So what s the solution? Maybe DOT s ticket refund rules need to be more uniform, stipulating that al

K athleen and Eugene Bianucci paid $5,770 for a pair of round-trip tickets between San Francisco and Dublin this year on Virgin Atlantic Airways. A few days before their trip, Kathleen, a fitness instructor from San Bruno, Calif., broke her leg and had to be hospitalized for a week. Her doctor grounded her for six months, and when she told the airline about the accident, a representative promised her a full refund.
travel thailand risky You can probably guess what happened travel thailand risky next. Virgin, which had extracted the five grand from her credit card in just a few seconds, balked at returning the money. It asked her to fax hospitalization travel thailand risky records, but when she sent them, it responded with a form e-mail saying the information was not sufficient and asking her to send the same documents again.
Before she contacted me for help, Bianucci had done everything she could to get her money back. She d re-sent her hospital records several travel thailand risky times and tried to contact the airline by phone. But Virgin would communicate with her only by fax or e-mail. It s a real nightmare, she says.
Passengers have complained about the slow pace of airline ticket refunds ever since there have been airline tickets to complain about. Like other businesses, air carriers are reluctant to part with the revenues they collect from customers, even when they are supposed to.
The Transportation Department, which regulates airlines operating in the United States, requires air carriers to reimburse travel thailand risky your credit card company within seven business days after receiving a complete refund travel thailand risky application. But the government allows some wiggle room, noting that the rule doesn t apply to all payment methods and warning air travelers that the credit may take a month or two to appear on your statement.
travel thailand risky That kind of wishy-washiness is all the license an airline needs to delay or deny a refund, passengers claim. travel thailand risky Indeed, over the long term, the industry-wide practice of protracted refunds of customers being sent countless form letters and having to communicate with a fax machine is enough to make some air travelers walk away from the process, essentially leaving their money on the table.
Virgin Atlantic says that in Bianucci s case, the delay wasn t deliberate. After I contacted the airline on her behalf, it reviewed its records and said that her refund was on hold pending a document verifying her medical condition and subsequent hospitalization. It apologized for the delay and said that it had located one of the faxes she had sent. All is resolved now, said Nadia Basil, an airline spokeswoman.
The first cause is something called a ticket tariff. It spells out the specific rules governing the ticket, including under what circumstances a fare would be refunded. Strictly speaking, every airline ticket travel thailand risky is refundable. For example, travel thailand risky if an airline travel thailand risky cancels a flight, it owes you a refund whether travel thailand risky you re flying in first class or in the back of the plane, and whether travel thailand risky you paid with cash or with frequent-flier miles. Ticket tariffs often are long, complex documents travel thailand risky rendered completely in capital letters and subject to various interpretations. travel thailand risky (It isn t unusual travel thailand risky to find a tariff with confusing travel thailand risky or contradictory language.) Before issuing a refund, an agent must first determine whether the tariff allows it, which is not always easy.
The second cause of delays is the staffing and systems required for a speedy refund. Airlines, like other businesses, have plenty of incentive to invest in technology that takes money from customers credit cards but fewer reasons to devote resources travel thailand risky to systems that quickly refund money. For example, until this summer, United Airlines had no automated system in place to refund travel thailand risky certain seat upgrades. The only way to get your money back for an Economy Plus upgrade fee would have been to ask for it. Those refunds were handled travel thailand risky manually, travel thailand risky one by one.
And third, as the Transportation Department suggests, even when an airline travel thailand risky posts a refund, it can take one to two billing cycles before travel thailand risky that money shows up in a credit card account. Although that isn t an airline-specific problem, it can be interpreted travel thailand risky as foot-dragging on the part of an airline, just as the government s advice can be seen as a license to delay a refund.
I ve had numerous conversations with DOT representatives over the years about the pace of refunds, and its rules haven t always been clear. For example, the seven-day rule on refunds is only for credit card refunds, and in the past it was thought to apply only to fully refundable tickets. I asked a DOT representative whether that s still true, and he said it isn t. The rule on prompt refunds would also apply to non-refundable tickets where a refund was due, such as for a significant travel thailand risky flight delay, says DOT spokesman Bill Mosley. A regulation that went into effect in July 2011 addresses purchases travel thailand risky made by cash and check, requiring airlines to return a customer s money within 20 days after receiving a complete refund request for cash and check purchases.
