How can I find an advocate?

Elliott.org can be of help. https://www.elliott.org/about-elliott-consumer-advocacy/. They offer advice on what you can do yourself and they do take on cases when you hit a roadblock..

Thanks, I will check them out right now.

Cheers -

george

So sorry you are going through this! Have you asked Aer Lingus to provide proof that they have indeed forwarded the refund to Expedia and on what date that they did so? That might slow down the finger pointing here. If they have proof, then you have ammunition to take on Expedia. If they don't have proof, then they seem to support Expedia's position.

Aer Lingus recently cancelled a flight on me. I received the refund within one week. I think one big difference was that I had made the reservation directly with the airline.

I hope you are able to get resolution on this matter soon.

George,
If you haven’t looked at the U.S. DOT website, check the information there and the “File a Complaint” section as well as the Sept. 10 COVID airline refund report. I don’t know if Expedia is defined as an “online travel agency” which is mentioned on the consumer protection page.

https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/refunds

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/usdot-details-efforts-secure-refunds-american-families-flights-cancelled-due-covid-19

pusher of drugs reported

Latest comment reported - even though it might help the OP forget about their worries :-D

Generally if you choose to use a third party (Expedia in this case) to buy plane tickets your beef is with the third party - that's who you bought your tickets through. The airline isn't involved.

Key question though - did you cancel the tickets or did the airline cancel the flight? It will make a huge difference.

Expedia definitely is an OTA, online travel agency. As such, it is supposed to be your point of contact for all things related to the ticket, including the refund. I agree that it would be helpful, as suggested above, if Aer Lingus could give you the date of any refund it gave to Expedia. I also agree with contacting Elliott Advicacy. Here’s a recent article regarding their advocacy for someone with an Expedia issue that speculates that (unhelpful) artificial intelligence is now being heavily used by Expedia for customer service: https://www.elliott.org/the-troubleshooter/expedia-error-leaves-traveler-stranded/

Hopefully, the learning point in all of this for you is to always buy air tickets directly from the airline. If things go wrong, you want to be able to work things out directly with the airline. You don’t want to have to rely on a guy in a cubicle at the OTA whose job is to work more phone calls in an hour than is competently possible to be your advocate with the airline (or to rely on the OTA’s AI to solve your problem!).

Contact the Air Passenger Rights enforcement office for Ireland: https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/default/files/2004_261_national_enforcement_bodies.pdf

My link may need updating, but this gives you the name of the enforcement agency in charge.

Carol now retired - Aer Lingus has refused to return my money bacause I did not book through them directly. In one of several converstations I had with them they told me that they could only return the money if Expedia requested it, which I cannot get Expedia to do. Actually, Expedia claims that they sent Aer Lingus an email, but Aer Lingus says that it has to be a phone call. I do not believe either.

Rachel - Yes, I got a link to the DOT website and will be filling out the form there later today. Thanks.

Nigel - I cancelled, and I do realize that it makes a difference. One thing is that the flight never occurred, and the other is that in my numerous coversatoins with Expedia and Aer Lingus this has never come up.

Dave - Elliot Advicacy gave me a link to DOT, so I will be looking at that later today. I will also be calling Expedia back today to again ask for a supervisor. I have done this twice, and twice been told that a supervisor would call within the hour, which of course never happened. This time I think I will refuse to hang up, as I got the impression that they are not supposed to hang up on a customer.

george

Bets - Thanks for the link, I will add that to my morning activity.

george

So you know for the future.....companies like Expedia are not normal travel agents. A normal travel agent books tickets for you and gets a commission for it or will charge a small fee for their services. The airlines gives them the rate and that's what they charge you. You are, essentially, booking the flight with the airline and the travel agent is just the conduit. A reputable travel agent will work to get your refund because it wants your future business.

Expedia is different. It negotiates rates with the airlines. It then charges you what they think they can get. The difference is their profit. You are not booking a flight with the airline. You are booking it with Expedia. They are, essentially, a reseller.

If everything goes according to plan, you can sometimes get a good deal. But if there is a problem, Expedia will make you jump through hoops because it does not like to give refunds.

Technically, your gripe is with Expedia.

Good luck.

BTW....I ALWAYS book directly with the airline. If there is a problem, one phone call usually clears it up.

George, I want to address your comment that you cancelled the flight, but the airline eventually cancelled the flight anyway. I had the same circumstance with Lufthansa.

I cancelled two April 2021 Lufthansa tickets in January 2021, but the airline eventually cancelled the flight in late March. When I got the refund months later it was $1200CDN less than what I paid. In a discussion with Lufthansa my position was that even though I cancelled the tickets, they eventually cancelled the flight anyway so the end result would have been the same and they shouldn't have levied the cancellation fee. Lufthansa pointed to the conditions of the ticket showing the cancellations fees. They wouldn't budge and they didn't have to. That was the deal I made with them. Some goodwill on their part would have been good Customer relations but in the end they were entitled to the cancellation fee.

So I guess I'm saying not to expect to get anywhere with the fact your airline eventually cancelled the flight anyway.

Sorry for your hassle. A perfect example of why I book directly through the airline. As stated, since you booked with Expedia it should be the one to refund you money. I had an issue back in 2016, but rather than being cancelled, there was an airport change. Orbitz said talk to the airline and the airline said talk to Orbitz. I had paid extra to avoid that new airport and never got my money back. Fortunately it was only $50 per person.

