Need help with getting Alitalia refund!

So the ITA rep said she could book you a new flight using the value of the Alitalia refund? That may be the best you can do. I don’t know about Alitalia, but with other airlines (specifically their partner British Airways), once you have accepted a voucher for future travel you cannot convert it to a cash refund, only to another flight. That may not seem fair where Alitalia has canceled the flight because they no longer exist, but ITA probably acquired all the existing obligations of Italia with the purchase. So they may have to offer you a flight for the voucher, but they have no obligation to give you a cash refund. At least that is how it appears to me.

I am so sorry! That's a lot of money and it's so uncomfortable to have no control. My best advice is to take a step back for now. ITA will regroup and at some point they will have to deal with all of you thousands of Alitalia customers who were left at the gate. Remember: your time and energy are precious commodities, jrmg, even more precious than that money. Start planning another trip! That always helps me when I'm feeling down. I am confident it will work out for you in the long run. Please come back to this forum and let us know what happens. :)

Document everything and contact the credit card used for the original purchase. Explain what happened and dispute the charge.

You’re probably going to have to be on hold for quite a long time before getting an actual person at Alitalia. And consulate responses may be excruciatingly slow.

ITA will regroup and at some point they will have to deal with all of
you thousands of Alitalia customers who were left at the gate.

Do they really have to? Alitalia has gone bankrupt and do not exist anymore. ITA is a different company and while I haven't read all the legal details I don't think they are responsible for whatever Alitalia did. Although it will get a bit more confusing as ITA has bought the brand.

Does this offer any new info

https://www.alitalia.com/en_us/fly-alitalia/news-and-activities/news/info-voucher-refund.html

To Lola, in response to your statement: "So the ITA rep said she could book you a new flight using the value of the Alitalia refund? That may be the best you can do." No, ITA rep did NOT offer to book a flight using the value of the Alitalia fares -- I definitely asked her to. In fact, I originally had asked Alitalia to transfer the value of my Alitalia refund to ITA; and I asked ITA to honor the value of my Alitalia fares, but both said no, hence my quest for other avenues of recourse. I probably will have to wait as one person suggested for ITA to get its phone and website up and operating to try with them. I'll check the link someone else provided to see what that is, too.
I definitely would like to know if anyone else has had this problem and found a way to resolve it.
Thanks.

Maybe Joe32F has offered a solution?

jrmg--

I would not wait for ITA to "regroup." ITA is a new entity that purchased the Alitalia name (some think to revive it; some think to keep it dead and prevent anyone else from reviving it). It did NOT purchase the bankrupt company. It is not responsible for the bankrupt company's obligations, which appears to include tickets.

joe32F has provided a link to your best hope for recourse (strong work, joe32F).

Thanks, but actually, it is not. It is another dead end. I've tried the various functions on the Alitalia website prior to 10/15/21. Now this leads you to a message that the site is discontinued.

From abroad call the call center
+39 06 65649
That is the number set up for getting the refunds. Be aware that only tickets purchased before August 24 for travel after Oct. 15 are eligible for refund.
The refunds will come from a special fund set up by the government, which totals €1 million. Not sure it will be enough, but that is what it is at the moment.
ITA is not only not obliged to reimburse anything, but is actually legally barred from assuming any Alitalia obligations in order to satisfy EU regulatory rules which required total and transparent discontinuity between the two firms.

Roberto--

Looks like it's 100 million euro.

https://www.thelocal.it/20210825/italian-airline-alitalia-says-it-will-refund-customers-with-tickets-booked-after-october-15th/

https://www.alitalia.com/en_us/fly-alitalia/news-and-activities/news/info-voucher-refund.html

Roberto,
Thank you. That is the same phone # I tried to call but no one picked up after 11 minutes of waiting on hold at about 8:10 am Central European Time (CET)/11:10 pm PDT.
Do you happen to know if that phone # [00390665649] is answered 24/7? Do you know their hours? Or if I need to call between 9am - 5pm CET?
I'd greatly appreciate a response if you could assist with this. Again, thanks.

The Alitalia website Roberto provided above states that the phone # for calls within Italy is live 24/7; I would assume the same is true for calls from abroad.

