue a big secondary offering . They can pay you back.
Perhaps enough complaints will get the credit card providers to require up-front deposits from the airlines.
In the meantime , the market will tumble
I had the same issue with JetBlue today. Cancelled my flight changed the time by 12 hours I asked for a refund they said only a credit. Said I could go a day before or after. That doesn’t work for me schedule wise. So now I’m forced to keep the credit and pay for flights on the original day/time I purchased them for.
i cancelled ANA award bookings on 3/10 got the refunds on 3/20 .
i also cancelled korean air award bookings on 3/01 and still waiting as of tonight. the korean air rep did say it may take up to 30 days. but so did the ANA rep.
i hope the civil war between the heirs of korean air doesn’t hinder its capacity to meet financial obligations.
It’s worse now. The latest update to the United app made no mention at all of a fee for canceling my ticket so I cancelled… don’t do that!!
A few days ago United cancelled my nonstop award flight. Rebooked me on an unacceptable one with a stop and Twitter team refused to refund my miles unless I paid. I pointed out the DoT language and they still refused. Today I updated the app and it allowed me to cancel showing I would get miles and taxes back, no mention of a fee. I thought they’d fixed it as it had just errored out before. I agreed to cancel. It cancelled my flight, said there was a problem with my refund and to call. Upon calling they are now demanding $125 or I will not get my miles back. I explained everything I did and the supervisor said I agreed to this in the terms and conditions when I bought the ticket, I must pay money to get the miles back.
They literally showed me getting a full refund, “errored” my refund and are now demanding cash payment. I have the freaking screenshots to prove it.
I’m beyond pissed we are going to bail out an airline blatantly disregarding DOT rules.
Yup, United only offered me flight credit for a partner award flight. EU261 says otherwise, so I kindly hung up and sent a refund request online.
Step 1. DOT Complaint
Step 2: Chargeback request with credit card.
Force majeure is the term used to excuse “performance” when, the parties agree, circumstances beyond control make performance impossible. I have not had to research the transportation case law on this issue, and how it might govern our purchased tickets. Any ViewFrom readers who have?
BTW, we had two 1st Class Avios tickets BA to Venice. Yep, Venice. For April. So, BA has just cancelled. Very interested to see how they deal with this. Me, I would “redeposit” the customer’s avios in their account, refund the payments of thousands of dollars of “fees and taxes”.
But, you know, I don’t run a business these days. I just get a paycheck. I may be joining the collective rant soon.
Aeromexico is also playing this theft/game
Don’t expect any support from the corporate friendly trump mafia.
I believe that solvent airlines need to provide cash refunds to travellers whose flights are cancelled due to the virus, but the folks spouting nonsense here about “corporate greed” are out of their minds. It ain’t greed to try to get your company to survive here. This is a once in a lifetime disaster. Wake up to reality.
The airlines have consistently shown that they are not the friends of consumers, preferring to pick our pockets at every opportunity,
Why would anyone think the airlines would act in any other way than their self interest?
I feel for the front line people who work at the airlines, but have no sympathy for the airlines who’ve been gouging themselves on fees and penalty assessments. Let them rely on the goodwill that they’ve built over the last few years.
To AA’s credit, I have had no issues getting refunds for cancelled flights from them during this situation.
Kudos
Add WestJet to those airlines refusing to issue refunds for canceled flights. It claims the Canadian Transportation Agency granted exemptions to the Air Passenger Protection Regulations to address the pandemic. The exemptions deal with compensation not refunds and in any case don’t override the DOT rules for flights from the US. Filed a chargeback & provided screenshots of the notice of cancellation.
I’m hoping AMEX is solvent to deal with all these chargebacks given Gary reported 8% of charges are for airfare
I think the main takeaway here is that most people reading this blog, myself included, haven’t lived through a true crisis. But when one happens, all the table-pounding in the world about “the law” and “the rules” and whatever, goes out the window. They have the cash, or don’t, and you as a consumer are not gonna come to their place and take it from them.
When things really break down, manmade constructs go out the window – it gets back to first principles and the laws of nature – who’s holding the bigger stick? And all the smart rhetorical arguments and pointing to words on a page ain’t gonna do a thing.
