Airline policy changes (United made another big one)

Ours was a strange one for our United flights to Egypt. We decided to cancel (although our flights were still showing 'go' on our online reservation) after ABD canceled. We expected to get a United flight credit. When my dad called, they gave him a refund. This was around 4/28. He has not gotten the refund yet but weirdly, my premium seats on United were refunded that day.

I had contacted Lufthansa (codeshare flight) to get my premium seats refunded from them (with little hope of that happening) heard nothing and a week later disputed the charges on my Amex. On the day I disputed with Amex, Lufthansa sent me an email telling me they would refund me. Coincidence? I think not...They have refunded 4 charges of $17 and one for $60. Still waiting on another $60 and two $100 charges (the big ones) but it sounds like I will get them (nice surprise!).

I did not speak to United and my dad was not clear on exactly what the deal was (just happy they offered refund) but it sounded like our flights HAD been canceled but that was only revealed when we called. Crazy and NOT COOL, but I was happy to get the refund (counting on the fact that it all eventually arrives back on the credit card).

United has great fares to Orlando for our spring break (currently rescheduled cruise) but I am NOT booking. It's Delta or JetBlue (direct flight) for me here on out.
 
Not sure if I have posted here about my issues getting a refund from BA for the taxes for our cancelled Doha to Miami via London flight. It was cancelled on March 19th; I called right away to obtain a refund. The credit for pre-selecting our seats was refunded within a week. However the $864.00 in taxes still hadn't shown up as of Saturday. I went to FT for help and PM'd a poster there with a rather obvious name. Money was back on my AmEx card this morning. I have no clue who this person is, but if anyone is having trouble getting a BA refund, I highly suggest visiting FT for help.
 
Not sure if I have posted here about my issues getting a refund from BA for the taxes for our cancelled Doha to Miami via London flight. It was cancelled on March 19th; I called right away to obtain a refund. The credit for pre-selecting our seats was refunded within a week. However the $864.00 in taxes still hadn't shown up as of Saturday. I went to FT for help and PM'd a poster there with a rather obvious name. Money was back on my AmEx card this morning. I have no clue who this person is, but if anyone is having trouble getting a BA refund, I highly suggest visiting FT for help.
What is FT?

Tobi
 
What is FT?

Tobi
Flyer Talk; they have a very active forum. I have never posted there before but have researched hotels, airlines, etc. there once in a while. I wasn't a registered user until Saturday. The random stranger on the forum either got my refund processed or it is a *huge* coincidence that it posted 2 days after I PM'd him or her. I am very grateful to have the money back.
 


Response from United regarding my DOT complaint...

"We are responding to your communication submitted to the U.S. Department of Transportation regarding your tickets for travel on May 29, 2020 from Houston to Seattle (confirmation number XXXXX).

We certainly understand your hesitation to travel as the COVID-19 situation unfolds. We've been closely monitoring the crisis and making adjustments as best we can based on circumstances beyond our control, such as government mandates and restrictions.

After reviewing your reservation, we've determined we're unable to offer you a refund. Based on the fare rules, your tickets are non-refundable and we offered you a replacement schedule within six hours. We realize this may be a different outcome than the one you hoped for; however, we want you to know there are options:

If you cancel your reservation, you can use the value of the ticket toward future travel. You would need to cancel before your departure date. To use your credit, book your new flight within the rules of the ticket. There may be a difference in fare, so please visit united.com to determine if you're eligible for additional travel flexibility options or a change fee waiver.

On united.com, you also have the option to convert your ticket value to an electronic travel certificate, which is valid for two years from the date of issue on any United or United Express flights.

If you're able to keep your existing reservation, you're all set. We're closely monitoring the situation. We encourage you to review united.com closer to your travel date for any updates.

We appreciate your business and look forward to welcoming you on board a future United Airlines flight."

I have followed up with DOT. If United does not change or cancel the flight before May 29, I will have to accept the credit or lose my entire purchase (which I'm not willing to do).

I'm also going to look into the class action lawsuit that has been filed.
 
@TXTransplant

Sorry you're having to deal with this.

So, the DOT complaint just gets passed back to United? That seems pointless. I guess it just forces the airline to take a closer look, but they're not going to change their mind. Does the DOT not have rules on the allowable time window for a flight change? Or changing the terms of a ticket? That's shocking the DOT doesn't have preset rules that would govern this.

