Ok, the title is a little bit too much, but i promise the rest is drama-free. Would greatly appreciate any opinions regarding the way i dealt with the situation or suggestions for what to do next.

A couple of weeks ago, i booked a round trip ticket to Boston and a few days before departure, i had to change the return leg to get back home a couple of days earlier. So i called the CP desk, asked for the change and how much it would cost me. The initial price of the ticket was around $250.

The CP desk agent told me that there was no price difference, but i had to pay the $150 change fee. I agreed, gave my cc info and got the new ticket.

A few days later, i show up to the airport around an hour before departure. I hold a copy of my new itinerary that shows the price of the ticket and i try to self-check in. No luck!! I have to see a US agent instead. Fine!! I wait for about 15 mins in the line and when it's my turn, i just explain the situation. The agent tries to check me in unsuccessfully and then gets on the phone, with Reservations i guess.

I am about 35 minutes before my flight departs, when she informs me that the system would not allow me to check in because the CP Desk agent that changed my ticket made a mistake and there was an amount of $108 due (notice that the total change cost climbs to $258 and at the time there were one-way flights for my return priced at $100..)

I have no time to argue, bc i am about to miss my flight, so i give my cc and pay the additional amount. At the same time, I tell the US agent that i changed the ticket through the CP Desk and that i think that i am not responsible for any mistake that is mine. She was very apologetic and advised me to send an e-mail to the Chairman's Desk.

After i return from Boston, i sent an e-mail to the CP Desk, that was forwarded to Refunds, explaining the situation and asking for a refund of the $108 (the amount is negligible compared to what i spend on USair for airfare, but i really felt that what they did was not right).

My arguments are:

• The mistake was not mine, therefore i shouldn't be charged for it. When i changed my ticket, i entered in a contract with USair which agreed to provide a certain service for a specific fee. USairways has no right to change this agreement at will.
  
• If i knew that the change price would have been so high, i might have chosen a different carrier or an alternative solution to accommodate my new travel plans. Waiting until the last moment to inform me about the price increase, limits my range of choices, as other tickets had already sky-rocketed. I would be more inclined to accept and understand the mistake, if they had just called or e-mailed me after they found out the mistake, instead of freezing my ticket and waiting to tell me at the airport.
  
• I find the practice of freezing the ticket totally unethical. It feels like being blackmailed and most importantly for a mistake that is not yours!!

The Refunds department replied that i am not eligible for a refund, because the change was voluntary!! I think they hardly read my message..

What would you do? I would really want to go after this, mainly because i think that is bad practice on behalf of USair, the way they handled it was totally disrespectful to a loyal customer!!

This is more of a Customer Relations issue than a Refunds department issue. I would write, email or fax them and state exactly what you did. Your agreement at the time you changed the reservation was $150. To attempt to collect additional charges upon checkin is not acceptable. I bet you'll get your money back.

After re-reading your points twice, it's apparent what your underlying concern is. But, the harried CSR's who handle this stuff, don't have that time. I would send a very short and succinct email which says:

1. On [DATE], I booked ticket # from XXX-BOS-XXX for $250.00
2. On [DATE], I called the Chairman's Desk to change the second segment. I was quoted a $0 fare difference and a change fee of $150 which I paid.
3. When I arrived at XXX, I was told that US Airways had made an error and that $108 was due and owing.
4. Had the Chairman's desk told me that the total cost was $258, which exceeded the total cost of the ticket, I would not have made the change.

You should refund me the $108 because it was a US Airways error.

Now, this is unlikely to work. You are then stuck with one serious option, a complaint to DOT. Unfortunately, it won't likely result in a refund, but it will go into the hopper for action if there are enough other consumers complaining about the same thing.

And failing any meaningful response (and refund) from US after several good faith attempts, there's always the credit card dispute route.

Agree with Often1 on revised e-mail; and with Mykle regarding where complaint might best be directed. Because, from at least this customer's perspective, you are doing them a favor in giving them an opportunity to sort this out. You are right: the amount of money here is not the big issue (easy for me to say--it's your money ). It's the rare case where the principle matters, which could turn into bigger money. If the airline's desire to maintain a "we can do what we want whenever we want because we set the rules" policy trumps their willingness to examine a set of logical facts well documented by a good customer, then how much longer are they likely to have good customers?

Agree with prior advice as well. This needs to be persued and rectified to the benefit of the OP. Amount makes no difference...what if it was $608 more? Same answer.

My experience in Customer Service Industry, and from when things similar to this has happened to me is, if the company in this case being USairways makes the mistake, then you just eat the difference. I would be shocked if after one or two emails they either don't refund the $108 or give you a $108 credit of some sorts. Especially being a CP. Nothing would be worse than to lose a customer whos spends 10's of thousands of dollars over $108 when one of our people made a mistake.

Credit card dispute won't work and can hurt downstream. What US did is poor CS, but it's not wrong under the t&c. They are entitled to collect the fare difference and you could have cancelled at the airport and not flown. In a chargeback, you will lose. Put simply, poor CS doesn't translate into a legal right to a refund of the $108.

Worse is that there are other threads here about individuals who have sought baseless chargebacks, running into problems with the CC issuer. Chargeback investigations are costly and time-consuming to the issuer and they'd rather lose a customer who puts them through too many of them.

Save the chargebacks for something really big or where you have a right to the credit.

Thank you all for your replies!! ^

I just sent the following message:

Dear Sir/Madam,

On 09/28/2011, I booked ticket *** from ***-BOS-*** for $263.80. A few days before departure, I called the Chairman's Desk to change the second segment. I was quoted a $0 fare difference and a change fee of $150, which I paid. When I arrived at ***, I was told that US Airways had made an error and that $108 was due and owing. Had the Chairman's desk told me that the total cost was $258, which exceeded the total cost of the ticket, I would not have made the change.

I believe that you should refund me the $108, because it was a US Airways error. Furthermore, i hope that if a similar case arises in the future (when a mistake is made), you would let me know in advance and provide me some options, instead of letting me to find out about the mistake at the airport and just before i check in. Thank you in advance.


I hope they do the right thing!!

Good. Please follow up when it is resolved so we know.

I will certainly do so!!

Going on what ArizonaGuy posted earlier, I would actually put the charge in dispute now. Your cc companywill have to notify US, and that might make them wake up a little sooner.

Do not do this. Read my earlier post about the risks of baseless chargeback attempts.

Yes, try to resolve it with US first, but they're still in the wrong and if they won't budge I'd do the chargeback. It's true he owes the difference in fare, but he paid the quoted difference in fare when he paid the change fee. It's not his fault US changed its mind about what the difference in fare is. The fact that the change in fare + change fee exceeded the cost of a new ticket is evidence that he didn't agree to the extra $108 up front.

It's simple -- they quoted a price for changing the ticket and he paid it. Requiring additional payment is breaking that contract. Their ability to play the "mistake" card is limited in that it's not an obvious off-by-10x error, and an actual human looked at it and approved it.

I agree with your logic as written. However, I think the OP would have more of an argument if he contested the earlier $150 change fee -- US charged him to change his flight, and then did not change it. Hence, the service he paid for (change of flight) was not delivered.

That being said, US' response sounds like a form response -- I would be very surprised if this was not corrected in response to the second email.