Originally Posted by
Jetstreamer
Whenever I've booked flights through Expedia / Orbitz in the USA, the charge comes from the airline not the TA. So if the airline charged the OP (even though booking was made through Orbitz) is it not feasible that the airline can be the one to process the refund?
In the UK I've always been charged by the TA in which case I agree.
It depends whether the TA took payment on their merchant of record (and paid the airline through IATA) or passed the airline the card details to take payment. There are loads of processes here to decide which of these happens (essentially linked to fare type, which you’ll never see). In either case, however, only the agent can submit the refund, BA staff can’t do it on their systems. Agents rightly get angry when BA tries to take over their bookings, so BA doesn’t do it.
Where it gets delicate is that a chargeback goes to the company that processed the payment. If BA is willing to refund (as they are) but the TA is being difficult and not passing it on, it’s absolutely fair to submit a chargeback if it goes to the agent, but is it fair if it goes to BA? I’m not passing judgement, but this is one of those ‘grey areas’ that give FT’s ‘philosophers’ reason to get up every morning...