Originally Posted by
mybodyismyown
When the sexual abuse tactics of the TSA became known in November 2010, I was holding several plane tickets for December, January, and beyond. I don't pose naked for strange men to ogle me in secret pornobooths, and I don't engage in sexual activities with complete strangers under duress. Therefore, I concluded that I could no longer fly, and I sought refunds for those tickets.
I was refused refunds by both Southwest (three round-trips cancelled) and AirTran (one round-trip cancelled). This action is in direct violation of their contracts of carriage, which state that if I refuse security screening, then they will refuse to transport me and refund my money. I even went to the airport on the day of my flight to refuse security screening in person, but the airlines still denied my refund. I disputed all the charges on my credit card, on the basis of bait-and-switch: I purchased tickets for travel sans sexual assault, but they were now offering travel only to those who would hold still for a sexual assault. My credit card company upheld all the refunds. I then filed a complaint with the Department of Transportation alleging that these two companies failed to comply with their contracts of carriage.
I'm glad to hear that you were successful in getting a refund from your credit card company. I was not. I had purchased a round-trip ticket on JetBlue for my mother-in-law. This was purchased well before the new screening procedures were instituted. Her trip had to be postponed because of health issues. Per the airline's policy, we had one year to rebook the flight (with a rebooking fee). In the meantime, the naked scanning and groping started. My mother-in-law is a breast cancer survivor and is in frail health, so we decided not to have her come at all. I tried to get a refund from JetBlue, but they would not give it. Instead, they offered to allow us to use the ticket for someone else. Not wanting to subject my wife (or myself) to the current indignities, this was not acceptable, so I filed a claim with American Express. At first I was optimistic, but after some time, Amex informed me that, based on their investigation, they ruled in favor of JetBlue because the ticket was non-refundable, and JetBlue claimed (falsely) that the TSA procedures were in-place when the ticket was purchased.