Flying in circles for promised refund
DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER >> Can you help us obtain a refund from LIAT airline? We missed our connecting flight from Trinidad to Toronto due to a two-hour delay of our first leg from St. Vincent. After our late arrival in Trinidad, we were sent to a hotel to spend the night with the promise that we would be placed on the next available flight on any airline the next day. When we returned to the airport the next day, a LIAT representative told us we would be rebooked on an Air Canada flight leaving Trinidad one week later.
We could not afford to extend our vacation by another week. We had to purchase seats on an American Airlines flight in order to complete our travel to Toronto.
Before leaving Trinidad, we contacted a LIAT supervisor at the airport. He informed us that it was company policy to give us a refund for the flight that we missed. He documented our situation on an itinerary he printed at the terminal and signed it as proof of our situation.
We submitted a refund request to the airline’s customerrelations department. A representative promised us a reply in “a few weeks.” But a few weeks later, we had no response. The only official feedback we have received from LIAT is an email acknowledgement of our refund request. Can you help us get the refund we’ve been promised?
— Michelle Frederick,
Sanborn, New York
ANSWER >> Trying to get from St. Vincent back to Toronto was a real odyssey for you and your partner. LIAT made things worse by first promising you a refund and then dragging its feet.
Why the delay? I contacted Air Canada and found that it had issued your ticket, but it used LIAT for part of the journey. Air Canada deferred to LIAT for the refund, since a LIAT representative had promised you the money. It’s a little complicated.
This kind of finger-pointing is common in the airline industry. If you don’t mind a small diversion from our flight plan, allow me to say this: Airlines love to act as one when it’s convenient for them (the technical term is “code-sharing”), but when it’s inconvenient, they pretend they’ve never heard of each other.
You kept a great paper trail of correspondence between you, LIAT and Air Canada. That’s so important when you’re trying to resolve a case like this. I also love the fact that you noted the name of the LIAT supervisor, who offered a refund and got that promise in writing. (Should I be worried about my job?)
You could have reached out to the executive customer-service contacts at LIAT (http://www.elliott.org/company-contacts/liatairlines/) or Air Canada (http:// www.elliott.org/company-contacts/air-canada/). After a little back-and-forth, Air Canada finally refunded the ticket.
DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER >> I recently booked four firstclass train tickets for travel from
London to Paris for me, my daughter and my two grandchildren for $684. As we were standing in line to board, Eurostar inexplicably canceled the train and closed the train station office. Chaos ensued.
A Eurostar agent standing in front of the office told me that for future travel, I needed to book new tickets online, which I did. I paid $1,119 for the new tickets. A representative also promised that we would be reimbursed for our hotel room and food.
I can’t get Eurostar to refund the $1,119, and at this point, I don’t really care about the room or breakfast. But it would be nice. As well as our additional night in London, I was paying for two unused and nonrefundable rooms in Paris.
No one from Eurostar will answer my emails, let alone refund my money. I would like to have the new train tickets, our London hotel room and our breakfast refunded to my American Express account. In a perfect world, I also would like my two nonrefundable rooms in Paris refunded. Can you help?
— Suzanne Kraft, Gulf Stream, Florida
ANSWER >> How frustrating. Eurostar may have had a valid reason for canceling your train to Paris, but it didn’t bother sharing that with you; it just left you stranded in London. It shouldn’t have. A representative also told you that you had to buy a new ticket, but you shouldn’t have had to do that.
How do I know? Because Eurostar’s obligations to you are outlined in its conditions of carriage, the legal agreement between you and the operator: www.eurostar.com/ us-en/conditions-carriage.
Before I get into the details, let me add a personal note about Eurostar. That journey from London to Paris through the Chunnel is amazing and should be on everyone’s bucket list. I had the privilege of taking the highspeed train when it first opened, and I was impressed. So, I applaud you on your choice. There’s no better way to get from London to Paris, in my opinion.
Here’s what the company owed you, according to its conditions of carriage:
Eurostar should have issued a new ticket to allow you to complete your journey under your transport contract with Eurostar at a later date, up to a year after the original delay or cancellation (see section 32.4). For your delay, which exceeded 180 minutes, Eurostar should have either refunded 50 percent of the fare or issued an e-voucher for 75 percent of the fare (see section 33.2.3). There’s no provision for refunding a hotel or breakfast, although section 32.5 notes that delay compensation “may include the provision of refreshments and meals where available.” If you ever find yourself in a similar situation — and I hope you never do — you can fire up your smartphone and find the entire contract on the Eurostar site. In hindsight, doing that would have saved you a lot of trouble.
You also might have appealed this to one of Eurostar’s executive contacts. I list their names, numbers and email addresses on my consumer-advocacy site: www.elliott.org/company-contacts/eurostar.
My review of your paper trail between you and Eurostar suggests that you were having some trouble accessing the right form and uploading documents. That’s not your problem, but maybe it’s something Eurostar should look into, in case there are other unhappy customers like you out there.
I contacted Eurostar on your behalf. A representative contacted you and agreed that you were, indeed, entitled to a full refund of your canceled tickets. Eurostar also refunded your new tickets and took care of your expenses.