More information regarding this flight has come to light and this post may need to be transferred again to Online Agency forum.
I have come to learn that these tickets were purchased (there were actually 2 persons traveling) via Cheapoair.com. This is a US company so there may be some recourse? I was unsure originally if the US "Contract of Carriage" applies to international carriers. Here is his accounting of the situation:
"The flight was continually delayed, and they made no effort to inform us of why, or correct the situation, or offer us an alternative. Instead, they would have had us sitting in the ticketing area for more than 48 hours had we not taken action ourselves. In fact, they personally.guaranteed.and promised us that the flight would be ready to leave at 12:00, then 18:00, then 22:00, then 00:30, then 03:00 - each time assuring us (only upon our questioning) that it would leave as scheduled. The staff were largely unprofessional and very unhelpful. Finally, after the flight scheduled for 03:00 was delayed until 20:00 the next day, we had had enough and approached the ticketing purchase desk, and demanded that they put us on another connecting flight out of the airport. They told us that nothing was available, and offered no solution. Finally, I insisted that they transfer our ticket to another flight so that we may use another airline to get to our destination. After much rudeness and.hassle, she agreed to put us on an Armavia flight to Athens, but that we would have to purchase another ticket to get from Athens to Tel Aviv on Olympic Airlines. Exacerbated, we agreed and bought the ticket..
This is where it is potentially complicated, the original ticket that I purchased was in fact used, but only as a means to get me to Athens (halfway to my destination). The airline Armavia nonetheless failed in its original agreement to get me to my destination. I understand plane troubles and delays, but then it is their responsibility to make sure that I get to my destination, they did no such thing..
So my question is what should I protest: should I claim that the original ticket was not fulfilled, or should I protest and demand that Armavia.reimburse.me for the cost of the extra ticket that I had to buy from Olympic Air?"
My son is living out of the country and has very limited ability for international calls so I am trying to do as much as I can for him from here. His CC is also US based. Now that I am dealing with US companies, might I have some ability to protest?