Does JetBlue owe me a cash refund for canceling flight 427?

Airline rules are relatively uniform when it comes to canceled flights. You’re owed either a full refund or a flight of the carrier’s choice — but no fare adjustment.

But what if the replacement flight costs less than the original one? That’s what Michael Sorg wanted to know after JetBlue canceled his flight from Boston to West Palm Beach, Fla., recently.

At the time of the reservation I had the option of booking flight 427 leaving at 5:55 p.m. or flight 429 leaving at 7:33 pm.

After a lot of thought, we decided to book flight 427 even though it cost us about $100 more since it would be a more convenient time for our small children. A couple of months later I received an e-mail notifying me that flight 427 was canceled and I was now booked on flight 429.

I called customer service at that time because I felt that I was entitled to a refund of the $100 that I would have paid if I had booked that flight to begin with. They told me that they could issue a credit associated with my confirmation number.

The more I have thought about this, the more I think I am entitled to a refund back on my credit card. The change in flights was NOT due to my request. This credit forces me or a family member to have to purchase another ticket to use it.

A quick look at JetBlue’s contract of carriage (PDF) will reveal that technically, JetBlue is correct.

Rule 25 states …

Whenever Carrier cancels or otherwise fails to operate any scheduled flight, Carrier will, at the request of the Passenger either (i) transport the Passenger on another of Carrier’s flights on which space is available at no additional charge, or (ii) provide Passenger with a full refund in accordance with Section 26 below. Except as may be provided in Section 37 below, Carrier shall have no other liability or responsibility to any Passenger as a result of a failure to operate any flight.

(Section 37 is its customer “Bill of Rights” and doesn’t address Sorg’s situation specifically.)

So it was no surprise that he received the following reply to an email requesting a refund:

Responding to your letter is extremely difficult for we know the high level of service JetBlue strives to extend to each of our valued customers. We know there are times when we are not able to meet their expectations and still remain within the parameters of our company guidelines.

JetBlue is a nonrefundable airline and we only issue credits. We are very flexible with the credit in that it is transferable so anyone can redeem or even sell. We show you have a credit of $94 which is valid until October 10, 2009 and each of you have a $25 voucher. All vouchers are name specific.

You only need to redeem the vouchers and credit by the expiration date, not travel by these dates.

I read form letters every day, and I think the first part is a little over the top. Do they have some kind of ALT+”extremely difficult” key they push to insert that paragraph? If so, I think they should consider toning it down a little. It sounds too much like a letter of condolence sent to someone’s next of kin.

I suggested an appeal to someone higher up at JetBlue, so Sorg emailed David Barger, the airline’s chief executive. Here’s his reply:

Thank you for your correspondence and taking the time to share your concern. Dave Barger has requested that I respond to you on his behalf.

We appreciate your feedback and can assure you that your comments have been heard. We regret that we are unable to honor your request.

We truly value you as a JetBlue customer and hope you will allow us to serve your travel needs at JetBlue in the future.

I think JetBlue is right — and wrong.

Right, in the sense that it doesn’t owe Sorg anything. If it wants to offer him credit — or nothing at all — it’s well within its rights to do that.

But it’s wrong in the sense that JetBlue failed to appreciate this parent’s perspective. Or to see the big picture, for that matter. A refund might have ensured Sorg would become a lifelong customer.

Now, it’s safe to say he’ll go out of his way not to fly on JetBlue.

  • Carver

    Why could Song just accept the refund immediately rebook the flights at the lower price?

    Besides that, this contract of carriage stuff is crap. It wouldn’t fly (no pub intended) in any other industry.

  • Kevin

    These types of Contract exist in other industries and they do fly. I work in Transportation(trucking) and we have verbiage in some of our contracts that would make the Airlines cringe… People don’t notice this because we contract with companies, not individuals.
    That said, if we gave you a quote on a time definite deliver and didn’t meet those expectations, we would immediately make the rate change to the appropiate amount. Meaning if we promised 5:55PM and it didn’t come until 7:33PM, we would make the change to the 7:33PM price, if the customer requests it.
    The one thing that the airlines don’t seem to understand, and apparently never will, is that if you give your customer the benefit of the doubt at times like this, they will easily make back that money in the long-run…

  • ChelseaGirl

    The real issue is that if you have to change your flight and the rebooked flight costs more, you are charged the difference! But it doesn’t work the other way around. It would be an understatement to say this is unfair. If the airline won’t give you a refund on a flight that costs less, they certainly shouldn’t charge you if it costs more.