In consideration of the period of time between the Voucher issue date
and the Voucher expiry date, in any case, Alitalia suggests passengers
to send a refund request for the expired Voucher with the
aforementioned characteristics, using the voucher refund form here, or
by contacting the call center at the number 06-65859246 (available
24/7) from Italy or +39 0665649 from abroad, in order to confirm or
modify personal and contact data, necessary for the correct management
of the reimbursement process and for the payment of the related
amounts.

It also provides a link to a voucher refund form that can be sent in. Given that they ceased operations so recently, I'm not really surprised that you were on hold for 11 minutes? My guess is that they're swamped so you might have to be prepared hold much longer than that or go with the provided form and wait for a response. As someone mentioned above, I wouldn't pursue this with ITA as it appears that they do not have any authority to issue refunds for a different, now-defunct company.

Unfortunately, waiting on hold for a long time is standard with airlines these days. I have needed to call British Airways twice in the past weeks ( also about a refund) and the wait times were 35 minutes the first time and just under an hour the second time. But at least it is an 800 number.

I don’t know that any time is better than any other than calling. You might try the FlyerTalk Forum Alitalia section for advice on this, since many people are having the same problem.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alitalia-millemiglia-635/

This morning (PDT) -- at a time the Alitalia # is supposed to be staffed -- I dialed the direct # for Alitalia refunds (390665649). I was on hold 1 hour and 17 minutes when I heard a pause in the Muzak; I quickly said Hello, hello. About 2 seconds later I heard a click that sounded like a phone line disconnect, still I waited until an automated recording came on "Your call did not go through... dial again"; then I hung up as that confirmed I had been disconnected. The Alitalia website does not work anymore to resend another refund request (I had done so before 10/15/21 @2-3 times). Does anyone know of any avenues of recourse?

Try a chargeback on the credit card you originally used to pay. The time allowed for a chargeback is from the date the services purchased were promised to be delivered, i.e. the flight date. You can argue that the transaction date was pushed back to the date of the next cancelled flight. Since the other party, Alitalia, doesn't exist they may not even contest it. This article provides some info: https://www.apathtolunch.com/2020/05/get-refund-for-cancelled-flight-ticket.html

Additionally, you should complain to the FAA as these actions violate US regs. I believe you can file online.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/17/opinion/alitalia-pope.html

Mike: Thanks for the info. I'll budget some time to pursue those routes.

Roberto: Yes, I saw and read that piece, too. Thanks.

There are at least two groups on Facebook concerned with your issue.
A private group: DISSERVIZI E RIMBORSI ALITALIA - ITA TRASPORTO AEREO https://www.facebook.com/groups/269041471087023
A public group: Call center Alitalia: cade la linea? https://www.facebook.com/groups/880184675783069

That chargeback procedure linked by Mike starts with declining the voucher offered in the first place. I doubt that will work in this case.

The chargeback process is indeed uncertain, but it could be successful with a cooperative card issuer (like Amex) because the card holder was not given the option of a refund as required by both the EU and the US regulations. A violation of law is a cause for a chargeback. Many airlines have made refunds available and an agreement was recently made between the EU and 16 airlines (not including Alitalia) to reform and make amends. https://thepointsguy.com/news/european-canceled-flights-passenger-refunds/

Mike, Thanks again, I'll try calling them on the 7-day refund EU law.

Four of us are in the exact same position as you. We received vouchers for our cancelled flight but now they are closed and we can't use them, and we have spent months and countless hours, trying to receive a refund. No one is taking ownership. And yes, we have filed chargeback requests of our Credit Card company's, as well.

If anyone gets any info that works. please share!!!

funtwin and others in-the-know,
Hello! I'm wondering if you or the other 3 you refer to have made any headway in obtaining refunds, and if so, how.
I've since contacted my credit card company to request a chargeback; they don't expect to get back to me for at least 30 days, and that is not to give their decision.
I tried more emails to customer.relations@ alitalia.com referring them to the EU law about refunding within 7 days of a EU-based airline receiving a refund request -- no difference; no response.
Any updates or other ways to go about solving this, anyone?

Have you tried this email address?

alitaliarefunds@alitalia.com

I haven't read all of the responses, but I can share my story. We had a flight cancelled by Iberia to Spain. I spent a year and a half trying to get a refund. I finally filed a complaint with the DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION. Since the airline cancelled the flight I received a full refund in two weeks. Good luck.

