The ticket refund that took forever and a day

Nine months isn’t the longest someone has had to wait for an airline ticket refund, but for Chris Dich, it was long enough, thanks very much. (I’ve had cases that took two years.)

His online travel agency promised it would take “two to three billing cycles” at best. Didn’t happen.

Dich’s story is a reminder that you can do everything right and still get stuck in a holding pattern. Getting un-stuck isn’t easy.

Here’s his story.

I’ve been trying to recover $335 for a flight my wife and I never took.

I booked a vacation package with Expedia last July for a trip to Atlanta. In early August, Expedia informed me that AirTran had changed the departure time for one flight, changed the arrival time for one flight, and canceled one flight.

I called Expedia and after unsucessfully trying to make other arrangements, Expedia said they would cancel the trip with a full refund. The next day I received a refund for hotel portion of the trip and cancelation numbers for the AirTran tickets. I was also told to wait two to three billing cycles for the AirTran refund to appear on my Capital One statement.

I did not receive any refund so I contacted Capital One and initiated an investigation. Capital One has not been sucessful in recouping these charges and in fact has been very inefficient in keeping my documentation of this event.

I have received letters stating that I have not provided needed information when, in fact, I have. Every month, starting in October, I have been on the phone and faxing information. My last contact with Capital One was on February 16, 2010. As of today, I have not heard from them regarding this matter. Can you help?

When an airline changes its flight schedule, you’re entitled to a full and immediate refund under its rules. (Here are AirTran’s.)

However, Dich should have applied pressure to his online travel agent and his credit card company, instead of just trying to dispute the charges. A check with AirTran might have helped speed up the process, too.

I asked Expedia about his case. Here’s what it had to say:

Expedia made an error in processing the refund for this case. We have corrected this mistake. At the time the customer called in to request the refund, the hotel portion was completed but the flight portion of the refund was not properly handled.

The refund has now been processed, and the customer has received the below email detailing the resolution. He also received a follow-up email saying that a $100 coupon for future airfare had been placed into his account.

Thanks, Expedia.

When a refund doesn’t materialize in a timely manner, you have to work every angle. Ask your credit card, travel agent and airline to get involved. Be polite, but firm. No one should have to wait nine months for a refund.

(Photo: Willamor Media/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • Phil

    Ah, another horror story about using an on-line travel agency, when will people learn? Walk in to a travel agency and work with a real person face to face.

  • Steve

    @Phil
    Really? For a simple domestic flight? For every “horror” story about using an online travel agency, there are many many more success stories.

  • Monica

    I agree with Steve, there are hundreds of success stories. I’ve used both Expedia and Travelocity for quick, simple itineraries, usually RT from DC to Chicago. I’ve never had problems (knock on wood!).

    Now, for my more demanding itineraries, I use a “real” travel agent. For example, I have a family Disney trip coming up that includes resort, airfare, cruise, transportation from airport to WDW to Cruise and back to airport, and all the dining plans and park passes. I’m not doing any of that scheduling on my own. I leave it in the hands of the WDW travel agents. Last year, they did it for my entire extended family (15 of us from different locations) and were brillant, so I trust them again.

  • http://www.flightsite.co.za/flights/ Flights to Cape Town

    You must be joking? 9 months? That’s how long a pregnancy takes, lol. Goodness me, I can’t believe it. I can guarantee you that not all travel agencies are so delayed!

  • Kelly

    Here is yet another story of Expedia blaming the airline. Expedia should have take care of it right away and fought with the airline themself. But noooooo, yet again, they make the customer try to recoup the money that they owe him.

  • J C

    Although there may be hundreds of success stories, I think the way complaints are handled is more indicatve of the worth of any TA, on line or real. Are the success stories just the easy ones? This may sound simplistic, but if it’s an on and on constant struggle for a company to correct the obvious problems then there’s something wrong. A few things falling through the cracks is understandable, but constant problems are not.

    I don’t use on line agencies, so I have no experience to draw on. Is it a constant problem to deal with Expedia and others is the question. CONSTANT being the main word.

  • http://www.skytransfers.com Cecille

    Ooooh, really? Did this really happen? Perhaps not all travel agencies are that long, I mean for 9 MONTHS plus you said you had an incident of 2 YEARS, what?! If i was the one there i would really carry the Empire State Building, but anyway maybe it was only at the agency you took.

  • Josh

    I have a different take — it sounds like he waited *too long* to start the dispute, rather than doing it too soon; otherwise I’m not sure why Capital One didn’t help. It sounds like a very clear documentable case.

    I’m not saying to dispute first without contacting the companies involved, but you should never accept that it takes “2-3 billing cycles” to process a refund; the credit card systems allow it to be done instantly, and many companies do that. The problem with waiting 2-3 cycles is that it may then be too late to initiate a dispute. My credit card company has advised me to start the dispute process; they refunded the charge to me immediately, and reconciled it when the airline processed the refund a few weeks later (basically auto-cancelling the dispute)

  • http://alangore@mac.com Alan

    How many times do we have to tell you folks: DON’T BOOK TRAVEL THROUGH THIRD PARTY SITES. Not ever.

  • Sarah Di

    No, it isn’t a constant struggle to deal with online agencies. I’ve run into problems with itineraries booked online. Most of the time, it’s been because plans changed, meetings got cancelled or weather caused delays that resulted in missing the reason to travel in the first place so I needed to change or cancel the bookings. Expedia has always been extremely helpful in helping make any necessary changes and any refunds have always been processed quickly. The folks I’ve spoken to have been friendly, helpful and knew what they were doing. I’ve called expedia several times and only ran into someone who couldn’t or wouldn’t help me once. The company I work for relies on me to take care of travel bookings and I know what I’m doing. Going to a brick and mortar travel agent for every single flight, hotel and rental car is not an option for most people. Obviously if it’s something way out of your league, new to doing, very complicated or something that you’re just not willing to put the time and effort into researching; a travel agent may be best. But I’m not willing to put my vacation into the hands of a travel agent when it’s something simple enough for me to research, book and monitor on my own. That includes my upcoming cruise, flight, hotel and shore excursions.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    Here is another story of an online travel agency blaming the travel provider and expecting their customer to resolve the problem instead of taking care of the problem. It seems to me that these online travel agencies have no problems in taking your money but have problems refunding your money.

  • Steve

    “Walk in to a travel agency and work with a real person face to face.”

    No offense to travel agents, but I’m not sure why someone would pay them to book a simple domestic flight and hotel.

    I’m sure someone is also going to chime in “what do you expect when you book a discounted vacation package – you get what you pay for.” I would argue that’s a totally unreasonable response. I don’t care what price you pay for something; you’re entitled to expect that the basic service for which you paid will be provided *or* that if it can’t be, you’ll get a prompt refund. Clearly, he was entitled to a refund of his airfare since the flights changed, so there’s absolutely no excuse for it taking so long.

  • Bill

    I screwed up on an expedia booking a couple of months ago and they cancelled it before it even went through. No complaints at all.

  • Ernest

    “Walk in to a travel agency and work with a real person face to face.”

    Like ‘real’ travel agents never screw up? I have never used an online agency but I have used a real travel agent and got screwed far worse than Mr. Dich. Until I find a way to tell which TA is honest and which one is a crook , I’ll do my own booking.

    I have an idea, why don’t you ‘real’ travel agents post a bond equal to the cost of my trip. If everything works the way you promise, you get your bond back with intrest. If not, you go out of business. Any takers?