Suspended Flight Refund Issues
 

Has anyone else had issues getting a refund on a suspended flight? I was supposed to fly Asiana from Hanoi to Seoul next month. The route has been suspended until Match 28th (https://flyasiana.com/C/SG/EN/custom...02040001195274). That's fine because we changed our plans and are not going to Seoul due to COVID-19. I call and after more than 20 minutes on hold (I get it - lots of changes to be made right now) I'm told I have to call the Hanoi office of Asiana for a refund. Now I've received an email telling me the flight is cancelled but the link goes to a page in Korean. When I translate it, it still provides no info on getting a refund. Any advice? I'm on hold with them again now.

Where did you book the ticket? That's the only place that can "issue" the refund. Contact them first. If it was the Asiana website directly, you can cancel there.

If you can copy the Korean, I/someone can translate for you.

I am having issues getting a refund too.

I booked on Orbitz for a flight JFK-SGN March 1st with return in July. I was never informed that the route was suspended and was able to check in and receive boarding passes the day before. When I showed up to the airport they said the flight is suspended and they can cancel my itinerary. I re-booked on ANA to fly the same day.

I reached out to Orbitz and they said Asiana is not allowing refunds but only waivers for re-issuing the ticket to a later date. This would've been my first flight with Asiana but they are leaving a bad taste in my mouth for not even allowing a refund and not informing me prior to arriving at JFK that the flight was suspended.

Have you been rebooked or did you buy a new cash ticket?

I would reach out to the DOT and file a complaint against Asiana. As this flight touches the US, DOT has jurisdiction here.
Not providing a refund for a cancelled flight, is an absolute no-go!

I bought a new cash ticket for a different flight as they could not accommodate me at the airport. Thinking back it was strange as ANA is also a star alliance member.

​​​​​​​Im thinking this might be a good course of action. Thank you.

As it appears that you are based in the US and hopefully used a US-based credit card, simply initiate a chargeback for the value of the charge, noting that the flight was cancelled. Don't waste a second's additional time fighting with your TA, the carrier, or reporting to DOT. The chargeback seems fast and easy and would, of course, leave it to the carrier to prove that it did provide the service (which it can't).

A portion of our early April trip from JFK to SIN was suspended due to Covid-19. Called the hotline and after being on hold for 40 mins, was told that since the flight schedule had changed, we would be eligible for a full refund of the entire itinerary. We were going to postpone the trip anyway as we would have been travelling with elderly parents, so it made sense to request the refund and cancel the trip at this point. I was instructed to email their refund email address with the reservation number, passenger names and the reason for cancellation being a change in the flight schedule. The person I spoke to on the phone said that I should expect to hear back within a day or two. It has been 4 days so far with no response. I get that they are beyond busy dealing with this right now, but an auto response to confirm that they received the email would have been nice because I'm starting to wonder if I sent that information to the wrong email address. :(

Has anyone actually heard back from Asiana regarding refunds via email?

Edited to add that the tickets were purchased through the Asiana US website, but ran into a geneic something went wrong issue at the time which directed me to call their hotline. I ended up having to email them a credit card authorization form and photo ID before the tickers were issued. No auto-confirmation email when I sent that in either, so I'm thinking not hearing back until the email has been read and processed by Asiana is the norm.

Caylydith

Haven't had to deal with a cancellation with OZ yet but I've changed tickets a couple of times and they usually take a day or so get the email with the changed ticket from OZ. It sounds like they've gone into fraud protection mode and get very bureaucratic by checking credit card /IDs. If they're as backlogged as I think they are, it might take them a week and a half or so to process it. Since they needed the form originally a delay wouldn't surprise me either. I'd call them again on Monday if you haven't heard anything. Email might work but it's usually slower than the US carriers, also they've got the new chatbot (Aaron) but I haven't used it yet.

Unfortunately there are not a lot of data points here on flyertalk Asiana forum. However, there is a long thread on Tripadvisor forum on this topic of trying to get asiana to refund itineraries impacted by covid19 related cancellations: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...ir_Travel.html

Thanks for the info. I actually heard back around 5pm last night. The office I was told to email on the phone could not process the refund and they forwarded it along to the NY branch office for further processing. Just wasn't being patient enough when I posted here about it, I guess. Was just concerned that I had unwittingly emailed full names and the reservation number for an expensive itinerary to some unknown person. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I don't understand why more companies don't use a blanket auto-response system with their customer facing email addresses as a confirmation that they've received your email.

Thanks for the link. I was told to email the [email protected] address originally. Since my original post to this thread, they've CC'd me on a forwarded email to the NYC branch office email address posted on page 14 of the TripAdvisor thread that you linked regarding further processing of my refund. I don't have a TripAdvisor account, but I can post updates when I get more information if anyone is interested.

Calydith,

Glad things are moving along, sounds like the normal time line from OZ when things are set to the wrong place, at least they send things along to where it belongs. I'm a little surprised that they didn't send you an auto reply the next business day in Korea ( I usually get one about when they office opens there). The US offices seem to move a little faster than Korea as far as dealing with US flights.

Let us know how things are going.

Have a return flight from SYD to ICN mixed fare Y/C early April. I live in NZ and can't get to Sydney now. Called Asiana in Korea several times, always different info, on the weekend they said that I need to call Asiana in SYD as the ticket was paid in AUS $. Today I called Asiana second time in SYD and they finally agreed to refund the ticket, BUT it will take at least 6 weeks before I get the refund or even an email saying that my booking is cancelled. I just hope that they don't run out of cash or close the doors in the meantime....

I too am worried about them running out of money. Tomorrow will be 16 days since my original call to Asiana when they had me email them the details of the refund tickets as a formal request. Still no confirmation of my refund other than to forward my email to the NY office 12 days ago.