I hope you get some satisfaction eventually from Expedia. It seems like yet another reason to avoid booking through aggregators.

Have you tried contesting the charge with your credit card? That's what I did when Lufthansa refused to issue me a refund (same basic situation--I cancelled a flight that never occurred, to a country that was not accepting visitors at the time!).

Yes, I tried with the credit card company but they said that since my request was outside of the 60 day window they could not help me. Everyone has slow walked this to the point where things were pushed back to the point that now this is "old news" and I cannot be helped.

My error was in believing what I was told. I give others the benefit of the doubt but in this case it came back to bite me.

I have opened an issue with the BBB and DOT, which appear to be my last and only options.

Also check media--The Washington Post has a travel chat on Monday afternoons and they may be able to offer some advice or contacts.
Hope you can at least get a travel credit out of it!

I had a long talk with Expedia this afternoon (almost three hours) and they will not be issuing me a credit. It seems to me to be so unfair and I consider it to be theft, but I have stretched everything I can think to do on it.

I have read over everything and I think I see the problem. I'm guessing you had a non-refundable ticket. You then cancelled the ticket. Since you cancelled the ticket, you are not entitled to anything.

But then, Aer Lingus cancelled the flight so you believe you should get your money back. One problem....you already cancelled the flight so when the airline cancelled the flight, you no longer had a valid ticket. No valid ticket, no refund.

You are not alone. Back then, we had numerous threads about people who cancelled their flights instead of waiting for the airline to cancel it.

If you had booked directly with the airline, they would not have owed you anything but the might have taken pity on you.

Airlines, like hotels and rent a car companies, like loyal customers. Those customers book direct and belong to their frequent use program. When I book anything, I book directly with the airline/hotel/rent a car company and make sure I enter my frequent use membership number. Even if I won't ever use it again, I"m one step ahead of the customer that doesn't have it.

George, I am truly sorry. I think many of us lost some money at the start of Covid due to cancelled travel plans, and I know it doesn't feel good. If you feel you have done all that you can do, then it will be time to move on and just consider this a "loss." It's hard to see your money gone, I understand! However, if you can't change the situation the only way to move forward is to accept it and look for the next good opportunity that awaits.
Happy and Safe travels.

I cancelled the flight when I learned that we would not be allowed into the country. Even if I had waited I would have run into the exact same issue, which boiled down, was Expedia not telling me the truth about the credit. Aer Lingus told me that they would refund the money if Expedia called and got a number (I don't remember what the number was called). I could not get Expedia to do this, and when twice I asked to speak to a supervisor to have them do it, twice I was refused and told that a supervisor would call me (and twice they did not call me). This afternoon my insistence finally got someone to call Aer Lingus, and were told that they could not access my information because it was too long ago. By the way, the person I spoke with promised that a supervisor would call, and to no one's surprise, I am still awaiting the call. This was slow-walked by Expedia until they could get things to the point where it is "too late" for anything to be done.

What I have learned is that I should not have believed anything told to me and insisted upon immediate restitution, which would have made all the difference. I am a trusting person, but this trust was taken advantage of. Live and learn.

Carol now retired -

I agree. At least I am in good health and have the financial resources to weather this. I am perhaps more upset for others who are in a lesser position. Again, live and learn.

"My flight was cancelled" is not the same thing as "I cancelled the flight" - that is a significant difference and results in different outcomes, especially if it was a very restrictive non-refundable ticket. I think it's important to describe the issue accurately from the get-go to get good feedback. You are right, you should have demanded whatever your contract (with Expedia) allowed for a self-cancellation in short order - it's hard to know what exactly what that was unless one reads the contract language. There were plenty of complaints here about speed of refunds even if booked directly with Aer Lingus (and eligible for a refund).

Agnes -

And this is part of my frustration. Experienced travelers may think these things elementary, but those of us who are only fortunate to be able to travel very occasionally do not appreciate these intricacies. While my cancelling, perhaps, several days before the flight was cancelled, could make a difference, morally it "should" not. I understand that company profits and morality are two completely separate issues, but to one who does not know the path to follow "should" be "the right thing to do".

I paid for a flight that never took place is the bottom line. I appreciate that there are things that I did not, and still do not understand. As far as I know, the flight may have been cancelled before I cancelled - I've no idea. In my many hours (literally) of conversations with Aer Lingus and Expedia, the timing of my cancellation has never been an issue. The whole issue is that Expedia was able to slow-roll me long enough that we are now at a point where it is apparently too late to get the refund. Had I known that what they were telling me was not the truth then I may have been able to do something about it. I trusted them - shame on me, it will not happen again.

George--

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm sorry things didn't work out for you and certainly understand your frustration.

George--i was able to get my money back by contacting my credit card co.
The head of the US Transportation declared that all were entitled to cash refunds.
Dan

Unfortunately, Expedia was able to slow roll me to the point where my credit card company has said that it is too late for me to dispute the charges. I filed a complaint with the Department of Transportation and they took note of it, but cannot do anything because they have no enforcement authority.

The bottom line is that it looks like Expedia and Aer Lingus used COVID to rid me (and my wife, as she is also out $900+) of our money and there is nothing that we can do about it.

george

Sadly neither Expedia nor Aer Lingus did the “right thing”, but hopefully you learned two valuable and expensive lessons. Never book airline tickets through a third party website and don’t expect a refund when you cancel non refundable tickets. Very sorry for your loss.