I don't get why United is risking the bad PR and potential class action suit. It must be either an existential decision where the entire company depends on the 6 hr change window, or they must be really sure they're on solid legal ground for changing the terms of a ticket. Do airline tickets give them the authority to change these terms (like changing the refund window from 2hrs+ to 6hrs+) at any time? I'm really not sure. If not, this should be a slam dunk class action breach of contract suit and a disastrous decision by United.

This is particularly frustrating to me, and I think you too, because United is in our backyard. I fly mostly Southwest for domestic, but maybe 50% of my international trips are on United. Most of the rest are on Star Alliance. Probably 95% of my CC reward points are with United/Star Alliance and Chase. If I could choose between United and Delta, I guess I'd move everything to Delta, but that's just not realistic in Houston. I'm not a United hater - their Polaris Class is overall probably the best of the US carriers IMO. And certainly better than others like Air Canada and BA. Don't get me wrong, they're not ANA, Singapore, Emirates, or even Turkish as far as customer service, but overall I haven't had any negative experiences with United. And I fly a lot. However, this 6+ hour change window (and I think I read here about nonstop flights changing to connecting flights) without refund options is unacceptable.
 
@TXTransplant

Sorry you're having to deal with this.

So, the DOT complaint just gets passed back to United? That seems pointless. I guess it just forces the airline to take a closer look, but they're not going to change their mind. Does the DOT not have rules on the allowable time window for a flight change? Or changing the terms of a ticket? That's shocking the DOT doesn't have preset rules that would govern this.

I don't get why United is risking the bad PR and potential class action suit. It must be either an existential decision where the entire company depends on the 6 hr change window, or they must be really sure they're on solid legal ground for changing the terms of a ticket. Do airline tickets give them the authority to change these terms (like changing the refund window from 2hrs+ to 6hrs+) at any time? I'm really not sure. If not, this should be a slam dunk class action breach of contract suit and a disastrous decision by United.

This is particularly frustrating to me, and I think you too, because United is in our backyard. I fly mostly Southwest for domestic, but maybe 50% of my international trips are on United. Most of the rest are on Star Alliance. Probably 95% of my CC reward points are with United/Star Alliance and Chase. If I could choose between United and Delta, I guess I'd move everything to Delta, but that's just not realistic in Houston. I'm not a United hater - their Polaris Class is overall probably the best of the US carriers IMO. And certainly better than others like Air Canada and BA. Don't get me wrong, they're not ANA, Singapore, Emirates, or even Turkish as far as customer service, but overall I haven't had any negative experiences with United. And I fly a lot. However, this 6+ hour change window (and I think I read here about nonstop flights changing to connecting flights) without refund options is unacceptable.
DOT doesn’t have a firm rule on the window of time, but I think they suggest two hours.

However, that window, whatever it is, is irrelevant to my case, because according to DOT rules, since my nonstop flight was cancelled and I was rebooked on one with a layover, I am still entitled to a refund. The time difference doesn’t matter, but that’s the only consideration United is using.

I contacted my DOT POC and asked for a follow-up.

I even sent an email to a consumer advocacy group (the one founded by Christopher Elliott, if you’re familiar with his work), but they said since I’ve escalated this to DOT, there is nothing more that they can do. I just have to wait for DOT to do something. Who knows how long that will take

I’m with you - given how dependent we are on United, that just makes this situation that much worse. I realize they are in a money crunch, but rules are rules. They are taking advantage of customers who they know basically have no other recourse.

I just remembered, I went on an ABD with a lawyer who has a history of filing class action lawsuits and winning. Maybe I will contact him!
 


Ugh I'm so sorry to everyone going through these flight problems. You all solidified why I never fly United and pretty much only fly Southwest, Jet Blue and Delta.

I adore Southwest. They are just so easy to work with and their flights so darn easy to change and cancel. And we fly them enough that if I ever do need to cancel I can apply that credit with no hassle to our next flight. If I'm flying domestic, 99% of the time it's on Southwest. We've had great luck on Delta too, both domestic and international.

And maybe I'm a plane snob, but I basically refuse to fly Allegiant. When you add up all their fees I might as well fly SW. However, I had 9 round trip tickets booked with them on my credit card for my BIL's bachelor party DH was hosting. It was at the end of March, right when this whole pandemic really started taking off. Allegiant ended up cancelling their return flight, but I had to cancel the other portion and I was convinced I was going to only get a credit for everything...over $2000 in all. And it would have been 9 different credits with 9 different names that half these guys would never use. I called, was on hold for almost 2 hours, and was ready to FIGHT for a refund. Lo and behold, I was offered a refund almost immediately with no questions asked. Refund showed up within 3 days. I was honestly so impressed. So if a low-cost airline like Allegiant can offer a refund then an international carrier like United should absolutely be able to as well.
 
