Airline Guru's Help on Voucher vs. Refund

1,708 Views | 20 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by TXTransplant
GCRanger
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AG
Need a little help. We were supposed to travel to Ireland June 17 - July 10 booked through Aer Lingus with domestic legs on United.

Aer Lingus is offering a voucher for flight costs +10% good for five years, or reschedule for free. Voucher lets them keep liquidity but I want my money. Ireland is on crazy lock down until end of July or August (they have lost their minds). Next year is iffy as my mom is in her late 70's and visiting her may still be out of the question if no vaccine / remedy.

So, I'm not sure if I should wait and see if the flights are cancelled to get refund, try for refund now, or just take the voucher and hope that things improve so we can go there some time in the next few years.

They technically are still having flights through ORD and IAD to Dublin so they may not cancel. Though once we got there we would be on lock down.

TXTransplant
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United is playing games right now. Technically, according to DOT rules, you are not entitled to a refund unless the airline cancels or "significantly changes" your flight. Even though your flight is international, since the plane touches US soil, DOT rules apply.

I had a nonstop flight from IAH to SEA booked for May 29. United changed it from a nonstop to a flight itinerary of IAH-SFO-SEA with an arrival delay of 3 hours.

The change from the nonstop flight to one with a connection is enough under DOT rules to entitle me to a refund. United is refusing because they are saying they are still getting me to my destination within 6 hours of the original arrival time.

I have escalated this with my cc company, United, and a complaint with DOT. United has denied me a refund three times, including in response to my DOT complaint.

I am sitting on the ticket until the 28, since I have until then to take a voucher. There is absolutely no advantage to accepting a voucher now since your flight could still be changed. And if the change is "significant" you might end up getting a refund with no hassle. However, if you accept the voucher now, you waive your right to any refund if the flight is cancelled down the road.

As a side note, the stories I'm hearing is that United is being more agreeable to refunds on international flights if they change the schedule.
ChipFTAC01
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AG
I'm in a similar boat. We have flights booked to London in July. In addition to "waitlisting " us in our flights both to/from LHR (which is a funny way of saying that they've canceled all direct flights) They've moved our departure and arrival times by about 6 hours. Even if we wanted to live with that, I think England in July is still gonna be pretty locked down and maybe even have to quarantine when we get there.

Because they've changed the flights so much, we're entitled to a refund and not a voucher, correct?
TXTransplant
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It's my understanding that if they change your flight from nonstop to one with a layover, then yes, you are entitled to a refund. If they just change your departure and/or arrival times, DOT says that change has to be "significant", but doesn't specify an exact time. Delta is giving refunds if your schedule changes by more than 2 hours, I think (might be 90 min). I actually got a refund from Delta on our SEA-ANC fights because there was about a two hour change to that schedule.

United isn't factoring in the nonstop vs layover change AT ALL. They are insisting their policy is no refund unless your departure and/or arrival time is changed by more than 6 hours (at least for domestic flights).

You aren't likely to find the 6 hour policy on United's website (I haven't been able to), but that's what they've told me verbally and in emails in response to my refund request and DOT complaint.

Other airlines are doing different things. I've heard BA is a pain to deal with.
AustinScubaAg
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AG
Ineresting I had an AA flight to Seattle where the orignal flight were canceled. I was rebookedon different flights same day same layover point bit was able to get refund due to the original canellation.

Any cancelation I think qualifies
akaggie05
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AG
Get your money. No guarantee that any given airline will be around in 5 years.
TXTransplant
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AustinScubaAg said:

Ineresting I had an AA flight to Seattle where the orignal flight were canceled. I was rebookedon different flights same day same layover point bit was able to get refund due to the original canellation.

Any cancelation I think qualifies


You are correct - under DOT rules, any cancellation qualifies. And rebooking a passenger from a nonstop flight to one with a layover is obviously a cancellation.

Other airlines are doing the right thing and giving refunds in this situation.

However, United is blatantly disregarding DOT rules and saying their policy is that, if your departure and/or arrival is affected by less than 6 hours, you do not qualify for a refund.
Joe Schillaci 48
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AG
Demand cash. You may be too late.

Look at what Hertz just did.

You will be so far down on the bankruptcy list you might as well hang your "credit" document in a picture frame and hang it on your wall for memories.