  • Carver

    @Kevin

    I’d be curious to know some examples. To date, the airline contracts are the worse ones that I’ve seen

  • http://www.ffocus.org Mr Bad Example

    Events like this are the reason that airlines have a customer satisfaction rating below that if the IRS.

    If it were me I might just decide to go to war with JetBlue on this. Doesn’t matter if they were within their rights as defined by the Contract of Carriage. Let’s see what happens when you plead your case in the court of public opinion.

    It’s the one court that customers can win in regularly. In the court of public opinion, Jury Nullification is often the rule not the exception. If it were me I might like to test the evidence.

    Writing to the company is but one tool in this customers tool bag.

    There ia a technique known as “The e-Mail Carpet Bomb” that says once I have the naming convention of their e-mail, I go to the web page and make a list of everyone VP and above and e-mail them.

    Then there is always the letter ot our old friend “Aunt DOT” as in the Department of Transportation.

    Next is use of the internet blogs like this one. This may be the best one but it for sure isn’t the only one. Post Early, Post Often.

    Another interesting move is to file a consumer fraud complaint with your states Attorney General. The increased “Understanding” this can generate with your travel provider is in a word amazing.

    Still annoyed? Small Claims court is always an interesting way to grab a company’s attention and possibly their money. To be really effective you need to snag a bank account number of your offending provider because in many states once you win (Usually by default) the judge enters the Judgment and if you have the information they can reach right into a company’s bank account and you get paid quick fast and in a hurry and there isn’t a whole lot they can do about it. Bigger beauty of it is a company like Jet Blue isn’t going to dispatch an attorney to BUF to appear for a $100 claim so in many cases you don’t even have to be right. Also remember to only accept cash.

    Enough people start standing up to these airline rules and nicking the airlines a few hundred here and a few hundred there you’ll see their attitude change. Until then if you want customer service go to Helen Waite.

  • David Z

    But it’s wrong in the sense that JetBlue failed to appreciate this parent’s perspective.

    That probably depends on what one means by “appreciate”, although I’m sure JetBlue understands Mr. Sorg’s perspective. They happen to not agree with it, though they’ve tried to “compensate” for that.

    Like Carver said, Mr. Sorg ought to have asked JetBlue to refund for the schedule change and book the other flight. But that’s assuming the other flight was still lower that time.

    There’s another dilemma, though: in my dealings with various airlines, they flatly stated they don’t refund if their schedule changes are less than four hours. I don’t relish being the bearer of bad news to the customer if/when that happens, and we try to compensate.

    I don’t recall if JetBlue has that similar policy. But it can be quite distasteful if they do for flight schedule changes that disrupt their passengers’ plans.

  • http://raulzambrana.webs.com/ Raul

    We tend to forget that the airline is a mode of transportation from point A to B, sometimes via XYZ to get to your final destination… but the fact is that, at the end of the day, the airline has to get you to your final destination within a reasonable amount of time.

    Airlines are a business. Only a certain amount of seats have a specific cheap price. Once those are gone, then it goes to the next highest price… we all know how that works, right?

    The fact is that Mr. Sorg made a a choice when he booked the earlier flight. Technically, even though there is an inconvenience factor with the canceled flight, he is getting to his final destination within a reasonable time, not two or 3 days later, just a couple of hours late.

    Now, there is a service factor that the airline needs to consider. And they have. They issue vouchers to the Sorg family for each passenger. Even though it is not the $100 they could have originally saved, it is a choice they made and they have to own their decision and accept the consequences.

    I did have a seat with a non-working video TV and JetBlue did issue me an automatic voucher and credit. So what else could I have asked for? A $25 voucher for not being able to watch TV for 2 hours is more than my monthly cable bill. So I was happy with that. And I did have my book handy anyway so I was able to read instead of flipping trough channels for 2 hours.

  • MarkieA

    @Raul – the way in which you try to twist this around to be the passenger’s fault is absolutely amazing. You are to be congratulated. “…it is a choice they made and they have to own their decision and accept the consequences.” Incredible!!! As has been pointed out above, if the airline had rebooked them on a flight that was more expensive, they no doubt would have been asked to pay the difference. Following your logic, if you booked a flight in First Class and got bumped back to Coach, you would have no problem with the airline keeping the extra money, right? After all, they got you to your destination just a few seconds later that you you would have originally.

  • Jesse

    I do agree that they are within their contract of carriage, I would like to know what Mr. Sorg’s credit card would tell him.

