Originally Posted by
catbox9
They did cancel well before 14 days before departure so I suppose EU 261 is a possibility although I have no clue how to go about that.
EDIT: Looking into this, I don't think I'm eligible. I took a refund on the cancelled flight and let them rebook the other leg (which wasn't technically cancelled, but I didn't want to fly to Svalbard and risk being stuck there...it was later cancelled, but not until I agreed to the date change).
Small claims court seems quite complicated, particularly as I live in the United States.
The hotel was a hard no on any sort of compensation as was the tour group. Attempted chargeback on AMEX platinum was also an epic fail (then again, I've never won a dispute with AMEX and wonder why I continue to use them).
If they cancel the flight more than 14 days before scheduled departure, then SK owes you nothing as they gave you a refund and rebook you on another flight.
BBB if not small claims court?
About the hotel and tours: you are not entitled to a refund, that is. However, a lot of them are willing to let you change the date to a later time (like someone booked a non-refundable rate for a hotel and couldn't use it), or turn it into a hotel credit or something.
CC dispute is not like if you think you have a case, you'd get your money back. The whole thing was caused by a strike - no insurance will pay anything. Trust me, I have tried. How can your CC pay you if every insurance company said no?
What you should have done was to arrange your own transport to Svalbard (I don't know if there is any airline that goes there) and get SAS to pay for that.