Invalid airline ticket purchased from Expedia [AF not honoring ticket]
I've been struggling with getting reimbursement for an invalid ticket sold by Expedia. There is an ongoing investigation but so far all that's happened is that each party says it's someone else's fault. I'm looking for advice from forum members on how to proceed.
Several months back I bought a round trip ticket through Expedia, with an outbound flight from the US to London on Virgin Atlantic, and return from Paris back to US on Air France (actually a Delta flight operated by AF). Both flights were nonstop. The ticket number was through VA. I generally prefer to buy direct from airlines, but in this one case Expedia had a better deal (~$600 RT) and was more convenient because of the return from a different city. Or so I thought!
I confirmed the return flight online but could not check in the day before. That's not unusual with combo tickets but to be safe, I called AF. I was told no issue, but I would have to check in at the airport the next day. I arrived at the airport 4 hours in advance of departure, and was only then told that the ticket was invalid and they wouldn't allow me to fly on it. It turns out that Expedia paid the fare to VA but no money got to AF. I finally ended up having to buy a one-way ticket back home from AF, which cost about $3000 USD. Didn't have time to shop around, with 3 minutes until close of checkin on the last flight of the day :-).
That was a month ago. Right after I got home I contacted all three parties to request reimbursement of the $3000 extra ticket. I guess it's no surprise that the replies were all variations on the theme of "gee we're sorry about this, but no." I managed to get to Tier 3 customer service at Expedia by emailing executives. The resulting investigation has concluded that yes, something bad happened and I deserve to be reimbursed, but it's VA's fault. They were kind enough to file a "refund request" with them, that has of course gone unanswered. I also filed a DOT complaint against AF, which was referred to VA (again, no answer).
I'm a bit at a loss for what to do at this point and was hoping for some sage advice from the forum. Apologies for jumping in as a new poster with a long complicated tale, but I would really appreciate any help.