? on cancelled flight and refund

Old Jul 27, 2020, 12:25 pm
  #1  
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? on cancelled flight and refund

HI,
I booked a Delta flight JFK to ZRH and was schedule to fly in September using 50K Business class award with VS. They cancelled the flight. I thought it would be as simple as depositing the miles back into my account. For what I can gather it seems I have an open ticket to fly with them until 2022 and looks like it says I can book the same class of service. Anyone know how this works? So, even in the future when I decide to take that trip I don't need to find 50K awards open to rebook? Sorry, a bit confused. Thanks.
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Old Jul 27, 2020, 1:06 pm
  #2  
 
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Here's what I think, not what I KNOW. Your original confirmation number should show 50K miles available for a new flight on VS' website. What did you pay in cash as a surcharge? How was that handled after the cancellation? When you're ready to rebook, you should be able to make a new res using your confirmation number. Not sure if you'd need to call Virgin or if instructions will be available online when you enter that confirmation number. I've just done this with United and with Delta, and it was very easy, did it all online. If you want to book a flight that requires more than 50K miles, you'd have to come up with the additional miles at that time. You might want to wait about a month, then ask Virgin to put those 50K miles back into your Flying Club account. Use a chat if it's available ... much easier to explain yourself and you have a record of your request and their response. If you encounter a chat agent who doesn't get it, politely end the conversation and try again in a few days. Personally, I have no problem with future credits, but the solvency of the travel provider is always a concern, and will be a concern for several years I think.
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Old Jul 27, 2020, 1:07 pm
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And yes, when you're ready to rebook, you'll have to find availability, just like always.
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Old Jul 27, 2020, 1:24 pm
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Basically instead of having miles in your Flying Club account and money back in your bank account, you have a vague 50k miles and a $ amount to spend on award flights via Flying Club requiring the same award space as always.

You do NOT under any circumstances have an open ticket JFK to ZRH for whenever is convenient.
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Old Jul 27, 2020, 2:57 pm
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However, you are entitled to a refund of your ticket, including miles back to your VS account and cash paid in taxes and carrier surcharges refunded to your credit card. The carrier has 7 days from the day you request the refund to initiate the two refunds.

If you have not heard back on the 8th day, you may file a credit card chargeback for the cash components and a DOT complaint as to both the cash and miles. So long as properly documented, you should see your cash refunded in short order. Make certain to do everything in writing and to include with your chargeback & DOT complaint:
1. Reference to the DOT rule in 14 C.F.R.
2. Copy of your e-ticket receipt.
3. Copy of cancellation notice.
4. Copy of your request for a refund.
5, Response denying the refund or note that there was no response.

Unless you believe in interest free loans, there is no benefit to leaving, particularly your cash, with anybody other than your own financial advisor.
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Old Jul 27, 2020, 3:45 pm
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Is any airline actually meeting the 7 days? Nope. Is any regulator punishing airlines for failing? Nope.

The US DoT is toothless. It took them 5 weeks to even respond to my complaint about AA and that was a 'we are now looking at it' response. In the meantime AA had refunded me well before the DoT contacted them.

It's taking credit card providers weeks and weeks to even start looking at chargebacks as well. Again it took mine over a month to even take a first look into it nevermind sending it to the airline (Finnair) in which time they had actually paid me back my cash.
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Old Jul 27, 2020, 4:16 pm
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I would not generalize the poor experience in the UK with the US.

US card issuers are typically issuing temporary credits within 1-2 business days and then a permanent credit within 7-10 days so long as the chargeback is accompanied by the proper documentation which demonstrates an entitlement. The merchant acquiring banks simply are not fooling around any longer and they hold most of the cards, not the carriers.

Similarly, DOT complaints are typically acknowledged in 2-3 days and forwarded to the carrier for response shortly thereafter.

Far from toothless, the benefit is that US customers find that the DOT complaint is referred to a more senior compliance person and that expedites anything which may be left should there be a chargeback issue.

