Base Fare: $2235.99 (10% discount for paying with BA chase)
Club World
Booked on March 31st 2015
I was simply flying through LHR
I do not have the specific booking classes

I called this evening at Quarky Quark's suggestion, waiting until the London office opened. (The reason I hadn't called before this was because the first person I spoke to back at the beginning of July stated that the customer relations / refunds department was backed up about 4 - 5 weeks, and to give it some time) I waited for over an hour - I was finally connected at 2am, california time.

The nice gentleman who picked up the phone said he'd been trying to make sense of all of the notes associated with my case, and was very sorry that the email I'd received tonight was ever sent at all, as it clearly did not respond to any of the things I wrote in my email. He stated that he, too, could see that the system had been prepared to give me all but the $500 cancellation fee.

Because of that, they are going to wait for the refund department to give me back what they believe I am owed, based on my fare type, and then refund the rest to my bank account (which I had to give specific details about - is that normal???), less the $500 fee.

He will also facilitate a letter for me that will contain all of the pertinent details of my flight cancellation for my insurance company.

Lastly, he connected my case reference number to his email, so that if I do not receive prompt responses, I am to respond (via the link provided), and my email will go directly to his email. Is that even possible?

He was very nice, very apologetic, very confused as to why I had received the response that I did, and tried to be extremely helpful. Is this normal customer relations behavior? Don't get me wrong.... I am very happy with the service I received today. Obviously, I will need to wait and see what actually comes of all of this.

I just wonder... I've been a reader here for a very long time, and I don't usually see evidence of this level of customer service. Too good to be true? I'll report back when I have some news. (I'm hopeful it's just because people tend to write in about the bad experiences they've had, and not note the good ones. Fingers crossed!)

In the meantime, I want to thank those of you who offered helpful advice. (Note the line breaks ^) I was also a follower of Chris Elliott for awhile, and he always recommended putting things in writing (thus my email to Customer Relations, and then asking for assistance here). I prefer being able to speak to an actual human being, so it's nice *if* it works out.

PPS, I have gained a great deal of very useful information over the years, and I am very appreciative. I'm still waiting to discover my own useful bits of advice, but in the meantime, I enjoy perusing the forums here. I knew I would get sound advice.