One captain’s war for an airline ticket refund

Capt. Wilson L. Dos Santos is stationed in Iraq, but last month he clicked on Priceline to buy a ticket for his mother to fly from Boston to Fort Myers, Fla. When he realized he’d booked the wrong airport — he should have sent her to Tampa, instead — he tried to cancel the first ticket and bought a second one.

Ah, the perils of being a do-it-yourself travel agent!

So here’s the the problem: Dos Santos thought he could cancel the first ticket (Priceline allows you to cancel an airline ticket within 24 hours under certain circumstances) and although he notified the site by email, he couldn’t call until more than a day later.

Now Priceline appears to want to keep the money for the first ticket. Can it do that?

Let’s go straight to the fine print:

If, within 24 hours of booking your Priceline airline tickets, you find a better fare, excluding taxes and fees, for the same airline, flights and fare class, call us. We will either allow you to cancel your ticket(s) so that you can rebook at the lower fare or we will refund 100% of the difference.

OK, the way I read this, the rule would apply to only to a cheaper fare found on the same route. But I can see how someone might have a different interpretation. Even if it did apply to Dos Santos’ situation, it says “call us” which he didn’t do within 24 hours, because he couldn’t.

Here’s Dos Santos’ view:

I was not able to call because I am currently located in Baghdad, Iraq, but I was able to email within 24 hours stating that I wanted a full refund for the original ticket to Fort Myers.

I did not receive a reply for a few days, so I emailed once again stating the same concern. I received a reply email exactly one week later, which stated that Priceline was sorry for the delay in responding, that you had received both of my emails, and that I should call as soon as possible to resolve the issue with my refund.

Since then I have called four or five times to inquire about the status of my refund, but each time I have been told that my case had been forwarded to the email department to verify when I sent my original email in order to determine whether or not it was sent within the required 24 hour period.

I called again last week and was told that there was still no status and that I should call back with 24-48 hours to inquire again. I just called again (about 96 hours later) and have been told again by a supervisor named Daisy to try back in 24-48 hours.

Nobody I have talked to seems to genuinely understand that I am currently in Iraq and just how difficult it is to continue to correspond on this issue. It is definitely a disadvantage that I feel is being exploited. I hope that you reply and that you can assist me. Thank you for your assistance.

As I review Dos Santos’ correspondence and the relevant rules, I’m not sure if he has a very strong argument. He appears to have misread Priceline’s rules and he missed the 24-hour window for notifying it, presumably because he was fighting a war.

This case would have been a non-starter, if it weren’t for Priceline’s responses — stringing the captain along, leading him to believe that his refund was imminent, when it probably wasn’t. The company should have given him a straight answer.

I do know that Priceline routinely bends its rules for members of the armed services on active duty, so I thought I’d ask it about Dos Santos’ case. A few days ago, it responded, saying “given the unique circumstances of Capt. Dos Santos’ deployment, we’re going to issue a refund.”

Good call.

(Photo: Talke Photography/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • Mike

    Good call Priceline and thank you Capt. Dos Santos for your service.

    Even if the terms of service contract wouldn’t have allowed a refund, I think some flexibility for members of our armed forces deployed is a great thing to do and it shows that the company cares.

  • larry

    Priceline has done a good job of helping me twice. Once, I booked a hotel room for my girlfriend using the bidding option where there are no refunds. Then she was faced with her sister fact that her sister was not expected to live and was rushed to the hospital. We called priceline and all they needed from us was the phone number of the hospital to verify everything, and a refund was promptly issued. On another occasion, a hurricane came thru the area when I had booked a no refund room using the bid process. Again, after a call, another refund was issued, even though the hotel was still open… barely.

  • barbie45

    Mike, ditto

  • Jesse

    Good resolution. Though I don’t believe Captain Dos Santos is actually eligible for a refund – I do believe what he puts himself through every day for our country makes it worthwhile for priceline to bend its rules.

  • Carver

    Good job Priceline and thanks to the good captain for his service.

  • frostysnowman

    I also agree with Mike. Well said!

  • Cynthia

    Definitely a good call by Priceline . . . Captain Dos Santos deserves that bit of flexibility . . . AND . . . he deserves our thanks and GRATITUDE for his service in our armed forces and in Iraq!

