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Airline refunds

The rules are changing in the fall and per the WSJ there is confusion at the moment. Here is their take for thu summer:

*What are airline refund rules this summer?
The most important thing to know: Airlines are already required to issue a refund if they cancel or significantly delay your flight, even if weather is to blame. This applies whether you travel first class or bought a restrictive basic economy ticket. (The definition of significant delay varies by airline, something the new rules will fix.

They might not volunteer that information, preferring to rebook you on the next available flight or issue a travel credit if you decide not to fly. If you don’t want either, ask for a refund to your credit card.
Of course, many of us need to get to our destination, making rebooking the only viable option unless you have a pile of cash or loyalty points. Last-minute flights are pricey, so refunds often won’t cover the cost of switching to another airline. Some airlines will put you on a competitor’s flight at their expense if the troubles are their fault, but that’s generally not their first choice. It never hurts to ask.*

Posted by
107 posts

While per WSJ airlines are required to issue refunds for cancelled or significantly delayed flights, good luck trying to get them to pay up. My flight to Barcelona from Boston on Iberia was cancelled and after contacting them when I returned home, they agreed to pay 600 euros per person. They then sent me a link to a form which cannot be filled out since one of the drop downs on the form lists countries of residence. Guess what?! The U.S. isn't one of them!
I called Iberia's customer service phone number and they said they couldn't help me and to go to the Contact Us on the website. There is no option just to email them directly. There are just options to pick certain issues and forms to fill out.
Has anyone else run into this problem with Iberia? Does anyone on the Forum know their email address? Does anyone know if there is any other recourse?
I would appreciate any help.

Posted by
4853 posts

Or since the flight originated in the US you could try a claim in small claims court, it's highly unlikely they would show up so you'd probably get a default judgement that you would have to try and collect.

Posted by
212 posts

Last month, the BOS -> MUC leg of our BOS -> Palermo trip on Lufthansa was cancelled about 3 hours after the time it was suppose to take off due to mechanical issues. It was a enormous A380 so there were several hundred passengers. I hustled my way back to the check-in counters for rebooking and by the time I got up to the counter we had already been rebooked on an ITA Airways flight the next afternoon. The gotcha was that we paid for premium economy and they only had one premium economy seat so I had a middle section premium economy seat and my husband was somewhere back in coach. The Luftansa accommodations for the night were in Cambridge (6+ miles) and there was no transportation so that wasn't going to work for us given it was midnight. We ended up walking over to the airport Hilton figuring we would eat the cost and flew out the next day.

When we got home I filed with Luftansa. It was easy enough to find the online form if you knew to look for it (thankfully a women a couple of people in front of me in line told me to look for it). So far we've been reimbursed 600€ per person, for our paid seats and for our hotel and breakfast. I am still trying to get the difference in fare between premium economy and economy for one of us. We lost the night for the B&B in Palermo but we were able to get right in to it when we arrived at 11AM a day later than planned.

Since Luftansa is an EU airline they are subject to EU rules which are already in place.