That's the only one I've actually come across, but I am sure there are others. Over in the AC forum they are getting very worked up about vouchers vs refund, to the point where MPs have admitted that giving everyone a refund will result in airline bankruptcy. Personally, and I know this doesn't apply to everyone, I have no issue with a voucher, and would obviously love to have a voucher with bonus.

The HK bank offering my M/C credit card has advised me, despite the purchase being July 2019, and my application for chargeback in April, 2020, they have approved my request for a chargeback against Expedia due to "service not delivered" for my AA flight May 2020. I assume the chargeback amount is for full amount of ticket. If so, I have received full chargeback amount, 50% from travel insurance company, and a reply from Expedia that they will refund the ticket price in about 6 weeks, or more, time.

I will see how everything sorts out, and return to bank, travel insurance company, and/or Expedia net amount refunded, so that I received only full amount of ticket price, and not more. So ends this saga.

During this entire episode, I spent not one second or minute on the telephone with anyone -- not the bank, insurance company, AA, or Expedia. Everything done by letters or email. No frustration having to deal with Expedia personnel or supervisors.

I believe that the chargeback shows up as a temporary credit (90 days?) during which time Expedia has the right to dispute. Don't go spending the money yet!

I did book with expedia.co.uk, expedia.ie and expedia.com in the past and every single time the final amount was taken by the airline (while the expedia pending payment amount never went through and expired after a week or so). This was quite frustrating, but it simply wasn't possible to book the routing I wanted with the airline directly, so in the end I was fine with it. But I wonder, why in tangoll's case, the amount was taken by expedia..
And finally, to share my bit of a story: should have flown on BA metal back at the end of March from EU to US, obviously cancelled by airline. Ticketed by Iberia, bought on expedia.ie. Called right after cancellation, refund promised within (up to) 30 days, and also promise of "refund confirmation email". None of which came. Called again two weeks after, same promises yet again. Now it has been over 80 days and no money, no email. So, I am considering contacting the bank and filing a charge-back.

I'm not in airline business, so don't know how airlines do their accounting, but I'm guessing that airlines' accounting practice is to recognize ticket sales as revenue when a flight is booked, payment received, but flight is in the future. So when a flight is cancelled and airlines have to refund, the refund has to be recognized as an expense; so P+L looks good in the past, but refund bombs the P+L in the present.

Whereas if the ticket booking and payment is recorded as a Contingent Liability and the ticket sale is recognized as revenue upon when the flight is flown, then when a cancellation occurs and a refund has to be paid out, the refund is charged against the Contingent Liability, and is not an expense. Of course, cash flow has to be managed to ensure sufficient cash is available to pay the refund.

Does anyone know how ticket sales and refunds are accounted for in airlines' accounting practices?

To AA's credit, their Customer Relations just sent me a final message about this situation. Their email and my reply are copied here:

"Date: 9 June 2020 9:26:17 PM GMT+08:00To: <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: Your Response From American Airlines

Dear Ms XXXX, AA Customer Relations,

To show you the lying and deceptive behaviour of Expedia, when they tell you:

'a refund was processed for ticket #xxxx by your travel agency, Expedia...a full

ticket refund in the amount of $6,167.00 HKD was processed by Expedia on April 20.' (from your

email message below)

what that means is that Expedia requested from AA the refund on April 20, 2020 and that

AA refunded that amount to Expedia the next day, April 21 2021.

The Expedia wording is such to make you think that Expedia processed the refund to me on

April 20, but that is totally deceptive on Expedia's part.

Then later Expedia tells me that a refund from Expedia to me will take about 8 weeks, but could

be more due to current pandemic circumstance. Why does it take Expedia 8+ weeks to refund

the amount that Expedia has already received?

Don't you get it? Expedia lies and puts forth statements in such a way as to try to deceive.

To say that your "Refund Department was unable to locate any refund request on your (my)

behalf" is also untrue. I received the notice from AA of the cancellation of flight AA192 on

March 12 2020, and that the AA website would be updated on March 15, 2020 to reflect the

cancelled flight. AA did advise that a refund would be made through Expedia, but Expedia

lied and said that AA's policy was to offer only a travel voucher/credit in the amount of the

original ticket and that the itinerary must be the same as that of AA192, ie HKG/LAX.

Why can't AA get the facts correct? Expedia lied and lied about:

1. That I cancelled the reservation (AA cancelled the flight)

2. That AA's policy was to offer only a travel voucher/credit, and

3. That a refund was processed on April 20, 2020 (to make it seem that Expedia processed the refund to me)

AA needs to sort out its policy with Expedia to ensure that true and honest statements

are made about what AA offers and actions are.

I have solved all the issues regarding this odious situation with Expedia.

tangoll

On 9 Jun 2020, at 8:55 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:

June 9, 2020

Dear Mr. tangoll

The Department of Transportation Aviation Consumer Protection Division has forwarded your recent correspondence under case # DKxxxx. We have also received your additional correspondence sent directly to Customer Relations. On behalf of American Airlines, I appreciate another opportunity to respond to your concerns.

I would like to again, apologize for any difficulties or delay you have experienced obtaining a refund, Mr. tangoll. Our current policy does provide a refund option for non-refundable tickets when we have canceled a flight, or significantly adjusted a schedule.

Our records show American Airlines cancelled flight 192 from your reservation (XXX) on March 15, 2020. Our Refund Department was unable to locate any refund request on your behalf; however, records indicate a refund was processed for ticket xxxx by your travel agency, Expedia.

Due to your continued concern, I contacted Expedia and was advised that a full ticket refund in the amount of $6,167.00 HKD was processed by Expedia on April 20. This refund should have been processed back to the original form of payment.

Because Expedia processed the refund, it is necessary to refer you to Expedia for any additional information or assistance you may need regarding this refund. I hope this information is helpful and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Thank you again for allowing me the opportunity to assist you in this matter, Mr. tangoll. From all of us at American Airlines, we appreciate your business. We hope to see you onboard again soon.

My wish to you and your family...stay well.

Sincerely,

Ms XXXX

Customer Relations, American Airlines"

End of messages to/from AA.

I’m really not sure why you are complaining to AA about Expedia’s mistakes. What do you expect them to do?

Not clear?

"AA needs to sort out its policy with Expedia to ensure that true and honest statements

are made about what AA offers and actions are."

We are having a very similar issue as well -- Delta canceled our flight due to COVID and Expedia refuses to refund our tickets--However, they will give us a voucher to rebook with THEM ... BUT we have to purchase tickets at a higher price (that doesn't even make sense). We did contact Delta and they stated that Expedia is on the hook. ...And by federal law Expedia --as a booking agent (or any airline for that matter) when they cancel a flight needs to refund the cost of the flight. STAY AWAY FROM EXPEDIA THEY ARE A SCAM BOOK DIRECTLY THROUGH THE AIRLINE. In a nutshell, we booked directly through AirFrance and know if they cancel we won't need to deal with Expedia's bait and switch scam -- especially during a pandemic.

I successfully canceled one Expedia hotel reservation online (under my trips). I then wanted to cancel a second hotel reservation (for different dates), but the online virtual agent told me that I had already canceled that reservation even though I had not and it still appeared under my trips. Both of these reservations were able to be canceled without penalty, so that was not the issue. When I called the 877 number, the virtual agent there was able to cancel the second reservation, but only after much more effort on my part in typing in reservation or CC #, etc. In short, it was a hassle and will discourage me from booking with Expedia in the future.