As I deal with business-related lawsuits, credit card disputes, refund issues, and life in general, I’m becoming increasingly disenchanted with the whole game of business, in which the only way to get anything done is to aggressively assert your rights, be well-connected, or both…
Airlines Are Still Dragging Feet On Refunds And Even Flight Credit
The direct context for this piece is Scott McCartney’s Middle Seat column in the Wall Street Journal this week. His focus is on airline refunds that have delayed or denied. He talks about the Schiller’s problem with Alitalia. The Brown’s problem with United. The Krawll’s problem with American. Oh yes, and the Blouch’s problem with Frontier.
All four of those customers were getting the runaround from the airlines. Mr. Schiller was barred from traveling to Italy because of restrictions imposed by the European Union. Despite calling Alitalia twice concerning this, Alitalia claimed he was a no-show and denied him even travel credits. Mr. Brown found his San Francisco – London journey on United cancelled. United wanted to get fly him through another hub and get him to London six hours later. He refused, but United denied him a refund.
Mr. Krawll spent over $10,000 to book his family to St. Thomas. When his trip got cancelled, American only offered a flight voucher issued in the name of each passenger. With many logistical and pandemic-related hurdles, a large family trip is unlikely to occur later this year or next, making the vouchers worthless.
Ms. Blouch learned the hard way that Frontier’s credit is only valid for 90 days. She had cancelled her family trip to Cancun and was unaware the $4,000+ in credit and to be used quickly.
It Pays To Be Well-Connected
Thanks to McCartney’s public persona and implicit pressure, Mr. Schiller received Alitalia credit, Mr. Brown received a refund from United, Mr. Krawll received a lump-sump travel credit he can use however he chooses, and Ms. Blouch’s travel credits were reinstated.
Nice outcomes for everyone, right?
But why should it be this way? Why should Blouch have to read tiny fine print to discover her flight credit on Frontier is valid for less than three months from date of issue? Why should Brown have to accept travel credit for a nonstop trip that was cancelled and a rebooking option that got him six hours later? Should Krawll and Schiller really be forced to eat the cost of their tickets due to events beyond their control?
The answer is no, especially considering these same airlines so greedily suck the taxpayer teat.
When I read stories like this, I do get angry. I left out all the details, but every passenger noted above wasted hours if not days on the phone trying to fix their respective situations. Why should consumers be forced to lose billions while airline pocket billions in subsidies, payroll support, and preferential loans bankrolled by taxpayers? It just isn’t right. Any further aid to airlines in the USA and around the world should be conditioned upon cutting out these distasteful practices. Is that really too much to ask for?
CONCLUSION
In this world of injustice and enmity against one another, we have to fight for our rights or we often forfeit them. Expecting fair play and mutual respect is apparently too much to ask for. Exhibit A: the way airlines treat their customers. Good luck with your refunds without the help of a more powerful voice. It should not be this way…
Don’t hate the players, hate the game.
I purchased a few domestic trips with Vietnam Airlines (VN) before the covid-19 pandemic to travel in September. Vietnam Airlines cancelled my flights and automatically rebooked me on flights either 7 hours before or after my original schedule. A few destinations of my trips, Hanoi (HAN) and Da Nang (DAD) are currently impacted by covid. I contacted the airlines for a refund or a change without fee and never heard back. At least, US carriers refund (although it takes them long time to process) or provide pax vouchers.
@ Matthew — We’ve received full refunds totaling $42,800 so far from AA, AS, BA, DL, KL and LX. The only holdout is AirCanada, which has instead opted to rip us off on our $4,700 purchase. We will take their offer of 165% miles and fly on other vastly superior Star Alliance airlines. Unless it is the only option to avoid our death or imprisonment, we will NEVER, EVER buy an Air Canada flight, regardless of how much another airline is charging. The executives of AirCanada should be ashamed of their illegal behavior.
How did they rip you off? Was the flight actually cancelled or were you not allowed to enter your destination? Did they refuse to provide either a refund or voucher? How many miles will you get for $4.7k?
