I had a group of 13 scheduled to fly on Emirates back in April. Two weeks prior to our trip one of our passengers had to cancel. Emirates informed me that we'd be receiving a refund less a $200 fee.

This was confirmed via an email on April 14th. Now it's 13+ weeks later and we still haven't received our refund ($1400+) despite numerous emails to our Emirates representative in Los Angeles.

They say "I did hear back from them. They are in process; unfortunately they have been a bit behind, so please excuse the delay."

Any advice?

Thanks

Something is wrong, it usually takes 3 weeks maximum.

I agree. I have had to cancel once and got the refund in a few weeks. Is there a small claims court or fair trading office where you live.
You can send a letter threatening to contact the authorities and it works most of the time.

I am sorry for the inconvenience. The error is partly my fault, as per the agreement refunds cannot be processed until after departure. I sent the request a bit late.

I just called accounting. They have had a few set backs recently which has caused delay for them.

I understand this is not justification for the delay, but I will work on having this resolved for you.


ANY THOUGHTS?

Sounds like you're not dealing with Emirates directly but rather with some sort of travel agent or consolidator who is causing the delays.

It's the LA office for Emirates

That is simply not on. what i recommend is call Emirates direct in Dubai (explain you are calling from LA and ask them to call you back) and speak with them.

I know you have probably done this - but did you actually fill out the refund request form online?

The reason I ask is that I had been wondering about a refund recently (I was travelling with a fellow FT'er on a CMB-DXB-MLE "deal of the century" mileage run).

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I couldnt take the trip but my buddy could.

I told him to cancel my portion. Which he did. That was the end of it (or so I thought).

I waited. And waited. And waited some more. I think I celebrated a wedding anniversary during the process.

So, I must have been bored one day - and in my boredom decided to call EK. The PNR had already been spat out and chewed up by the wheezing old EK IT system.

Thankfully, I stumbled across the ticket number. The helpful phone agent told me that I physically needed to complete a refund request online.

"Where would I find that then?" I politely enquired
"On the website" says the woman incredulously
"Yes, I realise that, but where?"
"Under "Contact Us""
"Because that makes so much sense", I mumbled under my breath
She persisted.
"Look, click under Help", says the frustrated woman
"Because that also makes a lot of sense".
I could feel a real bout of arm waving about to hit me. But I bit my tongue. And kicked the cat instead.
Yet there it was. Right in front of me.

There's a drop down menu here. See. Look.

You click on that.



Another more detailed online form appears (see below), you fill in all your details and hit submit and voila, your refund request shoots its way into the bowels of the cantankerous EK IT system in the middle of the desert.

Or something like that.



Amazingly, about 2-hours later, I actually receive an email from the EK office in CMB stating that they have acknowledged the request and I should expect to receive the money sometime before my 50th birthday. In approx 6-years time

Or something like this.

I have twice cancelled tickets, requesting refunds through the website. One was for a flight originating in DXB, the other in BAH. The credit appeared on my credit card within three weeks. On one I made a small profit due to the improved exchange rate between CAD and BHD.