Originally Posted by
nock
Agree. Do both.
I don't know what happens if you file a DOT refund complaint and then file a chargeback. But I wouldn't want to get caught in a situation where I'm accused of fraud.
And I say this as someone who initiated a DOT complaint over a problematic ~$7k refund, that eventually ended in a chargeback (the OTA sent me a certified letter stating they had never charged me, so my cancellation was not due a refund).
Originally Posted by
Adam Smith
The trouble is that there's no equivalent of the US DOT's easy online form. Filing an EU261 complaint against an airline can be a real hassle. Here's the
UK's page on how to do it (since that's what's applicable to
Mikey Mike Mike ). The process is summarized in this flow chart, but in short, you can either (i) take the airline to court or (ii)(a) go through alternative dispute resolution (essentially a 3rd party tries to resolve it) or, if (a) is not available, (b) appeal to the regulator.
It's quite the hassle to file a complaint, and I don't know that it actually does anything to change the airline's behaviour, given that many EU carriers are regularly accused of violating EU261 rules. That's why I wouldn't recommend someone go through the hassle of that process when a chargeback should be simple and highly likely to be successful.
(Note that there are firms that specialize in EU261 complaints, and in the case of compensation for a delay or something like that where there's no obvious mechanism to recoup what's owed by the airline, it may be worthwhile to engage one of them, but when a simple chargeback should result in a 100% refund, paying them their 30% or whatever cut isn't worth it)
If that's true for EU regulations, then I agree. But I'd hate to say the US is better than the EU at protecting consumer rights without at least trying.