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Alaska Airlines changed our reservation from ANC to FAI by 3+ hours, so I'm invoking their refund option. Should get about $150 back and 3700 Chase points. This is a refund I was not expecting!

Going to try calling United tomorrow in a THIRD attempt to get the refund they owe me.
 
United canceled segments of my International flights allowing me to cancel the remaining portions. This was April 20th. Still waiting on refund which TA said takes 3 to 4 months. Paid $17k in August 2019. So United will had my money for a year when all said and done.
 
United canceled segments of my International flights allowing me to cancel the remaining portions. This was April 20th. Still waiting on refund which TA said takes 3 to 4 months. Paid $17k in August 2019. So United will had my money for a year when all said and done.

Anecdotally, they seem to be handling international flights more “leniently“ at this point. I’ve heard/read several stories of people getting refunds not just for cancelled flights, but for rescheduled flights, too. I’m guessing with all of the travel bans, they had to start giving refunds. Since there are no restrictions on domestic travel, they seem to be applying a different standard. Very frustrating.
 
So, I called United today. The first rep I spoke with said I ~AM~ eligible for a refund (well, DUH!)

He said to file a refund request on United.com. I told him I didn't want to do that because I already filed a refund request a month ago and it was denied. And it took them about a week to get back to me with the denial, and this flight is scheduled to leave in less than 3 days.

So, he filled out the refund request for me and gave me 2 "refund confirmation" numbers (one for each ticket) and said I could check the status of the refund online. He also said the refund would go back to the original form of payment (which was Chase, so I should actually get Chase points back).

He finished up by telling me "And next time, just request the refund online" ~Insert HUGE eyroll here~

He hung up on me before I could ask anymore questions or get anymore information.

I just got a follow-up email from United that says this...

Thanks for submitting your refund request. We’ll let you know once we’ve reviewed the request, or you can check the status on the Refund Check status page.

Please keep the document and tracking numbers for reference.


So, no actually confirmation of a refund other than this guy's "word".

We shall see what happens later this week.

Update: Chase card services just called me. United notified them that the flight was cancelled (the rep I spoke with said he was going to do this). I have not received any such notification...only the email with the "check the status of your refund" number.

Good grief, could United make this any more difficult?!?
 
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2nd update: So, I'm not really sure what is going on between Chase and United (some discussion over WHO ~technically~ cancelled the reservation...the United rep told me HE was cancelling the flight as part of processing the refund request. I did not ask for a cancellation - I asked for a refund!).

But, the Chase rep said she processed a refund of 32k miles to my account, and the points are already there!

Just to recap: my itinerary was changed (from non-stop to one with a layover) about a month ago. I was denied a refund on THREE previous requests (once through Chase, once through the United website, and once after my DOT complaint).

Fourth times the charm...????:sad2:
 
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Oh, it gets better! I just got two emails from United (one for each ticket) stating the following:


Thank you for your patience while we took a look at your refund request.

The ticket you purchased is non-refundable and your travel was not impacted by one of our eligible refund scenarios (see below). Therefore, we are unable to refund your ticket.


I didn’t copy and paste the entire email, but basically it says no refund because my flight wasn’t impacted by more than 6 hours.

But Chase has already refunded me my points! I swear, I couldn’t make this up if I tried! 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

I’m not even sure if my flight has been cancelled! I’m not getting a refund, but I don’t have a voucher, either. And Chase told me that they were told the flight was cancelled.

Edited to add that the Chase portal shows my flight as cancelled, and the United app says my reservation doesn’t exist when I try to pull it up in My Trips.
 
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This thread has been really helpful to us to weed out the companies we will not do business with EVER again in the future - looking at you, United Airlines - even though we personally haven't had a problem (because we didn't book with them recently.

Wanted to add a negative call out to the Marriott hotel chain Westin brand now too. We had prepaid but fully cancellable rooms (up to 1 day before check in) at 335 Euros a night for two nights. Our Rhone River tour was cancelled and we promptly cancelled the reservation and asked for a refund on March 19. They confirmed and advised it wss in process. We now received a notice that "French law" required they not refund the rooms, although they acknowledged it was a term of the reservation. Booked it through our Marriott rewards card with Chase.. Marriott says it's up to the individual hotels to make the call, despite Marriott's own corporate pledge made around that same time that they would even refund the NON refundables. In fact the hotel was closed for the period we were supposed to be there.

