After American Airlines downgrades Margarethe Hoenig on her flight from Dallas to Auckland, New Zealand, the airline promises her a partial refund. Then it says it can't. What's going on?
DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER: I bought two business class tickets through Chatdeal to fly from Dallas to Auckland on American Airlines. The airline downgraded us to economy plus and told us at the gate that we would automatically receive a refund from the airline for the price difference within seven days. We also received a $600 voucher from American for our inconvenience.
When we returned to the United States, I called American several times to inquire about our refund. Initially, a representative told us that we had to wait seven days after the completion of the whole flight. Then a representative said that they could not find our flight information because it was a codeshare flight with Qantas.
Finally, an American agent said that the airline wasn’t responsible for the refund because our tickets were on Qantas, and American was just the operating carrier from Dallas to Auckland.
I have contacted Qantas several times. I also contacted Chatdeal because I bought the tickets through them, but they have not been able to resolve the issue. So far, no one is willing to take responsibility for our refund. It is obvious that they are passing the buck. It’s been almost three months since our flight. Can you help?
— Margarethe Hoenig, Cave Creek, Arizona
ANSWER: American Airlines should have quickly refunded the difference between economy plus and business class.
The 16-hour flight from Dallas to Auckland is a slog in business class, but in “economy plus”? You couldn’t pay me enough to do it. And don’t get me wrong, I love Auckland, but getting there from the States is the worst part. So, let me be clear about this: Downgrading you to economy plus was a big deal.
The problem is that you booked a ticket through Qantas, and technically, the American Airlines portion was a codeshare flight. So, the American agent who promised you a refund was really speaking out of turn. You were not an American passenger; you belonged to Qantas.
It doesn’t matter, though. If an airline promises you a refund, then all the back-room codeshare arrangements it has do not matter. You should get your refund, which you calculated to be about $6,500.
Your case got confusing. Here’s what should have happened: You should have contacted your online travel agent (Chatdeal) and asked it to escalate this to Qantas. Instead, you believed the word of an American representative who promised you that they would refund your ticket.
And just to make things interesting, American issued a $600 voucher as an apology, which made it look like you had accepted a ticket credit instead of a refund for the downgrade.
By the way, I list the executive contacts for American and Qantas on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org. I think a brief, polite appeal to one of them might have gotten things moving along.
I reached out to Chatdeal on your behalf. A representative agreed to contact Qantas. A few weeks later, you contacted my advocacy team with an update.
“Just wanted to let you know that we did get the refund,” you said. “Many thanks for your help!”
Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him at elliottadvocacy.org/help/.
(c) 2024 Christopher Elliott
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