Originally Posted by
uastarflyer
On award ticket cancellation the money comes back automatically
Actually that isn't true either (unless things have recently changed). From my
demand letter "The treatment of refunds for Award Trips paid for in part by Southwest gift cards differs significantly from that of Award Trips paid for in part by debit/credit cards. In the latter case, consumers are offered a choice to keep the funds trapped in the PNR or refund as cash back to their debit/credit card." If you pay with gift cards, there is no option to refund and the funds are trapped.
Originally Posted by
emcampbe
The only time this really would come into play is if the reservation and the credit expired. COC seems to still address this (it’s non-refundable), which is of course a policy, not a matter of the law from the perspective of the government. If someone really wanted to test it, I guess they could try filing a lawsuit. Whoever is interested in taking that on, good luck to you!
Ding ding ding ding! I approached the situation by invoking state law but I suppose someone could argue that the taxes are due to refunded under federal law. WN paid out my actual damages in cash so I did not end up suing them.
As others said, this could be big if anyone wants to take the case. A new paradigm for airline ticketing policies! Perhaps we'll all be thanking [MENTION=4201]writetorich[/MENTION] for bumping this thread!