hiima

But they never fight it because they know they did wrong or it didn't process correctly. It's not like you actually flew the ticket and tried to scam them out of money.

JY1024

Glad it worked out!

Always cool to see how the collective experience of the forum can yield immediate results. ^ Personally, I take the approach that Often1 mentioned; I will make a good faith effort with the vendor myself, but if I don't get immediate resolution by the second phone call or a "reasonable period" (5-10 business days), then I just file a chargeback for the credit card company to resolve. (I usually provide all the details of my actions to date to the credit card company so that they know that I did try to resolve directly with the vendor.)

JDiver

Retitled for clarity, searchability and future use.

/Moderator.

Often1

Don't forget that the CC issuer can deal with the true fraud quite easily. If, for instance, AA had forwarded paperwork to show that OP had flown the ticket and was not due the credit, AA would reverse the temporary credit and likely shut down the CC account.

For slow refunds, the dispute is great because the vendor (air carrier in this case) simply won't respond as it knows it owes the money and the temporary credit simply becomes permanent.

MSPeconomist

I thought the standard advice was to avoid credit card disputes involving airline tickets that have yet to be flown.

ricktoronto

I'm a year into a no refund of taxes but also no charge for reinstatement either and the latter is double the former. No complaints here. And yes, the points were reinstated.

ryan182

I'd guess that after a year that refund is not likely forthcoming but sounds like you got the better end of the deal.

Exec_Plat

He is disputing the charge on the ticket that was refunded...not the second ticket which he will fly

On how this happened... the AA agent needs to make sure the tax is properly credited. I just did a bunch of cancellations, and the agent took note of the charge BEFORE she proceeded...each time the system failed to 'capture' the tax. She had to manually enter the tax again. She was burned before...each of the 3 cancels needed this intervention.

Often1

+1 - Never dispute anything relating to an unflown ticket. You will simply create an add/collect to be paid at the departure airport (at best). At worst, the carrier will simply cancel the ticket.

FCRA gives you 60 days from the date of service or purchase, whichever is later, so there is no reason to dispute until the date you are to fly (other than that you are carrying a balance).

abk

I agree completely with waiting.

iadisgreat

I myself am confused about the advice to chargeback given that AA is working on the refund - it's not like they said they would never refund his money. All you are doing is potentially endangering a relationship for something that is not yet a true problem.

Exec_Plat

BA mssedup a charge on an award ticket I made with them for a QF F award between US and SYD... Its US$50. It was 11 months before travel. Aftyer a few months of getting jerked around by BA customner non service, I gave up. I just couldnt risk BA canceling the ticket, and given low status with BA, the odds of fixing would be zero.


"working on the refund"????
Check is in the mail... I promise...

Why do people think there is a "relationship"?

Maybe the advice is 'know when you lose the right to contest a charge; give AA up to that time limit (minus a few days); contest the charge when they fail to act.

If AA says 'refunds are wroking on it' but weeks and months go by with no actions, is it reasonable to think "they" are acting in good faith? Or is it a broken system that does not deserve to be treated as you would an individual or other responsive organization?

Dave Noble

Saying that it will refund is not the same as actually refunding

If a company ( airline or otherwise ) does not refund within a timely manner, passing it to the credit card company is a perfectly reasonable thing to do

There is no good reason for refunds to take a long time

There is no "relationship" other than simply company / customer

All this does is put a time limit on how long to get the money back. The airline has to respond within a number of days if it believes the charge is valid otherwise the customer gets its money back.

Centurion

Getting a refund from AA can be very very difficult lately on certain ticket issues including canceling a refundable ticket in a fare class that falls into a fare bucket other than F or Y and a few others that are completely refundable . That is why a good credit card company is helpful. Amex was the best but as other posters have pointed out bank cards are often just as good now.

imapilotaz

I had similar same problem as OP, changing awards (adding legs or dropping legs) and had AA charge mr the new taxes but only refind 1 of 4 of the old fees per PNR. It got to over $700 i was floating to AA. I was successful through CR to have them call me, walk through the issues and acted as my advocate to fix the problem with refunds. 1 of 3 PNRs fixed immediately. I will check tomorrow but they say all the rest fixed this week.

I did talk with AMEX and they said they could chargeback but it would be risky as AA could then cancel the flights eventhough technically the new ticket numbers were paid it would still tie to PNR