i posted this in another thread, but i thought i had better put it here too in a more complete form.

in late May 2013 I had a medical emergency that forced me to cancel a flight. i went through all the required paperwork to get a refund of the ticket and refunds denied it on account of insufficient paperwork. sent it back to them again, asking them to look at it, and reconsider. again denied. sent to 1K voice, who sent to refunds supervisors, who asked for more paperwork (which had already been provided). sent in paperwork AGAIN, and heard nothing for 6 weeks. after all this it's now November.

at that point i sent everything back to 1K voice -- original PNRs, receipts, doctor's notes and hospital bills, and email correspondence with 1K voice and refunds department. told them to sort it out in 7 days or i'd be going to DOT.

next day got a phone call from someone on exec customer care team in Houston, telling me it had been handled, and to expect a refund in 7-10 days. also gave me 20,000 RDMs for my time and trouble.

personally i'd rather have had my money back 6 months ago, and the 6+ hours of my life back that i spent on the issue. guess it goes to show that often the letters "DOT" are all they understand.