@chopsticks: And when a customer is impacted by this “once in a lifetime event” in some way, will the airline have sympathy for the customer? Nope.
@CW: This isn’t a post-nuclear-war world or the zombie apocalypse. We still have contracts – the airline ticket was purchased under a contract – and a legal system to resolve contractual disputes. Obviously lawsuits take time and even more so with some courts shutting down temporarily. And if a court sides with the consumer in a lawsuit, that court order will indeed come and take the money from the airline.
I don’t see in B6’s CoC where Force Majeure is an exception to providing a refund rather than a voucher. FM is cited in a couple of other circumstances but not that, as far as I can tell.
Totally different experience with American, but we’ll see if this continues and I face issues…5 seats booked in Business on AA/BA in July to LHR and return from CDG to US. Called to get one leg moved to biz which wasn’t available on original ticketing, learned that the taxes went down. Asked to look at return tickets (separate tickets/record) changed to new routing, saved almost $3,000 in taxes on all tix and already received my refund of award ticket taxes from American. They are the ones that told me the taxes went down, I never would have known. American deserves high praise for how they treated me.
British Airways: called BA Gold desk to rebook when UK finally started to take notice of C-19 and was told, NO changes to my ticket (for March 2020). Then I received an Email offer fm BA to request a Voucher. Submitted and was denied. (My husband, w/ the exact same exact ticket, applied and was accepted). Finally resolved by calling BA desk to move the flights to November w/out penalty and no collection for (big) difference in fare. Hard to believe it was all coming from the same airline. Consistency is lacking. (HCA)
If I booked flight through kayak.com (airfare) that has now been cancelled, do I deal with airfare and not the airline to get a refund? If airfare says no to a refund, then I should contact credit card company for a chargeback?
This is why I’m against airline bailouts. The business was acting terrible even before the virus, now it’s gotten worse.
I won’t forget when this clears up, whenever that day is.
If your payment for hotel or flight has not yet been paid on your card, tell the cc company you wish to dispute it. Give the rationale, citing where possible. I have never seen a credit card company refuse to do this. Give yourself time to sort it out. I just did this for two of my trips that were canceled. No problem.
When I called AA last night because of an equipment change (777 -> 321), I was told by the agent that she has never in all the years that she’s been working at AA has she ever received a request to cancel with a refund because of an equipment change. Then, she told me she couldn’t do it. As soon as I rattled off the section on cancellations and refunds in the AA tariffs, she laughed being impressed and said that she had to get a supervisor. Even the supervisor said that the system wouldn’t let her do it, but she would put in the refund manually. It’s obvious that AA doesn’t want to provide refunds now that they aren’t making any money. Too bad…maybe they will be nice again like the first agent as now they are desperate for our business. I hope this means that flight attendants will be friendlier and lose the attitude on future flights.
So if our flight is cancelled, we aren’t automatically refunded, but have to request a refund? Is this the same for tickets purchased with points? (I have a BA flight purchased on Iberia with Avios and fuel surcharges, a VA flight with Virgin points and fuel surcharges, and an AA flight purchased with AA miles).
How does one even know for sure the flight is cancelled? Mine still show up as future trips when I log in. But according to their news releases they have been canceled.
I just noticed that my credit card payment was to KLM not airfare.com as I thought. So now I should just be dealing with KLM? My purchase date was last July so the credit to be used by July is pretty worthless!
@alan – I thought of Force Majeure also, but also haven’t investigated the Contract of Carriage. I would be surprised if there’s not a Force Majeure clause.
I got a refund on an (pricey) April JetBlue-cancelled ticket today with very little push back. Maybe 20 minute wait for an agent, and 10 minutes on the phone.
I wrote to my Senator, Dick Durbin, and I suggest everyone write to their Senators. These airlines should not be getting financial help with our tax dollars so they can turn around and screw the public. We need our Senators to stand up for their constituents.
everyone should write to DOT and to their elected representatives in congress. . NO bailout to the airlines as they are purposefully violating DOT regulations and refusing to refund cancelled flights.
they deserve to fail
CW, I’ve lived through several “true crisis” situations. If there is one overriding lesson learned it is: It doesn’t have to be fair to be legal.
