Booked in January for flight in July. They have changed the time of this flight multiple times I guess due to COVID. It's now two hours earlier than my original booked time. Want to cancel for refund as I cannot take a two hour earlier flight. There are no other booking options as this route is only one fight twice a week.

They keep emailing me asking me to "sign" my name for agree to and acknowledge the change (not doing this). I want to cancel with refund. I tried calling but I cant get anybody on phone, says call lines are exceeded (can't even wait on hold). If i cancel online it will try to apply travel credit which I don't want.

Any ideas how to handle? Should I cancel then do CC chargeback? That's annoying and I would like to try an easier way to do this. Thanks in advance.

You are in a gray area. DoT Regulations require them to refund to your original form of payment if the flight is cancelled (a flight number change would indicate cancellation of the original flight and the initiation of a new flight) or a significant change in time. Whether 2 hours is significant is ambiguous. I think for example 2 hours on a cross country flight might not qualify but a 2 hour change on a short flight might. I don't know if it will help but I'd contact them in writing listing the multiple changes in time and if applicable cancelled flight number(s) (maybe via social media like twitter), remind them of the DoT rules and specifically request a refund in your original form of payment. If they decline you can try a Credit Card Dispute and file a DoT complaint. Fortunately you have some time before the flight.

Good Luck and let us know what happens.

I can't get through to them on the phone. Willing to wait on hold for a few hours but they don't allow that. I am stuck having to cancel online then do a CC dispute. I wrote to them on Twitter. No response.

Try contacting them through Twitter

Include in CC dispute and DOT complaint that their phones are so overwhelmed you could not even get through to a human. Point is you did all that you could etc....

100% guarantee they will not refund for a 2 hour change. They categorized my 6 hour change as not significant.
File a chargeback and DOT complaint. You will have your money in 30 days.

https://www.flyertalk.com/articles/c...-policies.html

Why am I not surprised. I disputed with CC. They issued temp credit. DOT complaint filed. Took DOT forever to assign the case and somebody from Frontier did reach out to me saying they were "working on it" and would give me a response in 30 days. No answer so far.

I will be surprised if F9 refunds. Even AA is now at 4 hours for "significant" change and that is what triggers a refund under the DOT rule and a chargeback. The card issuer will only issue a permanent credit if the merchant acquirer is willing to pay or the card holder is a very, very, very good customer (meaning that the card issuer eats the refund).

If F9 won't refund, OP will need to sue F9 on the grounds that the change was "significant" despite F9's policy.

I win these arguments often

1) Ask airline the checkin or boarding cutoff
2) Ask if you show up 20 minutes late, will they wait for you? So, does that mean 20 minutes is SIGNIFICANT?
3) Now mention your schedule change and let them argue that 2 hours isn't significant.

They refused to refund me for a flight that changed 9.5 hours later from a 1pm to a 1030pm departure. Would only refund if it changed to depart a day early or arrive a day later. Of course the flight time was changed to arrive at 23:59 and had a 40 minute delay on top of that.
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I advised then I have a screenshot showing 3 hours was their policy and explained how they took the FAQ down recently but it was archived. They came back almost immediately and said the March policy onward was that the # of hours is no longer significant just arrival or departure day.

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