Will begin the fight with Chase, but I don't think this will go very far. I am finding fewer and fewer companies that I trust and with whom I am willing to work with. But as a 35 night a year traveller, you won't catch me in any Marriott branded hotels in the future. As a conference committee member, you can also be sure I will be loud and clear to steer away from this brand forever. That reminds me, they are building another one right here. I think me and the building inspector will pay the site a little visit for paperwork compliance. Hey corporate America - be careful when you keep kicking us because sometimes even David can take down Goliath.
 
This thread has been really helpful to us to weed out the companies we will not do business with EVER again in the future - looking at you, United Airlines - even though we personally haven't had a problem (because we didn't book with them recently.

Wanted to add a negative call out to the Marriott hotel chain Westin brand now too. We had prepaid but fully cancellable rooms (up to 1 day before check in) at 335 Euros a night for two nights. Our Rhone River tour was cancelled and we promptly cancelled the reservation and asked for a refund on March 19. They confirmed and advised it wss in process. We now received a notice that "French law" required they not refund the rooms, although they acknowledged it was a term of the reservation. Booked it through our Marriott rewards card with Chase.. Marriott says it's up to the individual hotels to make the call, despite Marriott's own corporate pledge made around that same time that they would even refund the NON refundables. In fact the hotel was closed for the period we were supposed to be there.

Will begin the fight with Chase, but I don't think this will go very far. I am finding fewer and fewer companies that I trust and with whom I am willing to work with. But as a 35 night a year traveller, you won't catch me in any Marriott branded hotels in the future. As a conference committee member, you can also be sure I will be loud and clear to steer away from this brand forever. That reminds me, they are building another one right here. I think me and the building inspector will pay the site a little visit for paperwork compliance. Hey corporate America - be careful when you keep kicking us because sometimes even David can take down Goliath.
How can they go against the terms of your refundable reservation? That seems against the law.

I mostly use Hilton now and have had great experience for all the reservations I cancelled from COVID19 even non-refundable rooms that was fully paid. They had no problem refunding and this includes international reservations in Asia and Europe.
 
Anyone have reviews of how Alaska Air has been with flights to Hawaii during COVID-19 with cancellations and quarantine issues?
 
Anyone have reviews of how Alaska Air has been with flights to Hawaii during COVID-19 with cancellations and quarantine issues?
I had an Alaska flight to Hawaii in September that I’ve cancelled this week as the tour on which I was booked (not AbD) was pushed back to next year for non-virus reasons. The flight is still scheduled - they returned the miles to my account and gave me a credit for the money portion which I have until July 5, 2021 to use on another booking. Since bookings can be made up to 331 days in advance, I can book by July 5, 2021, for flights into May 2022, so have about 2 years available to use it.

Also, I had another Alaska flight booked for April (to Seattle) which I cancelled in mid-March before the flight itself was cancelled. At the time, Alaska’s policy was to allow a credit that had to be used by October or November 2020. I checked the status of that credit when I cancelled my September flight and Alaska has automatically extended it to the same July 5, 2021 date, which I thought was very nice and generous of them.

As I will be flying Alaska again sometime by the end of next year, I don’t have a problem with leaving the credits there for a future booking.
 
Anyone have reviews of how Alaska Air has been with flights to Hawaii during COVID-19 with cancellations and quarantine issues?

I had a flight booked with Alaska Air, partially with cash and partially with Chase points. Departure time was moved by just over 3 hours. Their policy is, if your flight changes by more than one hour, you are entitled to a refund. I called Chase, and I have gotten my points back. The cash portion of my payment has not shown up as a credit, yet, but I’m giving it a little longer.

I had actually written this flight off as a loss, since I didn’t expect it to be changed, and Alaska is requiring that you use credits within one year of the original travel date (which we won’t be able to do). So I was happy to find out I could get a refund.

I’m hoping the fiasco with my United refund doesn’t mess up the Alaska refund, since it was all booked through Chase.
 
Anyone have reviews of how Alaska Air has been with flights to Hawaii during COVID-19 with cancellations and quarantine issues?

We cancelled our March flight and was given travel credits that expire at end of this year. Our June flight was cancelled so I called asking for a refund. The agent asked me to consider taking a credit instead of a refund because the airline is taking a big hit. I told him that I already had a large amount of $ held up as credit with them from March so I would prefer a refund. The refund was processed quickly.

United, on the other hand, has been a nightmare to deal with. They refuse to refund even though flight was cancelled and the next available flight was more than 24 hours later.
 

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