No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional sports advice.
An Ag in CO
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AG
I had a flight to London on United and it was obviously cancelled. When I was in contact with them I was issued a pretty generous credit (longer than 12 months) and I thought there was noting more to do until I wanted to draw on the credit. However, United just refunded the full cost of the ticket without any contact or demands from me. I'm not not disappointed, but it was a surprise the credit was cancelled and replaced with a full refund.
TXTransplant
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An Ag in CO said:

I had a flight to London on United and it was obviously cancelled. When I was in contact with them I was issued a pretty generous credit (longer than 12 months) and I thought there was noting more to do until I wanted to draw on the credit. However, United just refunded the full cost of the ticket without any contact or demands from me. I'm not not disappointed, but it was a surprise the credit was cancelled and replaced with a full refund.


They've been offering 24 month e-vouchers on voluntary "cancellations" for over a month now. Supposedly, if you take the credit, that's supposed to make you ineligible for a voucher. It's good to hear United did the right thing on your ticket.

I'm still holding out. Flight is scheduled for Friday, May 29, so I have a few more days to wait it out.

It's just super annoying that they are decision to issue refunds in situations where flights were clearly cancelled. The 6 hour rule is garbage. But after requesting a refund AND filing a complaint with DOT, I'm not sure what else I can do.
ChipFTAC01
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After not being able to figure out how to request the refund on United.com I called customer support yesterday morning. They picked right up and after one halfhearted attempt to get me to take a voucher (good for 24 months). Asked for a refund and they gave it to me.

They then processed my wife and kids' refund (booked separately)!with no gruff either.

I guess the two letters that the DOT sent out to the airlines about following the rules finally sunk in.
ChipFTAC01
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After not being able to figure out how to request the refund on United.com I called customer support yesterday morning. They picked right up and after one halfhearted attempt to get me to take a voucher (good for 24 months). Asked for a refund and they gave it to me.

They then processed my wife and kids' refund (booked separately)!with no gruff either.

I guess the two letters that the DOT sent out to the airlines about following the rules finally sunk in.
TXTransplant
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Scored a small victory today. Checked my reservation from ANC to FAI on Alaska Airlines and we were bumped up from a 945 am flight to a 625 am flight.

Alaska's policy is, if they change your flight by more than one hour, you are eligible for a refund.

That's $150 and 3700 Chase points I didn't expect to get back.

Why can't United be this customer friendly...or at least not blatantly disregard DOT rules?
TXTransplant
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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.

Edit to update: some back and forth between Chase and United, but I have my 32k points back in my Chase account!

Guess those warnings from DOT did make a difference, but it should not have taken this long (I've been trying to get a refund since my itinerary was changed over a month ago).

I'd been denied a refund three times before finally getting one today.
MechAg
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AG
MechAg
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MechAg
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MechAg
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AG
MechAg
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AG
I haven't flown on a United flight since 2014 after a trip to Europe where we were delayed on the East coast (due to them not having a flight crew), lied to multiple times and had baggage lost for almost a week. After all of that they offered me a $150 travel voucher to make up for around $1500 I was out & that's when I determined to never fly them again. My brother in law used to fly for them until he said he couldn't handle how they treated customers anymore and went to SWA.
TXTransplant
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GCRanger
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AG
So, United has updated their operated flight leg from SAT to IAD. Now leaves two hours later, stops in ORD with a 45 minute layover, then get's to IAD 3.5 hours AFTER the flight to Dublin leaves. Aer Lingus still showing everything as normal, no changes. I think it's time for the call and a refund.

Thanks for all the replies.
TXTransplant
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GCRanger said:

So, United has updated their operated flight leg from SAT to IAD. Now leaves two hours later, stops in ORD with a 45 minute layover, then get's to IAD 3.5 hours AFTER the flight to Dublin leaves. Aer Lingus still showing everything as normal, no changes. I think it's time for the call and a refund.

Thanks for all the replies.


Let us know how it plays out.

I got a refund of my points from Chase, but I'm not sure Chase got a refund from United.

After the United rep said I could have a refund and cancelled my flight and then hung up on me before I could ask any more questions, I got an email from United saying they were "considering my refund request".

The next day, I got another email from United denying my refund request. I don't know if Chase got their money or not. But, if I had not gone through Chase, I would have been in a bind. My flight was cancelled and the refund was denied. I don't know if I would have been able to get a voucher at that point. And it definitely would have meant another call to United.
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