Airlines Must Pay Refunds

[wombat_5606]

This will be good news for some people who have airline tickets. Unfortunately, it won't help those people who have already cancelled airline tickets and there is a catch, of sort. But it should help a lot of people going forward.

https://petergreenberg.com/2020/04/05/finally-good-news-on-airline-ticket-refunds/

 

[lorimay]

I guess this just US based airlines.
We have tickets with Alitalia & Tap airlines for May.........

 

[mocodis]

I guess this just US based airlines.
We have tickets with Alitalia & Tap airlines for May.........

we have tickets with air Canada, so I guess it does not apply to us either. they will not issue cash refund, only a credit for a future flight

 

[Karin1984]

I guess this just US based airlines.
We have tickets with Alitalia & Tap airlines for May.........

I think there are some actions taken for Europe in general for something similar, just wait it out. In my country for now it is fine that the airline gives out vouchers to survive, but they are in discussion with the government that if after a year a voucher hasn't been (fully) used after 12 months the airline has to proactively re-imburse. I expect something similar for all EU airlines.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

This only applies if your flight is canceled. Nice feature, but it seems like many people's flights aren't being canceled by the airline. Other things are being canceled (cruise, hotel, WDW, DL) are closed so we have to cancel our own flights. In which case, this does not apply.

 

[Kaufeegurl]

FYI - it is not just for US airlines nor is it only for cancelled flights. If a carrier makes a significant change to your flight you are covered. If you have an international flight that originates in the US or arrives in the US the DOT refunds cover you if a carrier cancels or makes a significant change to one or more segment of the passenger's itinerary. We have flights booked on Lufthansa (for an August Baltic cruise that we have cancelled) and we will play the waiting game with them hoping for a refundable event. We are prepared to cancel ourselves last minute and take a voucher if Lufthansa's flight schedules don't change but we are betting that they will.

 

[anricat]

We have European tickets for June with EasyJet and Norwegian. I'm hoping they cancel. Right now Norwegian is offering me a credit good for a year (which doesn't work for me) and EasyJet until November, which definitely doesn't work for me.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I'm thinking this helps me. I had two non-stop flights scheduled on Delta to LAX and back for in a couple weeks. I've cancelled everything else associated with this trip but had held off on cancelling my flights since the original offer was just a credit that had to be used before the one year mark of the purchase of the ticket, which would be this October. In the past month, my 2 non-stop flights were cancelled and I've been switched flights multiple times. As of now, they have me on flights with two stops out to LA, both of which note that the connection times are so tight I might miss the connections, and flights with one stop on the return.

I received an email over the weekend, offering me a credit good until May of 2022, if I cancelled. That sounded a lot better so I was going to do it. When I went onto their website, I was presented with an option to request a refund, but whenever I checked that option, it told me it couldn't process a refund and to check back later. So I just didn't do anything. Now, thanks to this, I'm going to call and request my refund. It's almost $800, so I'd rather have that than a credit for later.

Thanks for posting this!

 

[tidefan]

Ours are on British Airways for June/July...

 

[ladyofthetramp]

We are Alitalia for June. Waiting this out. I can get a voucher as of now for next year, if I can go. Let's see what they do with my non-stop out of Boston. I would rather have the refund.

 

[PsylockeSmythe]

I'm thinking this helps me. I had two non-stop flights scheduled on Delta to LAX and back for in a couple weeks. I've cancelled everything else associated with this trip but had held off on cancelling my flights since the original offer was just a credit that had to be used before the one year mark of the purchase of the ticket, which would be this October. In the past month, my 2 non-stop flights were cancelled and I've been switched flights multiple times. As of now, they have me on flights with two stops out to LA, both of which note that the connection times are so tight I might miss the connections, and flights with one stop on the return.

I received an email over the weekend, offering me a credit good until May of 2022, if I cancelled. That sounded a lot better so I was going to do it. When I went onto their website, I was presented with an option to request a refund, but whenever I checked that option, it told me it couldn't process a refund and to check back later. So I just didn't do anything. Now, thanks to this, I'm going to call and request my refund. It's almost $800, so I'd rather have that than a credit for later.

Thanks for posting this!

The only thing that might come back to bite you; is if you accepted their schedule change. We played chicken with American over our flights and they ended up cancelling them 3 days before our they were to leave. They then tried to reschedule the cancelled flights, but we never accepted the changes and I was told (by American) if we did; we would loose the ability to request a refund unless the new flights were cancelled by American.

So hopefully you will still be able to get your refund.

Psy

 

[Maggie'sMom]

The only thing that might come back to bite you; is if you accepted their schedule change. We played chicken with American over our flights and they ended up cancelling them 3 days before our they were to leave. They then tried to reschedule the cancelled flights, but we never accepted the changes and I was told (by American) if we did; we would loose the ability to request a refund unless the new flights were cancelled by American.

So hopefully you will still be able to get your refund.

