Originally Posted by
mightyducksman
Seeing if anyone has any other ideas for me...
Purchased a non-refundable BCN-LIS-IAD one-way ticket directly through TAP in Executive for myself, wife, and 2.5 year old - around $3,400 in January 2020 for travel August 2020.
- Flight cancelled by TAP in June 2020. I called and requested refund, request granted at that time. I made the mistake of not calling my credit card.
- In December 2020, no refund had been processed yet, so I called credit card who said the window had passed for charge back (Chase Visa).
- I opened a DOT claim, which was registered and then received a contact 2/15/21 from TAP copying the DOT lawyer indicating a refund had been initiated and to be patient. Of course, no refund has been processed yet (3/28/21).
Any other ideas? My understanding was EU-261 was useless given TAP government ownership and I don't see evidence that changed from this thread.
Any chance TAP would negotiate with me to give me a similar flight even though they aren't running the nice one way fares any more (I know that's very unlikely)?
TIA
Currently TP has surprisingly generous conditions for accommodating passengers with cancelled flights: these include rebooking without any up-tick in the fare until end-2022. I have no idea if these conditions would apply to your ticket (issued January 2020), but worth checking. Any generosity is likely fuelled by TP's liquidity problems making it important to hang on to cash.
EU legislation has nothing to do with whether the carrier is state-owned or not. But because the flight was cancelled two months before it was scheduled, EC261 will not oblige TP to provide any compensation, only re-routing or date change.
Clearly you should get a refund, and it's shameful that you haven't received it. But the airline may well offer further support in terms of extending ticket validity and date changes.
I reckon you have to decide what you want: refund or a date change. As you have already initiated a refund, and have a DOT enforcement notice, it might not be easy to switch: but with TP's reluctance to handing back cash, anything is possible.
Reservation agents are generally not fully clued up with special conditions the airline has developed to handle Covid-related cancellations. If you speak with TAP you should be passed up to another level dealing with ticketing. But before you do this, be clear about what you want.