But those historical gray areas might explain why, in the past, passengers have waited travel thailand risky six months or more for ticket refunds. There s no reason for an airline to move faster, and they re breaking no rules by hanging on to their customers money.
Airlines should refund all passengers with equal speed, says aviation consultant Michael Miller. But in case they don t, he suggests that air travelers take a few precautionary steps when they want a refund. They include contacting the airline quickly to ask for a refund and saving every e-mail to prove that you ve complied with the carrier s requests.
travel thailand risky So what s the solution? Maybe DOT s ticket refund rules need to be more uniform, stipulating that all refunds travel thailand risky should be issued within seven business days, regardless of the method of payment, and should travel thailand risky include fares and fees charged to a passenger for optional services that couldn t be used because of an oversale or cancellation. And your rights to a refund should be clearly disclosed on every ticket.
Virgin was trying the old if we drag this out long enough, they might just go away routine. Although travel thailand risky it s unlikely that someone would walk away from almost 6 grand, as you said, the airline has nothing to lose by trying. Curious how every time Chris gets involved in a case like this, the airline magically finds the paperwork it said it never got.
Funny how every single copy of the faxed records (how much documentation could possibly be required for a broken leg?) was lost until you got involved, after which a miracle occurred and one of the copies magically appeared.
And the line about a cycle or two to appear on account doesn t refer to the account balance; the credit shows up there as soon as the transaction posts (the same day or the day after.) In the olden days of charge slips that might be a few days, but with electronic systems, transactions post within travel thailand risky 48 hours of the transaction.
What takes a cycle or two is the amount of time it takes to show up on a formal statement. (As in, it might appear travel thailand risky on the following statement if your refund is issued just after a statement cutoff date.)
I hope a DOT complaint was filed for this case; as I ve mentioned before here, the DOT receives surprisingly few hard complaints. (Hard complaints being those related to blatant contract or rule violations.) Hard complaints are treated seriously, usually receiving VERY prompt attention from the airline, as it doesn t take too many of that type of complaint to bring down the Hammer of Embarassment from the DOT. A complaint filed with a copy of the appropriate travel thailand risky Fax Confirmation sheets would almost certainly have resulted in a quick fix to the problem.
All of this begs the question about why we still have the complex tarif rules which surely is just an antiquated hangover from the days of regulation. Nothing, so far as I know requires these airlines to have these over complex travel thailand risky tarifs? Do you know, Elliott?
Ah, the mysterious lost documentation. I think there should be heavy penalties on airlines for losing paperwork until a consumer advocate gets involved. $1000 per day sounds good to me. That might teach them to be a bit more diligent in their attempt to screw their customers.
It annoys the holy crap out of the Post Awful, because they can t just throw it in the trash and get away with it. It annoys the holy crap out of the recipient, because he CAN T ignore travel thailand risky it. Sending someone Registered Mail is a strong indication that they are about to be the guest of honor in a legal proceeding, and it is no fun at all to say We never received XXX and be asked Really? We show you receiving Registered Mail item number NNNNNNNNNN on such-and-such date, signed for by so-and-so. What s the story?
I stopped a (fraudulent) collections attempt dead in its tracks a few years ago, by sending them the appropriate documents by Registered Mail. (The hospital had ROYALLY screwed up the billing, and even admitted on the phone that they d screwed it up. That didn t stop them from sending a collections agency after me.)
I called United on October 27th and asked for a refund after they canceled my flight due to Sandy. They told me the refund will take longer than usual due to high volume. I got the credit travel thailand risky back on my card on October 31. I was quite impressed.
As for a lost fax, I worked on a project that involved writing software travel thailand risky to fax documents. The protocol for faxing requires a confirmation from the receiving fax that it did receive it. So when your fax machine says it was sent, IT WAS RECEIVED! Now whether it printed or saved is another issue but that shouldn t be a problem to the sender. Just like if a registered letter was sent, you have proof it was received. If the receiver then misplaces or loses it, that not the sender s problem.
Businesses should be penalized like you said, for lost documents. If the government can fine businesses for not archiving certain emails, then business should be fined for losing other documentation like this.
The Transportation Department, which regulates airlines