Amex, Chase, and Citi are good examples of
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Old Jul 27, 2020, 5:02 pm
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Thanks to all for the information. The tax was nothing at $5.60 but i rather see points back into my account. Especially if this open end ticket expires by 2022.
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Old Sep 9, 2020, 11:43 am
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Hello all,

I am a bit confused and lost about what my options and rights at this point. My family had flights booked from SFO to London back on 7/14 and return on 8/2. Because of Covid, we inquired about our options and were told we should switch to open tickets. Our tickets were business class but "non-refundable." I remember the agent told us because we bought non-refundable tickets, there was no way we could get a refund so we should choose the open ticket option. I don't even recall if they had told me how long the open ticket will last and it is not clear that if our flight on 7/14 even operated. If the flight on 7/14 was cancelled, aren't we entitled to a refund? I do not see my family will be traveling to UK anytime soon, definitely not within the next 1-2 years because our son has a medical condition that is autoimmune which we were told it also puts him at greater risk (and we cannot afford to quarantine for 14 days in UK!). I have texted Virgin Atlantic and am waiting for a response. I would like to know if anyone has had any idea what our rights are. If they insist on no refund, can we at least ask for an open ticket that does not have time restriction? Thank you!
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Old Sep 9, 2020, 12:21 pm
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Unfortunately, you are stuck with the consequences of having cancelled your reservations -- but, not tickets -- before VS cancelled its flight (if it did). If you provide your flight number on 7/14, there are people who can look it up for you and let you know whether it did operate. But, to be frank, that won't make any real difference.

The bottom line is that if the carrier, VS in this case, cancels your flight, you are entitled to a full refund of the ticket to your original form of payment. But, once you cancel your reservation, what VS does after the fact does not help you.

Thus, the best advice is to wait until either the flight is cancelled or it is just about flight time (remember flights are cancelled or substantially delayed for reasons other than Covid). If by a few hours prior to flight time on 7/14, your flight was not cancelled, I would then have taken the "open ticket" option.

Now that you have what amounts to a credit against future use. The time to ask for an extension is when it is closer to the current expiration date. Nobody knows whether quarantine will be required or perhaps whether there will be an effective treatment or vaccine or some combination. At that point, a competent physician can write a letter for you which you might use with VS to obtain an extension . But, no matter how good a physician, nobody can predict the future, so best wait until close to expiation. When is that?
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Old Sep 9, 2020, 12:27 pm
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Originally Posted by Often1
Unfortunately, you are stuck with the consequences of having cancelled your reservations -- but, not tickets -- before VS cancelled its flight (if it did). If you provide your flight number on 7/14, there are people who can look it up for you and let you know whether it did operate. But, to be frank, that won't make any real difference.

The bottom line is that if the carrier, VS in this case, cancels your flight, you are entitled to a full refund of the ticket to your original form of payment. But, once you cancel your reservation, what VS does after the fact does not help you.

Thus, the best advice is to wait until either the flight is cancelled or it is just about flight time (remember flights are cancelled or substantially delayed for reasons other than Covid). If by a few hours prior to flight time on 7/14, your flight was not cancelled, I would then have taken the "open ticket" option.

Now that you have what amounts to a credit against future use. The time to ask for an extension is when it is closer to the current expiration date. Nobody knows whether quarantine will be required or perhaps whether there will be an effective treatment or vaccine or some combination. At that point, a competent physician can write a letter for you which you might use with VS to obtain an extension . But, no matter how good a physician, nobody can predict the future, so best wait until close to expiation. When is that?
Thank you for your response. At this point I pretty much expect that we are stuck with the credit. I just hope that they will be flexible in terms of when we could possible rebook. Looking at VA's site, it says after 12/1/2020, they will make you pay the fare difference even though there is no change fee and they are letting people rebook til 9/2022. I really hope we will be able to travel before then. The vaccine situation does not look exactly very promising and we don't think there will be one that is effective and safe for a while. Hopefully they will still extend the rebooking period if we cannot travel by 9/2022.
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Old Sep 9, 2020, 1:18 pm
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I would not worry too much about the vaccine vs. treatment vs. quarantine equation. That will all be speculative. Just focus on the dates. In the summer of 2022, if you are still in the same position, that is when I would start the process of getting a comprehensive letter from your doc and see what that brings you at that time.
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