@Dave P – force majeure effectively voids an agreement, relieving parties of obligations to perform. It doesn’t generally let a party both fail to perform and keep the other party’s money
So, what happens if you have a flight departing April 1st out of the country because you were going on a cruise that obviously has been canceled? Our flight is on Delta, we have not heard a word from them as to what they will do if they are still flying there and if they will give us a refund.
Please let me know what we should do.
Same thing today, I had a one-way ticket CUN-AUS on Southwest. Flight is canceled for April 1 and WN is refusing to refund even though it’s on DOT website and in their Contract of Carriage. So I filed a dispute with my CC. Let’s see what happens there.
So a related question. My airline is requesting that people only call for support “within 72 hours” of their flight because lines are so busy. Is this true or is this just another way of keeping our money for a longer period of time?
I was told by Delta that they are not issuing refunds. I think they are waiting for the government bailout bill to be passed. Which wasn’t. They need cash to operate and are declining rapidly because they run way to lean with quarterly dividends and not enough cash in the bank. My refund situation came as a “NO” because it was a nonrefundable (STILL expensive!) ticket. Flight was going to spain, which I am pretty sure at this point should be on lockdown still.. (march 24th 2020). It’s both pathetic and disheartening as the tickets I purchased were for my mother and grandmother to fly out and see my brother get married in Barcelona. Now I, the purchaser of these tickets, am stuck giving Delta an interest free loan that expires in a year. I don’t live in USA and don’t plant to fly Delta ever again, regardless of this issue, so to me it sounds like they will end up keeping this $. I don’t want a credit. Even if the credit was transferable, who the hell wants the credit over CASH!?
@Roberto, I called on a Sunday night and got an AA agent within 10 minutes. And I used the AAdvantage phone number: 1-800-882-8880.
@Matthew Jon Leeder that’s interesting. I just got notice of a WN cancellation today, called, and the agent said “no problem.” Refund requested.
Cheers.
So far as a travel provider we have no issue’s with American, Delta. They have been honorable and refunded all cases where due. The medal for the worst airlines, goes to Star Alliance, starting with the biggest thief Swiss, Lufthansa and United. Shame on them.
I suggest charge back first, then small claims. Do not allow this mockery to consumers.
It’s morally repulsive how Airlines are exploiting this crisis. Honestly barring American Airlines and Delta , who have been straight forward and honest with refunds . I do hope of a new social order .
What is Qantas’ refund policy? I paid $1389.29 for a round trip fare from , on 4-21-20, San Diego, CA to Darwin, Australia, then on 5-4-20, Broome, Australia, to San Diego, CA. I used Zegrahm Expeditions air department, who also run the cruise they cancelled for the same dates. Zegrahm refuses to refund my $15,580 paid for the cruise (I booked this tour & air fare offered by Zegrahm through Wilderness Travel).. They will issue a *credit*. However they are NOT offering this cruise again for two more years, April 2022. I am an older person who may not be unable to participate in this activity in two years. They offer the $15,580 as a credit on another cruise, but I have already done 3 other of their cruises. I have no interest in their other cruises. It seems only ethical and in good faith to refund the $16,969.29. Otherwise I loose it all. What air and travel advisers do you recommend, so that I can obtain the refunds? Many thanks!
@BettyRose.
I think you should be prepared to fight them for your money. First dispute the credit card charges as failure to provide service. That creates and official record. If that fails, by chance. I would escalate this in small claims . File 2 suits. One against the cruise and one for the airline, that 10k and 5k.
http://www.courts.ca.gov/1062.htm
Delta is not giving refunds also to some customers. I could not get a refund but some family members Of mine who are on the same flight with us were able to get a full refund. Their customer service are not consistent with Delta policy. I even spoke to a supervisor and the attitude was obnoxious.I called the second time but the person was as bad as the first 2 customer service agents I spoke to. She even offered another airline to fly us to Italy. I said to her “are you crazy that you even suggested to me to find us another flight to our destination,” I felt like we were being kicked to a ditch to catch the virus, get sick and die from it. I was told that it’s not Delta’s fault that those countries are not allowing airlines to fly there, and I said to her, we are on a lock down to even leave the country. Extremely frustrating. I have silver medallion and expected some quality customer service.