Dear Michelle and others who've offered advice,
Thank you for taking time to share your tip.
I seem to be making headway through my credit card company right now with a chargeback request. Thanks to those that recommended trying that avenue.
The credit card company has tentatively returned the money clearly documented in their records as payments to Alitalia. It is pending further review, per their standard procedures. I just today faxed them 12 pages of forms they mailed to me to fill out and return and 5 other pages of documentation they asked for.

Alitalia has yet to respond to me, but it looks like now the credit card company can take them on.
Thanks to all again!
Judy

A recent article on the consumer advocacy website www.elliott.org dealing with Alitalia refunds...

"This is how to get a refund from a bankrupt airline"
https://www.elliott.org/airline-problems/how-to-get-refund-bankrupt-airline/

This part is a nice learning point on the 60-day time limit:

The Fair Credit Billing Act indicates a 60-day time limit for a
consumer to claim a billing problem. It was on that basis that Bank of
America initially rejected Eysie’s credit card chargeback dispute. But
it’s important to note that the 60-day time limit is not set in stone.
Your credit card company can always defend you against a billing
problem. It is 100 percent at the company’s discretion.

Thank you, Dave.
I did try Elliott Advocacy and followed their referral to file an online complaint with the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) -- no response or even acknowledgment of receipt thus far; ENAC states on their website that their process can take 6 months.
I was turned down by Capital One for credit card charges "chargeback;" I appealed and was turned down again, based on it being over 60 days since my credit card payment. I'm stuck in a Catch 22!
Has anyone else found a way to break through the roadblocks to receiving a refund from the defunct Alitalia??

I also have a story with Alitalia with no resolution. I had a flight in May 2020 get cancelled. I was offered a refund or a voucher, and opted for the refund. I have documentation of a confirmation from Alitalia that the refund was requested. After 30 days didn't receive anything, but called them, and was told that they had many refunds to issue and that it would take a few months to possibly show up. After a few more months, I called and they said it was still in process. I called my credit card company, but by now it had been too long so I couldn't dispute. I have called Alitalia a few times in 2021 and I am always told the same thing. Now it is out of business and I think I am out my money. I feel like I did all the things I was initially supposed to do. I didn't cancel my flight, but let the airline cancel. I opted for the refund and not the voucher. I submitted my information and waited. Super frustrating.

Thanks everyone for posting about this. Does anyone have any updates?

That’s a good idea to try the Italian consulate. It would be ideal if we could identify which group is in charge of processing refunds. I had heard about the 100 million euro fund, but have no idea who processes the refunds.

The refund portal on Alitalia’s website had stopped working for a time, but has since returned.

Updates and advice are appreciated! Despite all the frustration, I’m thankful for these posts and an opportunity to learn here!

We'd gone to Italy in May--we live part time about 2 hours from Rome. Our return to NYC was booked for 27 October and, of course, it was cancelled. Alitalia had sent me an email offering to rebook for a flight before 15 October or get a refund. I filed for the refund in late August and got a response from Alitalia soon afterward acknowledging my request. Note that this did NOT involve a voucher. Sometime in October, impatient about not getting a credit card credit, I called the bank—JP Morgan Chase—and they were sympathetic, temporarily credited half the fare for the return trip, and said they'd go after Alitalia for the refund. Great success! as Borat would say. I got a letter yesterday saying that the dispute had been resolved and that the credit is permanent. Roberto et al are right; ITA was explicitly barred from honoring Alitalia tickets in any way. There were reports that it had approached Air France-KLM for some sort of joint ops, but it's speculation at this point. As for us, we booked r/t from Fiumicino on Lufthansa—which is now shuffling flights due to the Omicron scare.

Just curious-would travel insurance(not medical) cover this situation?

Of course -- it depends on the terms of the insurance, Nothing is uniform. However, many travel insurance policies will exclude bankruptcies. If a huge airline, cruise ship, etc. declared bankruptcy the risk could be enormous and unpredictable.

