How did your airline handle your booking after your cruise was cancelled?

[teacherman]

Yes, that is true, but my wife and I are retired and can go anytime that we feel it is safe.  Some of the tickets are for grand children who are ages 9 and 12.  Like I said, I tried to do something nice for my family and, right now, it is not working out for us.  I am not blaming anyone, just stating the situation.

[FlyerTalker]

5 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

We have a United one way economy L flight from Seattle to Newark on May 10, 2020.  Since I posted, United has changed my nonstop flight to a 45 minute layover in DC.  Could this be grounds for cancelling and getting a refund?

 

United changed their refund rules - it was formerly a two hour time change, then went to 25 hours, and it is now, I believe, a 6 hour number.

 

45 minutes is within the MCT for Dulles, so that criteria is not violated.

[hoopslover]

23 hours ago, klfrodo said:

Let me see if I understand this.

You purchased 8 tickets at the cheapest price available. Non refundable. The airline website asked you before you checked out if you wanted to insure these tickets. You chose No

Ship has happened and the airline is going above and beyond by offering flight credits. That's not good enough either. You wish economic devastation on the entire airline industry and every employee in the industry simply because you didn't plan properly.

 

WOW!!

I am booked with Delta and took insurance.  However the cancellation on the cruise is not a valid reason for the insurance to pay.  I am going to wait to cancel until later in April and maybe by then one of us will have coronavirus so our doctor will certify that we can't fly.  It can't possibly be considered pre-existing if this should happen. Either that or a death in the family (I certainly hope not!) I will probably never pay for insurance again.  Just another $116 in their pocket.

[CruiserBruce]

7 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

United changed their refund rules - it was formerly a two hour time change, then went to 25 hours, and it is now, I believe, a 6 hour number.

 

45 minutes is within the MCT for Dulles, so that criteria is not violated.

They are being very generous on this. I just changed two flights in the last 10 days. One was changed to depart an hour earlier, we switched to a flight departing 5 hours later.  The other changed from non-stop to a one stop, getting in about 3 hours later. We changed to a 1 stop departing 5 hours earlier, getting in 3 hours earlier than original. Both were changed without cost.

[FlyerTalker]

Interestingly, they are quite liberal on "changes", while "refunds" have been made harder.  Guess they want to capture as much traffic & revenue as they can by offering folks reasons to stay with UA.

[ptrpanpens]

Big kudos to Air France for refunding my miles and the entire amount of taxes (no cancellation penalty) immediately. I sent an email to Flying Blue describing my situation and it was answered within 24 hours. The miles were back in my account immediately and the taxes were credited to my credit card within three days.

 

thanks Air France for excellent customer service.

 

now Delta.. that is a different situation as they dont respond unless you are within 72 hours of departure. 

[ColeThornton]

I had an nonrefundable AA ticket to MIA that I figured was money in the can when my cruise got cancelled.   Luckily for me I didn't bother to cancel it and AA sent me an itinerary change for a return flight five hours later than I booked.  Apparently that length of time on the change qualified me for a refund.  🙂

 

I contacted the online site I booked with to cancel and get a refund.  Easy to do but the agent said it could take up to 8 weeks to get a refund on my card.

 

10 seconds to charge my fare, 8 weeks to return my fare on the same computer system.   Considering these trying times I'll just count my blessings.

 

Good luck to everyone.

[waterbug123]

23 hours ago, ptrpanpens said:

thanks Air France for excellent customer service.

 

now Delta.. that is a different situation as they dont respond unless you are within 72 hours of departure. 

 

Keep in mind that Delta is a much larger airline than Air France by virtually all metrics.  Thus, they have a lot more to deal with right now.

[FlyerTalker]

A couple of interesting articles to read regarding refunds:

 

https://viewfromthewing.com/name-and-shame-27-airlines-making-refunds-more-difficult-to-get-for-cancelled-flights/

 

https://viewfromthewing.com/heres-how-lufthansa-is-skirting-the-law-to-avoid-refunding-tickets-for-cancelled-flights/

 

https://viewfromthewing.com/two-more-airlines-breaking-the-law-by-refusing-to-refund-customers-for-cancelled-flights/

 

https://viewfromthewing.com/airlines-are-breaking-the-law-by-refusing-refunds-for-cancelled-flights/

 

 

[Ashland]

I (we) have 3rd party travel insurance but opted to take RCI's 125% FCC when my (our 10 of us) May 3rd cruise was just canceled. Hoping that AA will make a change to my (our) LAX-MCO flights so I can cancel. We've rebooked our cruise but aren't sailing until May 2021. Not sure if I can put in a claim for just the flights but then not be able to transfer the insurance to our next cruise. So confused on how to handle this!!! 

[FlyerTalker]

For some general information on AA, from an AA document:

 

American will suspend 60% of its capacity in April as compared to the same period in 2019 and is planning to suspend up to 80% of its capacity in May compared to the same period in 2019. These changes are due to significantly decreased customer demand and government travel restrictions related to coronavirus (COVID-19). The reduced April schedule will be reflected on aa.com Sunday, March 29, and the reduced May schedule will be loaded Sunday, April 5.