United will never receive a dime from me again. Our flight to Tokyo on April 2nd was cancelled by the airline and they refused to issue a refund after several tries. They are now holding over $4800 from us for a year before we can submit a refund.
I’ve request a chargeback from my credit card company so hopefully they can resolve this for us. I’ve also submitted a complaint with DoT.
Same story with American Airlines for both of my cancelled trips. (First trip cancelled so i requested refund and figured a new method to get to where i wanted, then second trip cancelled. out $1600 ish)
They have refused all refunds.
I have a kinda similar situation. I booked a flight with Viva Aerobus last week, but I had to cancel it (corona….). In my confirmation I saw that they have a 24 hour cancellation policy (12.- Ticket Refund. You have the right to cancel your reservation and receive a full refund, when the request is made within 24 hours of the original purchase, but not within seven (7) days prior to the departure of the flight.). So, within 24 hours I managed to cancel my flight via the chat on their website (it was impossible to get someone on the phone). First they said that it was impossible, but when I copied pasted their policy number 12, things seemed possible all out of a sudden! They said that they were going to give me a 1971.78 MXN voucher that is valid until june 1st 2020 and the person on the chat disappeared right away. Later I got an email with a voucher of just 1207 MXN (thats about 30 USD less!). First of all, I don’t want a voucher that will expire before the whole corona misery will be over and second of all I just want my money back. It is my right! I asked again in the chat but they keep on saying that a full refund is a voucher and that the amount of money of the voucher is correct. WHY does this all have to be so complicated and overal WHY are they putting such misleading or even false policy and conditions on their website?
@Kevin,
What was AA’s excuse in the outright cancellation case for denying the refund?
Cheers.
I’m a travel agent and can’t get refunds for my clients whose flights have been cancelled by the airlines. WHAT RECOURSE DO I/THEY HAVE? If the client does a chargeback, the airline simply issues a debit memo that comes back to the Travel Agency/Travel Agent is forced to Pay!!!
@Nancy
It wont be as simple for an Airline to debit you this time around. However that said for example if a small airline like SAS hits me with a debit memo, I wont pay it (period). With AA, UA, DL , perhaps we would need to work out an agency credit for those debits if they indeed arise. We need to pick our champions and fight the others. I am not jeopardizing my relationship with the mighty 3. Let’s allow some time and support the 3.
Chris that is horrible advise to tell clients to charge back because the airline will just issue a debit meme to the agency ! They can go through their insurances with credit but to tell them charge back no way !
why is it terrible advice. theyarilines who dint refund are committing fraud and violating DOT regs. chargeback is appropriate in such a case. they sold you a product which they did not deliver and refuse to refund
@Hope
Do read the entire blog before you make unfounded criticism.
United is refusing to provide refunds as of 3/28/2020. I expect consumers won’t forget this moment anytime soon, especially with a bailout. I am hoping this will get covered heavily.
Previously, United told me they would not redeposit my points unless I paid $125. Yesterday I called to try again and now they have redeposited my points without a fee. They said their policy has changed (again).
Had a mid-April flight SFO-JFK on AA (actually AAVacations) that we were not going to take, but waited for the inevitable schedule change. Came today at 10 hours. Called Vacations desk. After waiting for callback, no problem, full refund of the air portion. The car portion (was gonna be a throwaway anyway) has to be future credit. But this was J travel, so car is a small portion. No muss, no fuss. Quoted “10-14 business days” as usual.
Cheers.
@brp
The greatness and fairness of American Airlines. They have acted with integrity throughout this ongoing human tragedy.
@Chris,
Agreed. That’s why they continue to get my loyalty. I had read something above about AA denying a refund, but mine was very smooth. And they’ll get the money back from me in the future 🙂
Cheers.
Hi fellow travelers, my wife and I booked United to fly to France (5 days from today). Of course the flight has been canceled, three separate calls and countless time lost on while on hold, but United will only offer a credit voucher if I choose to cancel. The card I used to book the flight (ironically a United Mileage Plus card) had travel cancelation protection, but you guessed it, it will not cover a cancelation due to a pandemic. So my options are to (A) take the voucher and ask for a refund in Dec or (B) dispute the charge on my CC as “service not rendered”. At this point, I am leaning toward B. My question to you fellow travelers are (1) if I dispute the charge and the CC company does not rule in my favor, would United still be obligated to give me the voucher (2) has anyone had success going the chargeback route, I’ve seen a lot of chatter but no one actually have success . Best to all!
