warakorn

Again LX is breaking EC261/2004 (which applies in Switzerland) that a rebooking must be free of charge.
Shame on you LX!

rosenkavalier

In this case, I don't quite understand the point of a chargeback...(this is the first time I have ever sent in a chargeback request)
If the merchant outright refuses to refund for a service not provided, why would they agree to it with a chargeback? They would obviously deny the chargeback as well and thus negating the whole point of it...no? or am I not understanding something?!
I thought the chargeback would be the credit card issuer reviewing the case and approving the chargeback request if they feel its justified/covered by law and the merchant has no more option to refuse. This would be at least a real consumer protection, and that's what the credit cards charge with their annual fees and interest on late payments. Again, excuse me if I am dumb and not getting something...

ExpatSomchai

I also have one with an OTA for a Swiss flight. Amex says no response we can transfer the money back to you but if the OTA subsequently appeals then it could be reversed. Yep.......................Go figure

warakorn

This confusion arises because your bank is not properly explaining the chargeback process.

A. A merchant (Swiss via its acquirer bank) is presenting a charge to you (via your issuing bank);
B. You (the cardholder) are requesting a chargeback through your issueing bank;
C. The issueing bank is receiving the money from the acquirer bank;

So far so good! Usually there is no step D., because a shaddy merchant won't attempt to continue from this point on. Unfortunately, Swiss is trying everything (illegal) to hold on to their cash, so Swiss is not giving up and is continueing.

D. The merchant does not agree with the chargeback and is "representing" the charge to you again; Basically your card is charged again; Hence, the issueing bank is debiting your credit card account again; This step D process is called representment.

If you as a cardholder want to dispute this representment, your card issuer is facing lots of paperwork. Hence, by default the card issuer is trying to dissuade you from continueing from here to step E.;

E. You are requesting a chargeback of the representment; This is what you need to instruct your bank to do;

F.->G.->H. describes the disputes process by the credit card provider (Visa, MC, Amex);

rosenkavalier

oh! thanks for the step-by-step explanation... lets just hope it doesn't get that far!!!

aflo

On a positive note: I have checked 2 weeks after my cancelled flight with Swiss and ebookers has refunded me the amout on my credit card. Luckily I have booked with a reliable OTA and not with Swiss directly.

SK AAR

This is a bit surprising. In reality this means that ebookers didn't pay to Swiss yet (prior to the cancellation) as otherwise ebookers would refuse to refund/not be in position to refund the traveller. I doubt ebookers will accept Swiss delaying refunds but still refunding the customer (then it would be a matter a time before such OTA had no cash left).

moebod

I also called ebookers on 2 bookings. they said, no problem, we are allowed to refund swiss bookings, weird... didnt get the money yet, but seems they can refund

Spazybugs

My travel agent has said the same thing. They can get a refund but still nothing into my account yet. I assume Swiss is still not paying out. Annoying this is I have already flown one of the flights and I had cancelled the flight based on them saying i could. No idea what I'll get back if anything..

warakorn

Maybe some Travel Agents have not noticed that all Lufthansa Group Airlines have blocked the native refund feature in the GDS.

moebod

Any reason not to do a betreibung? The case is clear. They have to pay back.

DrSE

SWISS CORE CUSTOMER CARE (HON) Called me today.
After 4 Weeks I asked on Tuesday when they are going to refund my ticket 4000 CHF to NRT.

Today the representative told me she reached to accounting and they refunded it, should be back on my Card tomorrow. Just a data point. Might be a HON Circle "Extrawurst"

Happy

Right. I dont believe any travel agency could actually process a refund because LH groups have blocked every ability to request refund thru the GDS system. LX was instructing OTAs to send an email request instead. Needless to say there is no response whatsoever on email request sent by the OTA.
The only way an OTA can refund the customers would be the OTA has not paid the airlines yet - i.e. the funds are held in a collateral type account until trips are made.

oliver2002

All LH Group carriers are asking TAs to queue refunds via the BSP link: https://www.iata.org/en/services/finance/bsp/bsplink/

The refund option normally used by TAs the regular BSP.

Happy

I gave Chase Ultimate Reward chat rep the above info. The Philippines based chat rep affirmed our tickets are eligible for full refund but she has to process the request by sending everything to the "ticketing dept" ... unlike the prev chat rep a few weeks ago went into the travel agent system to actually try to refund it but "the system would not let me"...
I found out EU affirms the EU261, so officially not caving in to the demand from Germany and the subsequent 12 countries asking to bend the rules...
Will file EU261 on LX site if I could find that page, even though it might not be of any help...

Anyone knows the link to the EU261 page on LX site? Thanks if someone can post it.