[hoopslover]

Just had a pleasant experience with Delta.  Last night we noticed that our flight from LAX-Rome no longer showed on Delta's website.  Our return flight from Amsterdam had not been cancelled.  Then this morning we received an email from Travelocity stating that the Delta flight was cancelled and they had issued a travel voucher.  No mention of how much or any other details.

I decided to try calling Delta and it was only 20 minutes on hold and she looked up our reservation, I told her that I would like a refund and she said ok.  She cancelled the return trip and issued a credit card credit which she said would be there in about 7+ days.  We can only hope. I will book with Delta again!

Now if NCL would cancel the actual cruise to Rome in one month we would be very happy.

[skings]

Flight with Air France was booked from HAM to CDG for May 2nd. Air France has been most efficient in notifying me of cancellation. Have already received my voucher which is good for 1 year, if not used in that time cash will be refunded. 

Now I hope Norwegian and Tap Portugal are as easy 

[ptrpanpens]

I also had positive experiences with Air France and Delta. 

[Ashland]

Just had a good experience with AA. My (our 10 of us) flight time was changed by almost 8 hours. Called AA and they called me back within 10 min...easily canceled our flights...gave me the website to process them (www.prefunds.AA.com)...full refund !!! Whew !!!

[waterbug123]

Great experience with Delta.   Waited til this past Saturday to call and cancel flight for cruise that was supposed to be yesterday.  Only waited on hold 2-3 minutes.  My credit is good til next March.   On the same call, canceled tickets to St. Thomas for land-based trip later this month.  Credits good til next January.   We are frequent flyers and will have no problem using these credits so long as some level of normalcy returns before then.

[teacherman]

Our flight is 2 days from now, on Saturday, April 4 from DTW to FLL.  Return flight is Saturday, April 11, from FLL to DTW.  Two days ago, Delta informed me of flight time changes for both flights.  I called Delta and requested a refund. I was only on hold for 2 minutes.  I told them I knew these were non-refundable tickets but these were very unusual times.  They said they would check with the supervisor.  I was told there could be no refund.  I then pointed out to them that according to the flight update they had sent me, my outgoing flight was changed by 2 hours from the original time when I booked the ticket last May.  But the return flight was an entirely different flight number from the original booking which seemed to indicate that my original flight was actually canceled and therefore I felt I should receive a refund.  The agent then checked with the supervisor who agreed to refund the price for the 8 tickets I had purchased for my family.  I was told I would receive the credit back to my credit card within 7 business days.  Since they are continually cancelling and consolidating flights, I suggest everyone look at the current flight numbers as opposed to the original booking.  We would much rather have been flying down to our cruise.

[Ashland]

On 4/1/2020 at 6:31 PM, Ashland said:

Just had a good experience with AA. My (our 10 of us) flight time was changed by almost 8 hours. Called AA and they called me back within 10 min...easily canceled our flights...gave me the website to process them (www.prefunds.AA.com)...full refund !!! Whew !!!

Just to add to my above post. AA emailed me on Thursday night that my refund was being processed. Saturday morning the amount posted as a refund to my credit card....Wow ..... fast service !!

[AlanF65]

"Today the US Department of Transportation stated clearly that airlines operating in the U.S. are "obligated to provide a prompt refund to passengers...when a carrier cancels the passenger's scheduled flight or makes a significant schedule change and the passenger chooses not to accept the alternative offered..."

As we've reported here recently, airlines have engaged in the shady practice of canceling flights, then only offering to provide affected passengers less valuable credits for future flights instead of the full cash refunds they are entitled to under the law.

"The obligation of airlines to provide refunds, including the ticket price and any optional fee charged for services [such as bag or seat fees] a passenger is unable to use, does not cease when the flight disruptions are outside of the carrier’s control," according to the statement issued on April 3."

 

https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/DOT-airlines-cancellation-refund-15177253.php

 

[teacherman]

Yesterday, my refund for my 8 tickets was credited back to my credit card by Delta.  It was only 3 days after I made the cancellation.  Great service.

[CascaisCruiser]

I also just had a good experience with American. We were scheduled to fly back from Barcelona-Atlanta on July 9th.  AA changed my flight landing in Atlanta almost 24 hours later.  

I was able to get right on with someone at AA Reservations. She cancelled my flight and directed me to the prefunds.AA.com website where it took less than 10 minutes to request a refund for our 4 tickets. Twice it did ask if I wanted a voucher instead and even offered 20% more than the ticket price if I took the voucher. 

My only complaint is I would have expected an e-mail from AA notifying me of the flight change. Instead I had to look online to determine that.

[Bo1953]

Hello all - is it safe to presume that most everyone posting here, booked reservations direct with the airline vs through the cruise line?

 

bon voyage

[waterbug123]

1 hour ago, Bo1953 said:

Hello all - is it safe to presume that most everyone posting here, booked reservations direct with the airline vs through the cruise line?

 

bon voyage

 

I would never assume anything, but for me personally- yes, all flights booked directly through the airline (Delta).

[CascaisCruiser]

I also booked directly with the airlines (American).

[EllieinNJ]

We have called United twice now and they still refuse to give us a refund.  Only a credit for 24 months.