Texas_Duck

Need another set of eyes (and a brain).

My wife and I had Delta flights (using AF equipment) to France last Spring. Covid cancelled and we modified reservations to October 1 (Business Class). Air France cancelled our October flight from Houston to Paris -- and Delta, I guess, modified our reservation to a day earlier. We called Delta and told them not interested and they said we were eligible for credit back to AMEX. That was July 13. I have called Delta a handful of times -- as of October 26 still no AMEX credit. They always put me on hold and then maintain they have processed refunds through July 10 - which they have repeated that date now for about a month. Still waiting longer than 90 days.

So, question remains, do I just keeping calling Delta or should I go to DOT. I have no experience with DOT -- don't know how to complain much less expected experience. Almost $8k in tickets so would like my money.

Thanks for suggestions!

Often1

You can certainly file a complaint with DOT, but that is secondary to a credit card chargeback with Amex.

You should do that immediately, if not sooner, as deadlines run and it becomes more and more difficult to get it done (although you really do have 60 days from the first statement after the flight was cancelled). For your chargeback, make certain that you include:
1. E-ticket receipt.
2. Notice of cancellation/change from DL/AF
3. Your request for a refund (be certain to use the term "refund" not "credit"
4. Response from DL that you are due a refund

With that backup paperwork, your chargeback ought to be fairly quick and simple.

You can send the same to DOT, but all that does is require DL to respond to you (with a copy to DOT)..

ATOBTTR

Delta is taking an extensive time to do refunds. I had a ticket to travel to Europe in late August. I canceled it in early June. I received the refund in late September. I would hope you get the situation resolve soon, since the difference in timelines between when you requested and when I requested would hopefully mean your refund should be getting processed in the near future.

UKtravelbear

Call up Amex and ask them to look in their system for the redund. Sometimes refunds lose the connection to the original payment out so they can't automatically match it to your account.

If they can't find it then invoke the chargeback mechanism

Nothing stops you also lodging a complaint with the DoT though can can take some time to resolve as well.

Often1

If you do a chargeback, please be certain to do it in writing (online is fine) and to include (upload is fine) the backup documents.

The vast majority of chargebacks are delayed or go wrong because they are not properly documented and that leaves things to chance.

bitterproffit

Just so you know, I filed with DOT about a slow refund with SingaporeAir that took 2 months. The initial response from the DOT telling me they forwarded my complaint to the right department for investigation took 3.5 months. I got my money way before I got a response from DOT. File it, but don’t expect a quick response.

Often1

DOT does not bring individual complaints. All it does is forward your complaint to the carrier and require the carrier to respond to the passenger with a copy to DOT. This may ultimately help, but it far from the speedy way to proceed.

The two are not mutually exclusive so go ahead and do both. But, don't omit the chargeback.

GagaPilot

It sounds to me like the hangup here is that the original ticket was modified from the Spring to October 1st in a way that is not allowing a normal agent to manually process the refund. My guess is the ticket was exchanged or re-issued for the October one, using the Spring one as payment (even exchange). My experience has been that for standard tickets (simply paid for via CC, and not the product of a previously Covid cancelled trip) can be immediately manually refunded by a regular agent. Anything using a prior credit or ticket gets sent to the black hole of the refund department.

seawolf

Just as a data point. Delta loaded schedule changes for December on OCT 25. I iMessaged DL same day asking for refund (4 tickets @ $250 each). All 4 refunds posted to back to my Chase VISA this morning.