Here is an update. It sounds like there was some progress on funding the reimbursements.

https://centreforaviation.com/news/italys-government-allocates-eur100m-for-the-reimbursement-of-alitalia-tickets-1108315

Also, the bankruptcy itself looks really confusing:
http://www.amministrazionestraordinariaalitaliasai.com/

Hello, Since I have a very similar case I was going thru submitting a refund request as it's stated on the AlItalia site: https://www.alitalia.com/en_us/fly-alitalia/news-and-activities/news/info-voucher-refund.html , and then after a few months contacting them. It took me 2h of waiting on a phone line to finally get someone to pick it up. The lady confirmed as of today (16th Dec 2021), the Italian government has not secured refund money yet, and thus no refunds are being processed. She said they expect this situation to change on Jan/Feb 2022, as they plan to start processing refunds.

Thought I would leave this update here.

Keeping fingers crossed the situation will improve eventually and we all get our money back.

Rafał

Thanks, Rafal K.,
Could you identify which phone number you called?
And could the phone representative acknowledge receipt of your refund request?
My main reason for asking is I tried to resubmit a refund request online via the Alitalia website after a forum member reporting the site once again had uploaded the refund request option (after they had removed it). But when I tried to submit another request, the site would not accept my information. It leaves me wondering if my request has registered with them or not.

Judy

I used this phone: +39 0665649
Since the refund is not being processed, we have not checked specifically on my case / vouchers, no.

Best regards, Rafal

OK, thank you!

Cynthia,
Gracias por contribuir a esta discusion -- hablo un poquito espanol. Todavia yo no he recibido una respuesta de Alitalia. Por favor escribir otra vez si usted recibe una comunicacion de Alitalia.
Muchas gracias,
Judy

Hello all,

Here is another contact method to try. I used Google Translate to send my messages in Italian.
E-mail address: ALITALIAPERTE@alitalia.it.

Thanks everyone for contributing suggestions!

Jordy

Good day
Has anyone received any refunds now in 2022?
I bought two tickets for a trip in March 2020 and after many cancellations due to Covid Alitalia issued a EMD on 23 Jul 2020
This was only valid for a year and we requested a refund in Aug 2021

Only my friend's ticket was refunded in September however my ticket (and my credit card was used for both) was never refunded
I also tried the emails and numbers with no luck
Any link related to refunds not takes you to a page with a big red sign 404!

Hoping that we will still receive our refunds :)

Thank you
Rene

jrmg: did you get your refund? What paperwork did you need to provide to prove that Al Italia is out of business?

Based on reading comments above, I contacted the mastercard company that I used to buy my ticket in 2020. Like everyone else, my flight was postponed and rebooked to 2022. The Mastercard company advised me to mail a letter to their correspondence department showing proof that I bought a ticket and proof that the company went out of business.

Was the email from Al Italia cancelling the flight and going out of business sufficient proof for your credit card company?

Thank you

enyaj:
No, no refund.
And no, my credit card company did not approve my claim, they said because it was too old -- had to be within prior 6 months. I appealed, explaining the need for an exception as it was impossible to have done what they said they required, but I was turned down again. I had purchased the original set of tickets late November 2019 for April 2020.

Hi all,

I have been going through the same issue and have asked help from an Italian friend.
She said that the processing of the requests to refund tickets and vouchers will start around now, but will take a long time due to backlog. Everything you need to do is on this page, which is in Italian but you can use the page translator to change it to your preferred language: https://www.amministrazionestraordinariaalitaliasairefunds.com/it_it/volare-alitalia/news-e-attivita/news/info-voucher-refund.html

Additional update: my friend talked to someone in that department at the phone. She said they started the refunds this month and expect that they will need up to 4 months to finish(wow!). On the positive side they said they expect that everyone who applied for a refund, through the link I shared in my first post, will get their money back.

She also noted that an Italian 4 months often last 6 months :)

a_schrade,

Thanks! I applied yesterday, using both the ticket refund and the voucher refund links, because months ago, prior to 10/14/21, two Alitalia Call Center (old 800# in Albania) workers told me I was not eligible for a refund because I had purchased the most recently rescheduled flights (for April 2022) with vouchers. I explained was based on the cash I had originally paid in Nov 2019 and more cash in June 2020 due to Alitalia charging a higher fare for the April 2021 flights and were also cancelled by Alitalia due to COVID and turned into vouchers by the company. So I am wary and do not know how they will handle this circumstance. We shall see...

