I know now that I should never have booked through the OTA and should've booked directly with EK but I haven't had problems before, so it was my mistake. NEVER AGAIN, trust me on that.

But I'm still stuck miserably hoping that this was not a $851.96 lesson. This is really causing me some major anxiety and stress (and I'm sure many of you think that I deserve it due to my poor decisions) but I really can't afford to let this money go.

AND...I'm sure this will kill most of you to hear....but I booked it with a debit card. I know. (I know this was a risky choice but there are many reasons I had, most of which left me with no other choice at the moment.)

All these hapless decisions aside, any advice on how I can move forward?? Currently, I'm waiting for EK to respond to PL's email requesting the waiver/exemption for refund....but I don't have a great feeling about it and think I will need to escalate it some other way. Is it at all possible that because EK cancelled the ticket (and I apparently did not), that it would be at all considered an involuntary cancellation = involuntary refund?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated for this poor sap.