Just a follow-up to my early comment re: Air France. My April flight, booked with miles, was canceled, so I used the EU 261 claim form on the website to request a refund (even though the rest of the site said refunds were no longer given). In less than a week, I had my miles refunded, and the ~$200 in fees for each ticket back on my card. There was an alarming day before that when I received an email that said my canceled flight had been reinstated, which I thought maybe was some way of weaseling out of the refund, but actually it was a glitch, as when I logged in again, there was nothing associated with my confirmation number, and the miles were back. The money took a few more days to show up on my card.
@Gary Chase travel portal (apparently whitelabel expedia?) insists that they need to charge me $200 per ticket (five tickets) for a CANCELLED singapore air flight that is no longer flying in order to get partial money back.
They are insisting that this is the Singaporeair policy that says that “due to my non-refundable ticket” that the airline will charge $200 per ticket for changes or cancel.
This in spite of DOT verbiage: “If your flight is cancelled and you choose to cancel your trip as a result, you are entitled to a refund for the unused transportation – even for non-refundable tickets. You are also entitled to a refund for any bag fee that you paid, and any extras you may have purchased, such as a seat assignment.”
Hello fellow travelers, following up to my own post from Mar 30,… called United today Apr 2, approximately 24 hour before my “canceled” flight was scheduled to depart, and United made an “exception” and issued a refund for my trip. Two prior calls (well ahead of the 72 hours preferred contact window) was told only travel voucher was being offered. Not sure if United is getting flak for their policy or if this is the script for those who call within the 72 hour window prior to their flight. Either way, happy to have the refund over the voucher.
Good luck to all
Rich S
I have a new complaint for you to write about ,. How about Cheapo air making millions on the corona pandemic . Cheapo Air cancellation fees 30% less . In other words they are charging $35.00 per ticket to cancel your already canceled flight .Cheapo air is not getting charge anything by the airlines . The airline are the one’s cancelling the flight. But Cheapo only giving a travel credit at that price . If you want you money back its $70.00 per ticket .If you choose the travel credit they are charging you again when you re book . So lets put this into perspective . They charged me a fee when purchased the tickets . They are now charging me $35.00 per ticket for the airline canceling my flight x 5 = $175.00 . Then I have to book a new flight with them in the next 13 months . But the air line that I was flying with, has a 2 year fly policy for there cancellation of my flight and a full travel credit with no fees. How the best part, I have to pay again to re book . This has to be best thing that has ever happen to Cheapo air. It may be the worst thing to happen in the world . in almost 100 years .BUT for a company the runs on charging fees this is the perfect storm for them . Three charged fees for one flight and I have not even got off the ground yet. While maybe millions around the world are dying . Cheapo is raking in the cash The longer this go’s on the more they make . They need to stopped this price gouging .Most people would be ok with a single fee per booking, but not per ticket The mainstream media even fox news need to show the world what this company is doing . Let the general public decide this companies future.
In Europe they need to refund, but just like anywhere else airlines are refusing. Just came off the phone with KLM, they are only offering a voucher. I told them the law, but still they won’t refund. Guess the court is the only way.
I have a “new” comment but it’s really a question of sorts. We were scheduled on a cruise this past April 4 from Buenos Aires to Lisbon on Oceania. Here’s the thing. We cancelled right when they said and we got an e-mail saying they will give us 100% credit for a future cruise to be booked by 2021 and taken by 2022. Our friends that were traveling with us (and by the way, they’ve only cruise with this line maybe twice, we’ve sailed way more than that), they cancelled 2 days later, they received an e-mail saying they can either have a “full cash” refund or a 125% credit towards a future cruise! Another friend that was supposed to sail in March with the same line, her offer was a 100% credit + an upgrade towards a future cruise. Now, if you sak me, I think Oceania should offer the same “deal” to everyone, specially to customers that have sailed quite a bit with them. What do you think or what would you do?
