Comments on: A canceled flight, a missing refund

By: Kevin M

Kevin M — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:57:15 +0000

For those commenting on the price of the tickets and how strange it was that AA couldn’t get them to their destination until 2 days after the original plans: Given that this was a honeymoon, I wouldn’t be surprised if these were first-class tickets, hence the higher price, and with only a handful of first-class seats on each flight, it could be that the airline was booked up for that class otherwise.

By: Karen

Karen — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:41:11 +0000

There’s something fishy about this story…two days to get a new flight? American has 9 non-stop flights a day from SAN to DFW with 10 non-stop flights a day from DFW to MCO. They also have flights from LAX to MCO. With that many options to choose from, I have a hard time believing the story that the next flight offered to them was two days later.

By: Roberto

Roberto — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:50:39 +0000

I’ve always been amazed how merchants that can take your money instantly can’t seem to give a refund in under 6 months.

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:02:16 +0000

This is another reason to always use a real credit card (vs a debit card) for travel purchases (and to fight hard against proposed changes that would allow companies to charge you a surcharge for doing so; they only want to reduce your consumer protections). A cancelled flight (for any reason, including weather) or significant schedule change always allows the customer to choose a refund even on a “nonrefundable” ticket (this is in most conditions of carriage, and part of any basic merchantability type laws).

When I return something, even a multi-hundred-dollar something at any retailer, it is almost always credited immediately and posts online by the next day. There’s absolutely no reason an airline can’t do the same in a clear-cut refund case such as this. The best practice is probably to call the credit card company immediately and dispute the charge — they’ll take it off your account (temporarily) right away, and if the airline refunds the charge on their own it’ll automatically reconcile; if not you’re protected. This doesn’t always work the same way with a debit card.

By: Justin

Justin — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:41:11 +0000

Shouldn’t this be 1374 + interest Chris? After all, any institution that “holds on to your money” is subject to pay interest as if it’s a loan. I think they are due a few hundred dollars more.that 1374 has not only devalued due to inflation over the period of time, but they lost use of that money for other things. Maybe they should take them to court too on this one. They might walk away with some more on top of it all.

Justin

By: Raven

Raven — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:44:01 +0000

Completely unacceptable that it took so long for American to refund the money to this couple. What was the cause of the cancelled flight? If it was something AA could have controlled, these people should be getting more than just a refund–extra miles, upgrade coupons, something.

Airlines are the new mob. They take your money, beat you up, and treat you like crap all while the government looks the other way.

By: Joe Farrell

Joe Farrell — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:19:51 +0000

Wow – $1374 for 2 tickets from San Diego to Orlando? orlando is pretty cheap to fly to!

Knowing the airlines like I do, they would allow you to refund the front half of the ticket but not the return.