  • Jason

    Whew! Thank God Captain Dos Santos isn’t putting his life on the line in that God-forsaken hellhole called Iraq.
    Is it too much to ask the minions at Priceline to use some common sense and bend a bit by giving Dos Santos the benefit of any doubt?

  • J C

    I agree with the posters above. But the credit goes to Chris. Giving Capt. Santos the run around and not responding until an Ombudsman such as Chris gets involved doesn’t inspire me.

    Thank you Capt. Santos and good job Chris.

  • Jeanne (in NE)

    Thank you, Chris, for getting this straightened out for Capt. Dos Santos. I’ve never used Priceline, so have no idea where their call center is located. My guess is that it isn’t in the United States. If it’s not on a script, such call centers are unbelievably hard to work with. I can’t imagine the hassle, dealing with mother, combat and Priceline. If Capt. Dos Santos reads this: you have my gratitude and thanks for serving our country – and trying to take care of your mother long-distance.

  • Don

    Rather depressing to see how many people are saying that the OP should get a break because he is serving in the military in Iraq. There are a lot of valid reasons why someone might not be able to call Priceline easily that have nothing to do with being in uniform; why cut just soldiers slack? But the real issue here is whether (in an increasingly non-refundable world) there is a short period after making a booking during which customers should be allowed to correct honest mistakes, like putting in the wrong airport or the wrong day or the wrong number of people, without incurring ridiculous penalties. Most travel providers let customers do this within limits, but the rules are generally not posted very clearly. Maybe it’s worth calling for clearer guidelines on this issue.

  • David

    The one thing that these and other weekly postings confirm is the lack of common sense and customer service in the hospitality industry. It is amazing their advertising agencies are permitted to continue to promote a friendly, customer oriented experience that, in fact, is non-existent today. The fact that one needs an Ombudsman to intervene in such common sense issues speaks volumes about an industry that cares very little about their customers. In any other industry someone would be taking them to task for perpatrating a fraud.

  • Shari

    @ Don: Really, it’s depressing that posters here want to cut military personnel deployed to active areas a break? Really?

    No one here was saying that only people fighting in war zones should get a break, rather, they were supportive of the Captain. Personally, I find it sad that you think that you think that it’s depressing that we’re supporting our military personnel.

    @ Chris: I don’t ink that you should have had to have stepped in on this, rather, Priceline shouldn’t have given him the runaround. But I’m glad that things worked out in the end. Thank you Capt. Dos Santos for your service.

  • barbie45

    I agree with Shari, it is very disconcerting to here that are military serving in a war zone should not be given some slack. It is also depressing that companies outsource jobs to countries whose employers cannot understand the inticacies of the English language. There are various regional dialects that even Americans have difficuly understanding. Also complicating the situation is the fact that there are different meanings for words as used by Americans vs the British. Thank you again Capt. Santos for your service to our country.

  • Kevin M

    For what it’s worth, I *kind of* can see Don’s point. It’s not that deployed military serving in a war zone don’t deserve a break, it’s that (A) there are quite a few other people who, one could argue, are equally deserving of a break, and (B) this kind of break, if formalized, tends to get expanded till it’s meaningless. First the pressure would be to extend the break to spouses of deployed personnel. Then the pressure would be to include all active duty personnel, deployed or not. Then it would be for reserve and national guard members who weren’t deployed but who might be, someday. Next up would be first responders (police, firemen, EMS). Before you know it, a quarter of travelers would be expecting special treatment and the ones who really deserve it are lost in the shuffle.

  • Michel

    FIRST: Thanks to the Captain for fighting the war.
    SECOND: Priceline should be put against the wall and shot dead. I will not go into any lenghty explanations, but I will advise anyone considering using them to think 5 times and Google the kinds of hell Priceline puts their trapped “customers” in.
    The ONLY reason they gave doSantos a break is due to the [additional] bad publicity they would have gotten.
    Priceline deserves to die. Quickly.

  • jonw

    The company made a good business decision for the sake of publicity. However the idea that choosing a military job over other jobs gives customers some special status is ridiculous. As a sixteen year veteran I am sick of the entitlement attitude that so many of my colleagues have come to think is normal. It’s a (usually) fun, voluntary job with pretty good pay and benefits.