Cruise in Australia canceled by tour company. Is Qantas Airlines required to give a 100% refund for the airline tickets, purchased through the tour company’s air department?
The airline sent me email telling me my ticket is canceled which I have ticket to Budapest on 6/24/2020 but they telling me no refund will issue I have to use the money for next year ticket. I need my money in full what I can do
@Eva.
Eva add more details, hard to guide you otherwise. What exactly did you buy and city pairs ? In which country ? From where to where ? Date of purchase ?
I purchase a round trip ticket from Justfly.com to Philippines, unfortunately the flight has been cancelled by the airline, I called Justfly and they said I’m not entitled for a refund. They want me to re schedule our flight, I have till November of this year. I don’t need a trip, I want my money back, I need that more than a trip to Philippines.Since I have protection plan, that I have to call them instead. What should I do.
You need to add more details to assist. Where is the ticket from, city pairs and airline , dates of supposed travel.
I purchased the fair from justfly.com. To Philippines for April 23 to May 6. From Las Vegas to LA is Alaska airlines and LA to Philippines is Philippines air line, Philippine airlines already canceled the our flights.
I contacted United Airlines in regards to my flight. I and my husband was supposed to fly to San Francisco on June 8th. My husband and I were supposed to take a Carnival cruise (Carnival cancelled the cruise). I cancelled the flight due to the pandemic and Carnival cancelling the cruise. United said I do not qualify for a refund and no clear answer if I will even get a voucher. This is very unethical. I would understand if it was my fault but, because it isn’t, we should receive a refund.
@Michelle.
This is one instance where United is correct, they have nothing to do with your cruise, if they are going to fly ,they expect you to as well. However good news, you will have a full credit of your UA booking value. See below for waivers .
https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/notices.html#ExceptionPolicies
NB-Ethical and United have never rhymed well. But the above is generous IMHO.
Christopher, I hate to differ, because my husband and I were booked on a cruise that departed on April 4 from Buenos Aires and we were flying out of Atlanta on Delta on the 1st and we got a FULL refund! So, it does not matter if they fly or not. Michelle and us were going to fly because we were going on a cruise, cruise got cancelled, so therefore, not necessary to fly.
@Ampy,
Good that you got this, There is still no legal requirement for this refund, You got lucky. This is why there is Travel Insurance.
Cheers.
This profit-induced myopia of airlines is simply making them dig their own graves in advance (losing customer confidence). Its just a matter of time before they complete their own internment with their refusal to issue those refunds.
@Ahmad Dan
Good choice of words and yes I fully agree. Yesterday South Africa lost SAA , which by most means was quite a large airline, with daily double to the US and key global points. There decline was sadly coming as even though the country was beautiful and people lovely, the customer service was deplorable to say the least. On a global scale the worst airlines with refunds, goes to Lufthansa, SAS and Swiss. The Gold goes to American, Delta ,Emirates and Qatar who have been excellent to customers. Lastly if you are US or EU based , there are laws in place to get you a refund, so research and utilize them.
If I’m not an us citizen but bought the ticket in the US market can the company refuse to give me the refund because of my nationality?
absolutely not, assuming you bought it in the us market for use in the us market ? who is the airline, feel free to shame them here.
True, I purchase 3 round trip ticket through justfly for Philippines on April 23 departure, since I purchase a ticket that’s not refundable, they don’t want to refund my ticket, the thing is I didn’t cancel the flight, it was canceled because of the covid19. I don’t understand, if I canceled the trip my self, then I will not ask for a refund. Try to contact them but no luck.
trapped in the philippines …. I purchased round trip tickets from cheapo air and flew out of Indianapolis,IN on march 4th and arrived in the Philippiines on the 5th .I been recieved many emails indicating my flight back to Indianapolis,IN had been cancelled or changed .so I called and mind you I am calling a international phone number to the united states it took 40 minutes just to listen to so e ridiculous recording saying all operator are busy just wait so after the 40 minutes on wait they finally told me my flight leaving the philippines is still on but once I arrive in tokyo there is no connecting flight to detroit,Mi for last flight to Indiana. So they basically told me there is nothing they can do and all they can do is give me a voucher or a 50.00 usd refund .I paid over 1,250 usd for round trip airfare and feel they owe me a ticket back to the usa .its not my fault that delta canceled the flight .so is there any actions I can take besides having to pay annother thousand plus dollars to get back to the united states ??
