Expedia and Air Tran Pass the buck!

I'd welcome any help that I can get from readers of this forum. I'm
certainly not getting any from Expedia and Air Tran!
I believe firmly that my family was cheated out of a refund of $700 by
Expedia and AirTran. My wife booked a trip through Expedia for our
family on 08/05/2004. The purpose of the trip was to attend my wife's
family's Family Reunion in Cincinnati, an event that occurs no more
frequently than once every ten years.
On 09/04, the day that we were scheduled to leave, all flights from
Orlando and nearly every other major Florida airport were cancelled due
to the impending arrival of Hurricane Frances. Obviously, this event
made it impossible for us to attend the reunion, which was scheduled to
start on the evening of our departure date. My wife contacted both
Expedia and Airtran by phone, and she was told by Air Tran's Customer
Service Department that a full refund would be processed after we
mailed their tickets back to Expedia. We sent the tickets back,
following instructions given us by Expedia.
After waiting for the refund to appear on our credit card bill for over
two months, we called Expedia again, and were told that it would take
approximately 120 days for the refund to be processed.
On 11/09/2004, we received an email from Expedia which stated that the
Air Tran was disputing our claim, and that they would only honor it by
in the form of credit to be used for other flights on that airline
within the next year! After we received this bombshell, we called
Airtran and talked to their Customer Service Supervisor, who informed
us that flights from Orlando did not fall in a region where full
refunds were authorized. She told us that we must have been given false
information when we called initially. What a surprise it was to us, to
find out that, after watching the wreckage caused by a major hurricane,
the homes lost, and the anguish created by the storm, we were also
going to have to pay for flights that we, and no doubt hundreds of
other passengers, could not take! Since then, we've contacted both
Expedia and Air Tran several times, but they've received only "passing
the buck" responses from Expedia, and canned "that's our policy"
responses from Airtran. We've even written personal letters to Mr.Erik
Blachford, the CEO of Expedia, and Mr. Joseph Leonard, the CEO of
Airtran, but they haven't considered our problem serious enough to
follow up with us.
As a contrast to the behavior exhibited by Expedia and Air Tran, my
Father and Mother were in Massachusetts during the same storm to attend
a Class Reunion, having flown there from Orlando to Albany on
Southwest. When they were scheduled to return, and it appeared that
there was a possibility that the Orlando airport would still be closed,
they were contacted by Southwest, who told them that if they wanted to
change their flights, they could do it at no cost, up to flight time,
and that if they just wanted to cancel, they could receive a full
refund. They were also told by another passenger that FAA regulations
required this type of action when an airport was closed and planes were
not allowed to take off or land.
What do you think? In the next few days, assuming that I don't hear
from the CEOs (I'm not holding my breath), I plan to contact a couple
of travel ombudsmen, including Chris Elliott, from National Geographic
Explorer, and the individual from Conde Nast, but I'm looking for
government agencies who might be able to help me resolve the issue. I
could consider suing, of course, but there's a limit on how far you can
go within the legal system without spending a lot more than the cost of
the potential recovery. Thank you in advance for your help.

fideauxdon wrote:
I'd welcome any help that I can get from readers of this forum. I'm
certainly not getting any from Expedia and Air Tran!
I believe firmly that my family was cheated out of a refund of $700 by
Expedia and AirTran. My wife booked a trip through Expedia for our
family on 08/05/2004. The purpose of the trip was to attend my wife's
family's Family Reunion in Cincinnati, an event that occurs no more
frequently than once every ten years.
On 09/04, the day that we were scheduled to leave, all flights from
Orlando and nearly every other major Florida airport were cancelled due
to the impending arrival of Hurricane Frances. Obviously, this event
made it impossible for us to attend the reunion, which was scheduled to
start on the evening of our departure date. My wife contacted both
Expedia and Airtran by phone, and she was told by Air Tran's Customer
Service Department that a full refund would be processed after we
mailed their tickets back to Expedia. We sent the tickets back,
following instructions given us by Expedia.
After waiting for the refund to appear on our credit card bill

You said the magic words "credit card"
Have you tried disputing this through the credit card company?

It would appear to me from the information you wrote Expedia was just
stuck in the middle and should not be blamed for this at all, and you should
offer an apology for including them as if they were at fault.

As for Air Tran, while they may have been following the letter of the
law, is at least partly responsible for poor communications and for not
moving to be first to correct a problem with the industry. I personally
don't like it and consider it unfair to air travelers. This is a difficult
issue and I doubt if it ever will be resolved by the industry or government.

I wonder if this would not be a good place for some sort of insurance?
A reasonable charge included in each ticket price to guarantee a refund
under certain, well defined conditions regardless of the cause of the
disruption might help.


