TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Still Hoping for a Refund of an Airline Cancelled Trip?

I heard this just a while ago and now there is a link. Hopefully the DOT holds the airlines to this.

DOT/ARILINE REFUNDS

Good deal!!! Glad to see it. The airlines should NOT be able to get away with this crap.

I had this discussion with JB once already but I guess I’ll give it another try. When we had our marathon discussions I cited DOT rules but to no avail. They wouldn’t budge. Wonder if this will make any difference. Probably not but the price of two tickets is more beneficial in my hands than in their travel bank.

As much as I would love to see it be different, JB is saying that a contract is a contract, and that they’re abiding by the terms of their Contract of Carriage. They may get away with that for international travel where their destination has been closed to incoming flights, claiming Force Majeure, but I doubt that it would apply to domestic travel unless the government tells them that they can’t fly.

As ever, I am not a lawyer.

Nope, doesn't matter what they say their contract is. DOT regulations prevail. And oh, do you folks want a portion of the federal bailout money???

Carol, my hope is that you are 100% correct.

Just got off the phone with JetBlue. Full refund with no hassle. Our original ticket was non-refundable.

Good.👍

So I called JB, AGAIN tonight, and was lucky enough to speak to a sympathetic CSR (after 45 minutes on hold) who listened to my tale of woe. At first she wasn’t too inclined to try to help but when I read her the excerpt from the DOT item that ruralcarrier was kind enough to supply, she put me on hold to speak with a supervisor and look at all the notes in my file, and eventually she came back on the line and said it was all taken care of and I would be getting the refund in full for both tickets along with an extension on the expiration date of the money from our travel banks.

I will always maintain it pays to keep your cool and be nice to these people even if sometimes you feel like choking them. You catch more flies with honey.......... and all that good stuff.

Good deal for those who are (hopefully) getting refunds.

pat, I thought of you as soon as I heard this yesterday. Glad it helped in your process as I know you had about given up. Kindness and polite persistence often (not always) goes a long way.

Pat, I'm so glad to hear your issue with JB has been resolved in your favor. You're right and one of my motto's as well, you catch more with honey instead of vinegar. I hope you and John stay safe and healthy.

Great news Pat, it just stinks you have to fight so hard for companies to do the right thing.

chelea and Pat--Good deal!!! So glad that Jet Blue finally did the right thing. Our trip is scheduled for May into June. As of now, I guess the airport will still be closed by our scheduled flight down, but perhaps will reopen before our scheduled flight back?? What happens then, I wonder? Can't worry about it, I guess.

Thank you all for the good wishes and thanks to chelea and ruralcarrier for giving me the impetus to make one more attempt with Jet Blue.

Have you checked with AA, assuming that’s who you’re ticketed on, to see what they’re saying about your flight status? Being able to fly home doesn’t do much good if you can’t get there in the first place.

You guys are lucky I Purchased a flight to Athen Greece for April 1 in January before the virus went crazy I have spent many ,many hours on hold only to be cut off called there number , call doesn’t go through or they have block my call . I was to be on a tour starting on April second got a notice on March 15 I received a email flight was change to leave Boston on April 4th ,I reply to notice that was no good . The flight LX53 has not left Boston since march14 , can’t talk to anyone at airline or travel agency responded to email to get my money back ( $2510.00 ) seeing how they cancelled the flight on March 23 ,received message that they got my reply and someone would call very soon Nothing . Hard to plead a case when no when will talk . I know these are very unusual times and I do feel for them but it would be nice to be treated correctly. Anyone have an idea ?

What airline?

pat--I have not tried to call AA, since we are not due to fly until the end of May. If you look online, both flights are still there, but that means nothing. I'm going to just let it go for a while yet.

Dick--If you haven't called since the DOT announcement yesterday, I would try again.

Spirit cancelled my flight without telling me for May but I made them give me a refund. They kept wanting to issue vouchers and extra money on the voucher, but I don't want to be tied to a 6 month date.

Same here. My AA flight into SXM is May 8 and flight out is May 28. I know it will be cancelled but going to wait til they do it. I paid for flight in but used miles for return.

Definitely wait until the airline cancels the flight. It's a bit like playing chicken to see who blinks first. In my case, they sent an email 2 days before the flight was scheduled to depart even though it showed as canceled on their website for the past couple weeks.

Swiss air over to Athens and return on air canada it was booked with Swiss air . They sent me a notice to get my boarding pass the day of the trip

So those are both out of the US DOT mandate.

Was flying in on May 2 on Spirit. All canceled but only Spirit. Refit. O problems , except long wait to get into Spirit agent. Would rather have refund but will take credit because want to get back to SXM ASAP.

Bob--Spirit is a US airline, and subject to DOT regulations. They have to give you your money back if you want it.

Swiss air

I would recommend that you read this page:

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm

HERE is another discussion of this subject.