alanw

Had to cancel flights late 2021 due to Covid, business class flights on DL metal, AF ticket, booked through AF website, total of about 3400€. Called AF to cancel two days before departure. After several months waiting for a refund I contacted them, they claimed to know nothing about it, I was just a no-show as far as they were concerned, but they took the info and told me they would process a refund. Three months later, a credit showed up on my card for 80€. When I called to inquire they told me this was the only refundable portion of the ticket I bought (it was I class, so...no, and besides this was the middle of the pandemic and flights were fully refundable). Several calls more and I'm just told they consider the matter resolved and there is nothing to be done. At this point there is no alternative but a legal one I'm afraid.

I want to understand the best way to go about this. I bought the tickets on airfrance.es. Where should I file the lawsuit? In Spain, or France? Delta doesn't have anything to do with the matter, correct?

Thanks for any insight.

fifty_two

the airline who sold the ticket is the one you should aim at

In your case i would recommand to gather all written evidences and first reach the spanish equivalent of CFPB and/or spanish consumer groups for such matter , then your CC issuer if possible

Then if you really want to sue AF then i strongly recommend to double check all small details and discuss with a lawyer if all other options are not working

To avoid such issue, i was usually asking AFKL to generate vouchers instead of reimbursement , cause i knew chances of them going bankrupt was low , but same for the chances of ever seeing my money back to my account

guv1976

Can we assume that, since the flights in question were operated by Delta, this was for travel from, to, or through the United States? If so, I would file a complaint against AF with the U.S. Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over such matters. But be mindful of statute of limitations expiration dates in any jurisdiction where you might ultimately file suit.

DOT Air Consumer complaint form here:

https://secure.dot.gov/air-travel-complaint

But unless you have proof that you cancelled before flight departure, you might have an uphill battle. Did you ever receive an email confirmation of the cancellation?

FabCW

What proof do you have that you canceled the flight before departure? That seems to be the key element here.

olivedel

Agreed, there should be a trail somewhere, you should receive an email after your call proving that the reservation was cancelled.

maalloc

IIRC during Covid AF would not send confirmation emails when bookings were canceled, but when the request was processed (with the matching invoice).

I always found that a bit puzzling, fearing exactly this kind of mishaps.

alanw

There was a connecting flight on UA that I have the email for, never received anything from AF. I suppose I can find an old phone bill that proves I called them right before UA. But I'm not sure it matters...as I understand the flights were completely refundable in late 2021. Or is that not right?

EBiafore99

Are you sure the ticket was fully refundable? My understanding was that during the COVID period, flights were changeable with no fee and you could cancel your flight at any time and receive a credit (unless you purchased a full-fare refundable ticket).

irishguy28

Non-refundable flights were never completely refundable unless the airline themselves had cancelled the flight...but you could cancel any ticket and receive a voucher. That was why it was always advisable to refrain from pro-actively cancelling the ticket until the last minute (I ended up "cancelling" lots of tickets, but by waiting til close to the day of departure, in almost all cases, one or more of the flights in the ticket was eventually cancelled by the airline, thereby giving rise to the right to a cash/refundable voucher refund)

At best, you would have received a voucher with a (minimum) 12-month validity period. This may or may not have been "refundable" - though by late 2021, with a voluntary cancellation, I think it would have been a non-refundable voucher.

When you log into your Flying Blue account, and click on your "Vouchers", do you see any (expired) voucher which might be a possible match (date/price wise - clicking the "down arrow" on the right shows the date each voucher was actually issued. In most cases, this was *many months* after actually requesting the refund) for a "refund" of this ticket?

If it was an actual AF ticket, the voucher should have arrived by email with the subject line "THIS IS YOUR EMD RECEIPT" and sent from an @Pop3.amadeus.net (or similar) address.

(though, given that you received something back on your credit card, it sounds like maybe you rejected the offer of a voucher and insisted on having a cash refund - which therefore would have been per the fare rules of the ticket, and a mere refund of the government taxes, less a handling fee? Regardless, if you search your email using the PNR and/or ticket number, you should have some kind of an invoice for the "refund" that was processed to you)

brunos

This is an old story and you already posted in February 2023.
Missing refund, now they've sent me a bill.

Your flight was not refundable in cash.The practice then was to issue a voucher that you could use for another flight or get a refund.
These vouchers had a one year validity. Your original flight was in December 2021, so the voucher expired in December 2022. Apparently you took no action on this voucher which is now void.
The other possibility is that your ticket was never cancelled and that you were a no-show. I assume that you checked back in February 2023, but that was already too late.
Frankly, I do not see what you can do two years later.

irishguy28

Can you tell us if you received a voucher?

Did you go back and check?