Psy

I never accepted the schedule changes. They would send me emails saying here's your new flights, but don't call us unless you are within 72 hours of travel. And I specifically looked for clauses in the emails regarding "if we don't hear from you by x date, we assume these changes are acceptable." There was nothing in there regarding a deadline to decline the changes. And it wasn't until the last set of schedule changes, which occurred late last week, that they put me on flights that were too tight to guarantee I'd make the connections. I was playing chicken with them, hoping they'd eventually put me on flights that would allow me to cancel and demand a refund.

So I'm fairly certain I'm good on this.

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

We have flights booked on AA leaving Saturday. I’ll wait until the absolute last minute to cancel. I’m hoping AA will cancel first.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We are supposed to fly to Hawaii on may 11 for 10 days to stay at aulani. I’ve been waiting to see if aulani is definitely canceling first Before cancelling air. We have 4 business class tickets on United So that’s a lot of money. united website announced yesterday that credits were good for 24 months from the date of purchase rather than 12 months. Since i bought in Nov 2019 I would now have until Nov 2021 to use. We are hoping to go to Mexico in October and the eastbound transatlantic next May 2021 so this will definitely get used. While I would lIke my money back I’m happy to let united keep the money as long as I have extra time to use it up.

 

[Cloudy]

Just cancelled my flight to Tampa tonight at 6 PM. Our condo cancelled last week. I was hoping Southwest would cancel my flight. I was afraid I would forget if I waited any longer. Travel credit expires 1-23-21. We will not travel again until next May so not much help. Maybe I can get them to extend after this is all over.

 

[ahain]

Is there a "rule" about how close to departure a flight can be before the airline decides to cancel? I'm holding off on my Delta tickets because I would prefer a refund over a 2 year e-Voucher, but don't know how long I can/should wait to see if they will officially cancel.

 

[PsylockeSmythe]

Is there a "rule" about how close to departure a flight can be before the airline decides to cancel? I'm holding off on my Delta tickets because I would prefer a refund over a 2 year e-Voucher, but don't know how long I can/should wait to see if they will officially cancel.

I don't know if there is any hard fast rule, I was using the website flightaware to track my flight and they show flight information for past flights and up to 2 days in advanced of the current date. So once my flight showed as cancelled, which in my case, my original flight was a Friday and I saw that it was showing as cancelled Wednesday afternoon and I called the TA to request my refund.

Psy

 

[apathetic]

The only thing that might come back to bite you; is if you accepted their schedule change. We played chicken with American over our flights and they ended up cancelling them 3 days before our they were to leave. They then tried to reschedule the cancelled flights, but we never accepted the changes and I was told (by American) if we did; we would loose the ability to request a refund unless the new flights were cancelled by American.

So hopefully you will still be able to get your refund.

Psy

How do you accept changes? Something similar happened to me on American. They canceled flights on both ends of my trip, but they just put me on another flight. They didn't say anything about canceling, they just said flight times changed. On American, if they move your flight by 61 minutes, you are entitled to a refund. They never mentioned how long that is available because there was no way to "accept" the change. There is a lot of fine print.

 

[PsylockeSmythe]

How do you accept changes? Something similar happened to me on American. They canceled flights on both ends of my trip, but they just put me on another flight. They didn't say anything about canceling, they just said flight times changed. On American, if they move your flight by 61 minutes, you are entitled to a refund. They never mentioned how long that is available because there was no way to "accept" the change. There is a lot of fine print.

We just never responded to their email or automated phone call request to confirm the changes. I was under the impression that they had to get you to your destination within 2 hours for the refund would be allowed on non-refundable tickets (which most are). The changes they wanted us to accept would me that we would go from Non-Stop to 1 stop and arrive 4 hours later.

I'm just glad I got the refund (my ticket refund showed up on Friday and I should have the seat upgrade refund in 7 to 10 days.

Psy

 

[Ralph&Pam]

We are supposed to fly to Hawaii on may 11 for 10 days to stay at aulani. I’ve been waiting to see if aulani is definitely canceling first Before cancelling air. We have 4 business class tickets on United So that’s a lot of money. united website announced yesterday that credits were good for 24 months from the date of purchase rather than 12 months. Since i bought in Nov 2019 I would now have until Nov 2021 to use. We are hoping to go to Mexico in October and the eastbound transatlantic next May 2021 so this will definitely get used. While I would lIke my money back I’m happy to let united keep the money as long as I have extra time to use it up.

Actually, with the recently announced change, the e-vouchers from United are good for booking flights for 24 months from the date when the voucher is issued, not from the original booking date. Also, they can then be used for actual travel for another 11 months so long as the booking is made within the 24 month period. A big difference for us, since we booked flights to Vancouver and from Honolulu 11 months out from our now cancelled cruise from Vancouver to Hawaii. Originally, voucher would only have been valid for use until late June 2020, now we get until April 2022 to use the credit to book flights and until March of 2023 to complete our flights booked with the electronic certificates. Not as good as a cash refund, but a big improvement over the original situation for us. The credits can also be split across multiple future bookings, so they don’t have to be used up in a single trip.