Hey, yes my story is almost exactly the same. Bought tickets beginning of 2020 for a flight in May 2020. Rebooked for Oct 2020. Rebooked for May 2021. And now left with the vouchers. So I hope from the info I got we should both be fine.

I am in Australia. I sent an email in December 2021 claiming refunds for our vouchers (for cancelled flights May 2020).
No response.
I repeated the process this morning (Feb 2022) and received an automated reply directing me to https://www.amministrazionestraordinariaalitaliasairefunds.com/it_it
This page has a simple online form to claim a refund for a voucher. Here's hoping.
Thanks for all the information in this thread and happy travels when we can.

I could use help myself. As soon as Alitalia notified me last August that our flights were cancelled, I filled out the online form to request a refund and received confirmation. I’m
Still waiting.

Hello,
I have read through this thread and wanted to know if anyone else has received this response from Alitalia:

in order to refund the voucher below indicated,, please send us your bank details together with an ID document of each of you.

Best regards.

Alitalia Customer Relations

According to the EU Regulation 2016/679 – Code dealing with the protection of personal data, we wish to inform you that personal data involved in the present complaint will be dealt with in compliance with the provisions of EU Regulation 2016/679. It will be used, under electronic form or not, to reply to you. Such data may be communicated to other suppliers appointed specifically as external providers and in charge of handling your comments. Regarding the use of the rights under Art 13 of EU Regulation 2016/679, we kindly invite you to visit our website at https://www.alitalia.com/it_it/special-pages/privacy.html

I am concerned to send bank info. Any insight??

Thanks!

To Rochelle,
No, I have received no response from Alitalia at all. Perhaps you could ask the closest Italian consulate's commercial consul to find out for you, as a courtesy, if this is legitimate. Please let us know any news. Thank you.

I am concerned to send bank info. Any insight??

Will your bank let you open a new/additional checking account ( separate from your regular acct) and have only a minimum deposit, e.g., $10 or less, and use it to transact with Alitalia. Once you get a refund you can close it.

Thanks for the replies. The italian consulate locally is a good suggestion. And yes, i was planning on using a checking that is separate from a savings account that I have and I keep a minimum amount in it. I will keep everyone posted!

3/15/2022

OMG! I just received an email this morning from Alitalia about my refund. It instructs for two options: one, if I had a European bank account (no); two if I have an U.S. bank account (yes). For the former they ask for "bank details" and your ID. For U.S. accounts, they ask for your mailing address, which I sent right away, and sent a second reply querying on their time frame for disbursing the check (no answer on the timing as yet).
So, it seems like they are about to cut me a refund check. Their email does not state the amount of my refund.
Perhaps others on this thread have received a similar email communication? Let's keep each other posted!

Judy

If you have it, check your trip insurance options. Spending an hour on a claim seems preferable to what you’ve been going through.

Hi JRMG, any confirmation since your last March update? Really interested as I'm still in the dark after all submissions for refunds... Thank you!

Read through all the various updates and comments, still not sure how to receive my credit for $6385.06 2 business class tickets from Boston to Rome booked in 2/2020. similar to all, after multiple airline cancellations. received vouchers for the amount but now cannot get refund for the vouchers. Tried calling various call center numbers and also using the online portal (not recognizing my ticket numbers) - contacted credit card number. Not sure what my next steps should be in order to actually successfully get a refund? not sure i am ready to throw in the towels yet.

To seansato:
Since my last entry, I received an email notice from Alitalia or a related entity stating the amount that they would refund, and requiring me to upload my passport photo page and voucher number and to provide me mailing address for a check. Still awaiting receipt.

To the last writer: I followed the suggestion to use the following link for an Alitalia refund site that is in Italian by using the page translator to change it to your preferred language: https://www.amministrazionestraordinariaalitaliasairefunds.com/it_it/volare-alitalia/news-e-attivita/news/info-voucher-refund.html.

I followed the instructions and resubmitted my request for refund, as I described previously. I am not sure but as one person had written, Alitalia had been delayed in getting access to the money for our refunds until about a month or so ago -- according to news reports, the money is at least in part coming from an EU funding source, i.e., a bailout..