Question: have reservation on Iceland Air PDX-KEF-FRA round trip 6/20-6/30. They have not cancelled the flight. However the PDX-KEF flights (both ways) does not show up on their website or any 3rd party site (including google flights, kayak, and even award search on Alaska). The only route that is bookable is via SEA. The flight is not full based checking the seat map for seating assignments. I think this flight is cancelled but they did not announce it yet so they do not have to refund anyone yet. I feel I am in a game of chicken with them. I have until 5/31 to accept a voucher (with pretty good terms, but hate the idea of giving an interest free loan to an airline). My instinct is to wait it out betting they will not “reinstate” this flight, that it will be cancelled, and therefore get a refund. What do you think? Thank you in advance for your help!
I have total 7 airline tickets
From Austin – London by American airline
And the rest in Europe by Aegean air, Olympic air
They all denied a refunds
I made a booking to flight from Houston, Tx to Philadelphia, Penn – Philadelphia, Penn to Madrid, Spain on August 4, 2020. On Jun 7, 2020, I receive an email notifying me that the flight RIJZVL was canceled. on June 16, I receive another email notifying me that I was currently due to travel on August 19, 2020. The email only offers me a voucher and a managing option for the rescheduled flight. A refund button was nowhere to be found. I went to the BA website throughout the email. Surprisingly, the BA website updated my information on a voucher petition. A voucher petition that I did not perform or claim and I still not want it. I contacted British Airways but they are refusing to refund my money.
I live in the US and purchased round trip non-refundable tickets in December 2019 through Air Canada, direct flights from Toronto to Rome, for a tour of Italy in May 2020. In April of this year Air Canada cancelled the flights and now have refused to issue a refund saying I had non- refundable tickets and they can only issue a 2 year credit voucher. Am I entitled to a full refund, as per the US DOT ruling? Or is this outside of their jurisdiction?
I bought 6 Tickets for August 2002
From MCO Orlando to San Juan
In JetBlue and Same thing here
I told them I wanted my Refund
And they won’t Give me my refund.
Even though the covit 19 situation.
It’s not Fair as I Work Hard for my Money
Same as cruise lines. We had a cruise in April that of course was cancelled and they gave us a future cruise credit. Then we took that credit and booked one for this coming October, which has now been cancelled too and they will NOT give us our money back! just once again a credit.
I think that is terrible! they are making money off all the passengers!
If airlines are breaking the law by refusing refunds, how about cruise lines? wouldn’t they be considered in the same manner? They are refusing to give refunds too, only future cruise credits (which now personally we’ve had to do twice!)
I wish someone could do something about this since people like myself live paycheck by paycheck and if I can’t go on a vacation I need my money back since I’m not there that’s not right at all
Willie, like I said, same here! Oceania cruise has been holding our money now for 2 cancelled cruises one for April (so they had this money since 2019 and then one for October that was just cnacelled. We also want our money back, NOT a future credit again!
I brought 3 tickets from spirit up arrival at the airport spirit refused us to board the plane due to we had not have a authorization from the country we destined to due to the coronavirus. When we ask for credit they refused and no refunds and stated no show .I just want my money back because we fly out on American airlines and got to the destination
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This is the same with cruise lines. We’ve had 2 cruises cancelled. The first one was in April, they did NOT give us our money back, just a “future cruise credit. Booked one for this October, got cancelled again, and again got another “future credit” They have kept our money (about $11,000 +) almost 2 years! And just imagine how many other people’s money they are holding onto.
I think it’s ridiculous for them to do this and once it’s OK, but to be stringing customers along and not giving our money back during this time when it could be put to good use is sort of a crime!
Hello, anyone who could help me how could I get my refund with an agency for my flight reservation that was cancelled by not operating due to covid 19 situation. My Ticket was refundable and I already went to the Airline directly and they confirmed that my ticket was refundable and the agency should refunded me. But This US ticketing agency is still not giving my monetary refund and it’s more than a year. Anyone could help me with this please.
Thank you for your help.