    Assuming the tickets would still be available at a cheaper price for the flight he was assigned, I would assume he could have gotten a full refund and then booked the tickets, right? What prevented him from doing so?

  • Mike Murray

    If Mr. Song was retired, as we are, a trip to small claims court might enlighten JetBlue about the real cost of obstinacy. Not worth it in this case for someone with children; too bad.

    We were thinking of flying from here (RSW) to Syracuse for my brother’s Jubilee celebration (50 years a Jesuit) April 18th. If we go, it won’t be on JetBlue. I hate to fly anyway; this just gives me another excuse to avoid the trip. I was thinking about caving in and booking though. This just strengthens my resolve.

  • Michele

    The original story said that the airlines contacted him and informed him THEY had rebooked him from flight 427 to flight 429. Doesn’t sound like he was even given or aware of the option of a full refund so he could rebook himself. Also, he didn’t get the $94 credit until he called to question the change. In that case, the airline should have worked with him more when he requested the refund of the difference. It was their choice to put him on the less expensive flight, not his. He didn’t even ask for the full refund, just the difference in cost. It is still not clear at what point, or ever, he was made aware of his options. The airline cancelled flight 427 of their own volition–probably because not enough people were on the flight-filled another flight and kept the difference in money received. That seems to me very deceptive indeed.

  • Alex

    What if the passenger booked the cheaper flight and then that flight was cancelled and he was put on the flight that was originally more expensive? By this logic, JetBlue should either ask for the fare difference or offer a complete refund and not transport the passenger to his destination. It’s too bad what happened, but irregular ops are a part of airline trave land everyone knows it. He should be lucky that JetBlue even gave him a voucher because his argument is idiotic and all this is, is trying to find a way to milk the company for some money. This argument is just as absurd as people who get upset when they booked a ticket, the price goes down, and they want a refund for the difference. Too bad. You booked a nonrefundable ticket and agreed to the price so that’s what you get. What about if the price goes up? Should the passengers be forced to pay the difference?

  • David Z

    This argument is just as absurd as people who get upset when they booked a ticket, the price goes down, and they want a refund for the difference.

    That’s the thing, Alex. It so happens many people don’t know, much more care, how these things go and just want…results.

    Of course, if the customer doesn’t care, it can give the business a reason not to care either. It depends on the situation, though.

  • scooter peyser

    With regards to ticketing: I often fly non-stop when I go home. Invariably, these tickets are higher than tickets with one stop. If my flight would be changed and cancelled and they would put me on the one stop flight, I would expect the refund of the price of the one stop ticket at the time I purchased the non-stop ticket. Had I wanted the one stop ticket I would have purchased it and paid the lesser price. Not only would I have paid a higher price, I would have the inconvenience of having to endure a one stop flight. I feel that the more of us who complain to Congress, the more apt they are to put the clamps on the deceptive practices these airlines are imposing on us and make flying more pleasurable (sp?)

  • NH

    To Michele – Most airlines, I’m assuming JetBlue does the same, cannot (and would not) simply cancel a flight because there were a limited number of people booked on that particular flight. Most flights land in a city, and then that same plane continues on to another destination with more passengers and so on until it reaches it’s terminating city that night. It isn’t beneficial for an airline to cancel one flight that might have even 10 people on it, when it is more than likely going to continue on and pick up 40, 50 or 100 or so passengers at it’s next destination.

    Schedule changes can happen with any airline, for numerous reasons. And trust me, it isn’t beneficial for the airlines to cancel any route because they subsequently lose revenue when passengers accept the full refund of the ticket they originally booked. Not to mention the hardship it places on their customer service agents when they get callers annoyed that their vacation was ruined.

    Many ‘deceptive practices’ of airlines are not deceptive at all, in fact any airline you choose to use will openly communicate their policies in their COC on their websites, or when you call, you get a run down of the basic policies (normally) by an automated voice that most choose not to listen too while waiting on an actual agent. People shouldn’t blame any company, not just airlines, but credit card companies, retailers or anyone, when they choose not to read the small print that is almost always available to them in one form or another.

    And yes, there are schedule changes where the airlines actually lose money, because the flight you originally booked isn’t worth half as much as the one they now have to re protect you on because a route was changed or cancelled. The airline cannot request that you pay a difference in the fares, even though it would be extremely beneficial to them.

    But, if they did that, they would have even more people claiming airlines are terrible and impose awful policies on people. The bottom line is, people still CHOOSE to fly, even though there are a number of other means of transportation available to everyone.