Air Canada cancelled the flight. They offered a choice between voucher and miles (not a refund), and both of those are a ripoff because they are not what I purchased. They have no right to decide how I will spend my $4,700. What if I needed that money to pay my mortgage or to feed my family?
The choice is 342,500 miles or $4,700 USD.
I’d fight for the cash refund, doesn’t seem like nearly enough miles.
@ Joe — Yeah, but there is no point. The Canadian government is backing this theft, and I have seen exactly zero reports of successful credit card chargebacks. It is just not worth the frustration. It will be much easier to just avoid this unethical airline instead.
I had 2 business class tickets from Budapest to Brussels for the end of March on Brussels Airlines.
At first they were nice saying yes they would refund my money in 7-10 days .. after those days past nothing .. I kept calling and they kept saying they were in the process of refunding my money.
2 more months past I finally called Chase and explained my story … they processed a refund but stating that Brussels Airlines had 60 days to contest my charge back.
Finally after 60 days Chase emailed me to tell me my refund was now permanent since Brussels Airlines didn’t respond to the Chase inquiry about my tickets.
Took almost 6 months to get my refund … it was for only 400 Euros but that’s $430 US dollars that I didn’t have before !
Thank God for Chase !
Moral of the story .. never again will I travel or buy anything from Brussels Airlines !!!!
I am still waiting for refunds from Virgin Atlantic (126 days), Tarom (120 days), Alitalia (115 days) and RyanAir (95 days).
UA issued refunds for my ticket and my son but not my wife. They denied her twice but after about 8 weeks of going back and forth with managers all agreeing there is no reason why her ticket should be denied a refund we received the credit back to our Ink card. While it took some time and wasn’t what I wanted to do in my free time I found it to be overall much better than many others. It may have been that way because the flight they changed us to would require us to literally time travel to make a connection; something UA has not mastered. Thus, UA really not having a leg to stand on.
Spent almost 8 hours on the phone with United over the course of 2 months to finally get my cancelled trips converted from credits to refunds. Interestingly, a separate ticket on Eurowings was easily refunded with a 5 -minute phone call.
I’m coming up on 90 days without a refund from Virgin Atlantic. It was an award ticket on ANA – the flights were canceled. Miles came back within a few days but $250 in taxes and fees for two people is in limbo still. It’s frustrating since it wasn’t even their money – it was taxes and ANA fees they collected.
All but one of my many flights on Delta were eligible for a refund. All but one of those were easily refunded within a couple weeks. This one that I’m still waiting on had some sort of internal ticketing issue and has been stuck in a queue “at corporate” for attention for nearly three months. They said to call back in mid-August if it hadn’t cleared.
I’m glad they got their refunds/credits but how do you spend $10,000 to fly a family to STT. Did he fly 20 people?
$4,000 on frontier to CUN? Did she fly 40 people.
Waiting for refunds from 7 airlines. Air Canada has been the most obstinate so far. Aeroflot changed it’s mind and now is only willing to offer a credit. Others have agreed to a refund but not sure when that will come through. DOT complaint against AC is stuck in purgatory. Matthew, please continue to address this issue.
I had better luck, though not sure why. Persistence, probably. On one international flight, BA booked through AA, they cancelled the return flight (just as the travel bans were starting in March) and only offered an e-certificate for 90 days, which was then extended for a year. I immediately challenged the charge on my CC and filed a DOT complaint while making repeated claims for refund on both of their websites. I just kept repeating that the return flight was cancelled so I should get my money back. Eventually, a refund appeared out of the blue on my CC. Took about 2 months.
The other was a UA TATL where they cancelled the first flight that was a month and a half away and would not allow a refund, but instead rebooked me on some admittedly similar flights. But as it happens, the new booking was an illegal connection by about 5 minutes. Calling in, they tried to move me to other flights, but I got them to re-book me on a particular direct that I was pretty sure would cancel. Sure enough, a week or so later it did cancel, and I then called in and got a refund with little pushback, Likely because by then they had taken the bailout and were getting hammered for not refunding. Still it took about 4 weeks before the refund appeared on my credit card.
With all my hotels booked for free cancellation, I managed to lose no out of pocket cash on about $10,000 of potential travel costs other than $80 I had spent to pre-book a tour.