My mother flew out of Sri Lanka to Chicago Ohare via Doha and Heathrow. Her flight from Colombo to Doha and then Heathrow was operated by Qatar, but she had a ticket purchased by me from our American Express Travel Agent. The flights to Doha and Heathrow went fine, but she was stopped from boarding by BA staff at the gate right before the BA operated flight to OHare. She was told that she has a B1/B2 visa that's not valid after the Presidential Proclamations that banned travelers from UK to US except for certain cases. Her visa is valid for another 2 years and she has been here to see us several times. The BA attendant told her to get a "212F Waiver". We checked with the embassy in Colombo if that was required and they said no it's only for people living in the UK who apply for a visa at the London embassy.
I contacted Amex Travel to get a refund and was told by their agent that BA is offering only a partial voucher for the last leg that she didn't fly AND that for any rebooking, she can only use that for a route that goes to Chicago via Heathrow. In addition they had marked her as a no-show at the BA checkin for Chicago (absurd!!) even though she was escorted by BA themselves to the next flight back home. I was arguing with Amex Travel that she can't go through London again because she's not a US Citizen or GC holder neither she has any relatives who are USC or GC holders. BA's contact centers are the worst and are not being flexible in this pandemic.
According to DOT's rules about covid related cancellations enforcement notice from 04/03/2020, passenger is entitled to a full refund instead of a voucher if airline cancels or alters the schedule in anyway. Further, we are not even asking for a refund, we are just asking for my mother to be able to change her transit stop, so she can fly Colombo-Qatar-Ohare instead of Colombo-Qatar-Heathrow-OHare. How do we get to do that? Is there a way to make them understand their obligation to the DOT notice?