--
Joseph Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math


fideauxdon wrote:
I'd welcome any help that I can get from readers of this forum. I'm
certainly not getting any from Expedia and Air Tran!
I believe firmly that my family was cheated out of a refund of $700 by
Expedia and AirTran. My wife booked a trip through Expedia for our
family on 08/05/2004. The purpose of the trip was to attend my wife's
family's Family Reunion in Cincinnati, an event that occurs no more
frequently than once every ten years.
On 09/04, the day that we were scheduled to leave, all flights from
Orlando and nearly every other major Florida airport were cancelled
due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Frances. Obviously, this
event made it impossible for us to attend the reunion, which was
scheduled to start on the evening of our departure date. My wife
contacted both Expedia and Airtran by phone, and she was told by Air
Tran's Customer Service Department that a full refund would be
processed after we mailed their tickets back to Expedia. We sent the
tickets back, following instructions given us by Expedia.
After waiting for the refund to appear on our credit card bill for
over two months, we called Expedia again, and were told that it would
take approximately 120 days for the refund to be processed.
On 11/09/2004, we received an email from Expedia which stated that the
Air Tran was disputing our claim, and that they would only honor it by
in the form of credit to be used for other flights on that airline
within the next year! After we received this bombshell, we called
Airtran and talked to their Customer Service Supervisor, who informed
us that flights from Orlando did not fall in a region where full
refunds were authorized. She told us that we must have been given
false information when we called initially. What a surprise it was to
us, to find out that, after watching the wreckage caused by a major
hurricane, the homes lost, and the anguish created by the storm, we
were also going to have to pay for flights that we, and no doubt
hundreds of other passengers, could not take! Since then, we've
contacted both Expedia and Air Tran several times, but they've
received only "passing the buck" responses from Expedia, and canned
"that's our policy" responses from Airtran. We've even written
personal letters to Mr.Erik Blachford, the CEO of Expedia, and Mr.
Joseph Leonard, the CEO of Airtran, but they haven't considered our
problem serious enough to follow up with us.
As a contrast to the behavior exhibited by Expedia and Air Tran, my
Father and Mother were in Massachusetts during the same storm to
attend a Class Reunion, having flown there from Orlando to Albany on
Southwest. When they were scheduled to return, and it appeared that
there was a possibility that the Orlando airport would still be
closed, they were contacted by Southwest, who told them that if they
wanted to change their flights, they could do it at no cost, up to
flight time, and that if they just wanted to cancel, they could
receive a full refund. They were also told by another passenger that
FAA regulations required this type of action when an airport was
closed and planes were not allowed to take off or land.
What do you think? In the next few days, assuming that I don't hear
from the CEOs (I'm not holding my breath), I plan to contact a couple
of travel ombudsmen, including Chris Elliott, from National Geographic
Explorer, and the individual from Conde Nast, but I'm looking for
government agencies who might be able to help me resolve the issue. I
could consider suing, of course, but there's a limit on how far you
can go within the legal system without spending a lot more than the
cost of the potential recovery. Thank you in advance for your help.

One can, of course, argue that Expedia is "caught in the middle", and
that statement is probably true. However, Expedia charges a fee and
acts as a Travel Agent, and therefore should be expected to intervene
in cases where a customer, rightly or wrongly, feels that a wrong has
been committed. In the case of Expedia, I've found that their refusal
to refer a complaint beyond the Customer Service person who reads the
email, even to 1st level supervision, and their total reliance on
canned "feel good" (at least to them) answers indicates that they're
not really doing a professional job. In June, after I stayed at a hotel
which I booked on Travelocity, I contacted them to complain that when
booking, I was not informed of the fact that the property where I
stayed was under renovation, and the elevators were out of service.
Within two days, I received a call from Travelocity which apologized
for the non-disclosure, and refunded one half of the amount that I
spent for the reservation. While this case was much clear than the one
which I'm currently pursuing, I expect that my travel agent will at
least act on my behalf. Throwing up one's hands, and giving answers
like "our hands are tied" really isn't a proper response.

One can, of course, argue that Expedia is "caught in the middle", and
that statement is probably true. However, Expedia charges a fee and
acts as a Travel Agent, and therefore should be expected to intervene
in cases where a customer, rightly or wrongly, feels that a wrong has
been committed. In the case of Expedia, I've found that their refusal
to refer a complaint beyond the Customer Service person who reads the
email, even to 1st level supervision, and their total reliance on
canned "feel good" (at least to them) answers indicates that they're
not really doing a professional job. In June, after I stayed at a hotel
which I booked on Travelocity, I contacted them to complain that when
booking, I was not informed of the fact that the property where I
stayed was under renovation, and the elevators were out of service.
Within two days, I received a call from Travelocity which apologized
for the non-disclosure, and refunded one half of the amount that I
spent for the reservation. While this case was much clear than the one
which I'm currently pursuing, I expect that my travel agent will at
least act on my behalf. Throwing up one's hands, and giving answers
like "our hands are tied" really isn't a proper response.