Cancellation Policy Spirit Due to Death in Family
Question: My son purchased a ticket for a December 24 trip to Argentina on LAN Airlines. He booked his itinerary through Orbitz.
On the morning he was to depart, his grandfather's health took a turn for the worse. He chosen Orbitz's customer-service department and was told the simply thing he could do was immediately book another flight to Argentina at a later date. He had no need to go to Argentina again since the trip was for a friend'southward wedding, so he canceled his trip and did non rebook. Instead he flew to exist with his family unit, and his gramps passed away ii days later.
After the funeral, we contacted Orbitz once more to ask for a refund. Per their instructions, we faxed the expiry document and pertinent information to the refunds department. However, it's been more than three months and we haven't heard anything. He also contacted American Express over the charge, but afterward nigh six weeks, they contacted him and said they couldn't practise anything.
My son spent $two,110 for his ticket. Tin yous help?
— Chitra Narayanan, Phoenix
Answer: Narayanan was correct to exist concerned about months passing with nary a give-and-take from LAN or Orbitz. That was a sign that something had gone incorrect with her son's refund, particularly since LAN's website indicates it commonly processes refunds inside 20 days of requests.
Most airlines allow for ticket refunds, even for nonrefundable tickets, when an immediate family member dies, though a few carriers decline to issue bereavement refunds at all. LAN does grant full refunds in such cases.
Travelers typically must produce a expiry certificate—a requirement that sometimes offends the bereaved, simply unfortunately documentation is necessary to process refunds. Details vary by carrier; some will issue future travel vouchers with change fees waived, while others volition post refunds to credit cards.
When an Orbitz customer cancels a trip due to a death in the family unit, the travel site first looks over the paperwork to ensure the customer has submitted all the required information, according to Orbitz representative Marita Hudson Thomas. It and so gives the passenger's documentation to the airline, which straight refunds the passenger, if the request is canonical.
"All online travel agencies are bound past the rules of the airlines," says Thomas. "The time it takes to issue and process a refund varies—some airlines act faster than others."
Orbitz records show that Narayanan contacted Orbitz on December 31 to ask about how to apply for a refund of his ticket. Two days later on, he faxed Orbitz a letter with his ticket details, a copy of his grandfather's death document and a supporting alphabetic character from the funeral director listing him equally firsthand family unit and attesting to his presence at the funeral.
Orbitz, in turn, forwarded the documentation to LAN, according to Thomas. In theory, the LAN refund should accept posted shortly thereafter to Narayanan's credit carte du jour. But it didn't, and the months ticked by.
I sent Narayanan's complaint to Orbitz, which responded with the curious news that American Express refunded the total amount back in Jan. Narayanan insisted no such refund had always materialized.
I asked both American Express and Orbitz to find out where Narayanan'southward $2110 went.
As it turned out, the involvement of both companies made LAN's refund process grind to a halt. Narayanan's straightforward bereavement refund request past way of Orbitz was sidelined by a parallel, simply entirely dissever, refund request via American Express.
During his family crunch and travel reshuffling on December 24, Narayanan called American Express to dispute the charges for his tickets to Argentina, since he indicated Orbitz had initially told him he couldn't get a refund. American Express so contacted LAN as function of its standard-procedure dispute investigation. When LAN responded that the tickets were nonrefundable, American Limited informed Narayanan that his dispute was denied.
"The cardmember both disputed the charge and tried to ask for a refund, hence the confusion, as they are two different requests and processes," says American Limited representative Desiree Fish.
Not only did his American Express dispute not pan out for Narayanan, it besides halted his in-process bereavement refund, to avoid a scenario in which "the customer could exist refunded twice," according to Thomas.
"The refund procedure stops one time a customer disputes the accuse because the credit bill of fare visitor gets involved at that betoken," says Thomas.
That's a catch-22 for consumers, who can't always afford to look around for a potentially slow refund procedure. The Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) protects consumers from billing errors, goods and services that weren't delivered as agreed and missing merchant credit. The FCBA specifies that you lot must file disputes in writing with your credit-card issuer within 60 days of the mailing appointment of the billing argument on which the charge first appeared. That timeline is oftentimes problematic for travelers, who often volume months ahead to land the best prices. Protracted delays in processing refunds tin can likewise torpedo your FCBA rights.
American Express and Orbitz quickly verified that Narayanan's $2110 refund was non processed every bit it should have been in January. The full credit was so posted to his American Limited account.
How tin can y'all avoid problem?
•Detect out what'due south required for a refund if you must cancel a flight when a family member dies. Airlines take specific rules well-nigh what documents are necessary; typically such refunds are limited to immediate family members, though some may cover traveling companions as well. Airlines may as well have rules nigh whether passengers should submit requests directly or if they must exist processed past travel agencies. Submit all paperwork at once so your file is complete.
•Focus your efforts—but keep an eye on the timeline. If y'all're entitled to a refund, follow standard procedures with the airline or travel agency first. However, if you stitch against the FCBA deadline, you may need to involve your credit card visitor to protect your rights.
•Follow up. Check in regularly, starting time to ensure all required paperwork has been received and processed, and and then to find out the status of your refund and when you should expect a credit. You'd think a refund would exist straightforward, but it'southward not e'er a simple process, particularly when you're dealing with a travel booking site, an airline and a credit card company. The more parties go involved, the higher the potential for mistakes.
Linda Burbank starting time began troubleshooting travelers' complaints for the Consumer Reports Travel Letter of the alphabet. She now writes regularly for Consumers Matrimony publications and is a contributing editor for National Geographic Traveler. Eastward-mail her at travel@usatoday.com. Your question may exist used in a future cavalcade.
Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/burbank/2013/06/12/is-death-in-the-family-cause-for-travel-refund/2412933/
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