In a situation like this I’d suggest the following 3 steps:

1. Call back to customer service and give them one more chance to make it right. You will probably have to escalate to multiple supervisors, refund dept, etc. The key is to find someone who not only understands the situation, but who is empowered and has the authority to make it right.

2. If that fails, I would contact Ed’s office. In addition to this situation being morally and financially incorrect, this is has the potential of being a bad PR issue for DL. Imagine the headlines of “DL plane catches fire, customers forced to buy new expensive walk-up fare to continue travel.” Trust me, some member of Ed’s team will make this right in order to have it go away.

3. Absolute last resort is to file a chargeback. This can be further complicated if it involves your employer and I would suggest letting them handle it, fully understanding there could be potential repercussions in the future. Also, card type seems to have an impact on success rates with Amex being more customer friendly and Visa (especially Chase) being more merchant friendly.

In my experience I’ve never had to go beyond step 1 with DL - it might take multiple calls and escalation attempts, but someone has always made it right. I had to utilize step 2 with another company a few years ago (Ring Security Systems) after a missing order piece caused the rest of a multi-thousand dollar order to be unusable and general customer service couldn’t assist. The CEO’s secretary made it right once I found out a valid email address, explained the issue politely, but also threatened a chargeback. Only ever had to utilize step 3 once during Covid madness when Ticketmaster ghosted me on a refund and all attempts to contact them failed. Amex had my back and promptly accepted a $700 chargeback and I won the case.

My long-winded point is: Don’t give up and don’t let it go, whether it’s your funds or your employer’s. But go through the proper channels and take it a step at a time.

Let us know how it works out!