RE-IMBURSEMENT FOR NON-REFUNDABLE EXPENSES OF PRINCESS CANCELLED CRUISEOF

[Starboard Forty]

I was booked on the Majestic Princess for a 5 day return voyage from Taipei  28 Mar 2020. Princess cancelled the trip, provided a refund and a 25% future good will credit and stated that requests for refund for non-refundable expenses could be submitted IAW information on their website.

 

I had flights that needed cancelling.  The flights were booked through Flight Centre (not directly with the airline Air Canada).  The invoice from Flight Centre states the cancellation policy.  I submitted the Flight Centre purchase invoice, Flight Centre cancellation invoice, and credit card information showing the purchase and refund.  

 

Princess continues to say the Flight Centre invoices are insufficient and information about the cancellation policy from the airline, Air Canada, is required.  However, Air Canada states that all dealings with tickets and refunds booked through a travel agency must be directed to that travel agency.  All travel agencies use one of the global distribution systems so it booking is not directly with the airline.  How can the staff at Princess not understand this.

 

In any case - has anybody had experiences with claiming the non-refundable portion of a flight when Princess cancelled the cruise?  If it was successful maybe you could give me a tip for a successful claim.

 

Thanks.

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

I have been reimbursed for several non refundable expenses.  Two hotel stays, one rental car and one round trip flight.  These were initially denied by Princess as many companies developed policies to refund covid19 type cancellations.  I submitted them to the respective companies, which were ultimately denied by each since they fell outside of the date parameters the set.  These were all from an early March cruise.  I resubmitted the decline notices to Princess and eventually received a check.

[dog]

If you booked everything through flight centre they should be dealing with all of this for you. 
if not, resubmit it to Princess again. 

[casofilia]

We had two non-refundable flights we had arranged directly with Singapore Airlines.   We got in touch with them with the Reference Codes.   They paid on one directly with the code; the other I had to engage with Singapore Air in Auckland and they refunded that one in a few days.

 

It sounds as if Flight Centre is unwilling to attempt to get the same sort of thing for you from Air Canada.

 

It would be interesting to hear from someone who booked directly with Air Canada to find if Air Canada reimbursed non-refundable flights for people who booked directly with them

[Starboard Forty]

To clarify points made about Flight Centre - the agent has been working with me to resolve this with Princess but the bottom line I suppose is that it is between me and Princess.  I am waiting for an update from the Flight Centre agent who, once again, is going to speak with Princess.  

Having been denied - what is the process to have the the decision revisited ?  How does one re-submit and have it go for a higher level review?

 

Thanks for responses.

 

[Cuedon]

2 hours ago, AnyMajorCruiseDude said:

I have been reimbursed for several non refundable expenses.  Two hotel stays, one rental car and one round trip flight.  These were initially denied by Princess as many companies developed policies to refund covid19 type cancellations.  I submitted them to the respective companies, which were ultimately denied by each since they fell outside of the date parameters the set.  These were all from an early March cruise.  I resubmitted the decline notices to Princess and eventually received a check.

 

What were the dates involved like? On top of my cancellation refunds, I'm also waiting on a flight reimbursement for a B2B return trip cancelled on March 15 (submitted March 17 or so) that I haven't even gotten any kind of acknowledgement that they've received.

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

My cruise was cancelled first week of March.  I inquired to Princess about the process and filed within two weeks.  Princess advised that many providers had implemented covid refund policies so I filed with them.  Most countered that their policies changed after the original cruise date.  I then refiled with Princess and included those responses so Princess could see it was not possible to be reimbursed.  It took about two months before Princess called and said they would be processed, and a couple more weeks before check was received.  

[WNcruiser]

We also had Air Canada booked for our return from Vancouver on the Royal in May. They refused us a refund (booked directly) and we submitted all documents requested to Princess. Customer relations just told us they needed more info but Air Canada is horrific to deal with and won’t send us any more documentation. I filed a complaint with the DOT against AC, truly a horrible uncaring airline. 

 

I think I’m out of luck with both AC and Princess and have asked customer relations to please re-review and waiting on a response. 

[Starboard Forty]

11 minutes ago, Cuedon said:

 

What were the dates involved like? On top of my cancellation refunds, I'm also waiting on a flight reimbursement for a B2B return trip cancelled on March 15 (submitted March 17 or so) that I haven't even gotten any kind of acknowledgement that they've received.

The cruise was scheduled for end March but was cancelled by Princess in mid Feb.  We were notified by email on 18 Feb and the refund for the cruise was posted to the credit card on Feb 25.  

 

We did not cancel the flight until Mar 7 and the refund from Air Canada was posted (minus the $200 cancellation fee for each ticket) to the credit card on Mar 17.  

 

The initial submission to Princess for the reimbursement of the cancellation fees was made Mar 20 by email but there was no auto acknowledgement.  I re-submitted Mar 31.

 

There has been limited contact.  On Apr 24 I spoke with a Princess representative who told me I had to submit information from Air Canada.  I had already submitted information from Air Canada that made it clear they held no information on tickets for bookings made through a travel agent.  The agent at Flight Centre spoke with this particular Princess rep and feedback from the Flight Centre rep was such that he believed Princess would approve the request and the Princess rep understood the business of the travel agent booking the flight versus booking it direct with the airline.  

 

May 23 I sent an email (to customerrelations) asking that it be forwarded to the Princess agent who had been dealing with my claim asking for an update ...there was no response.

 

Jun 7 I sent another email asking for an update but this time the email was sent using the contact us on the Princess website.

 

Yesterday I received a reply saying that my claim could not be approved without information from Air Canada.

 

Long story.

 

[WNcruiser]

2 hours ago, casofilia said:

 

It would be interesting to hear from someone who booked directly with Air Canada to find if Air Canada reimbursed non-refundable flights for people who booked directly with them

 

No, they would not refund a dime. It is impossible to contact anyone from their refund department, you can only file a claim on their website which was denied. They fall under the US DOT rules however since it is to a US destination and I have filed a complaint with the DOT. THEY cancelled all flights from Vancouver-Las Vegas and refuse to issue a refund. 

[Tophat4321]

Submitted claim for airfare for cancelled flight. Claim was denied as Alaska refund policy was $$ would be good until June 7,2021. Not a happy camper. I am not going to fly or cruise until vaccine is available.

[leck57]

@Starboard Forty I also claimed non refundables (via my TA who are part of the Flight Centre Group here) in very early March. The non refundables which in part also included EZair fares were claimed very early March. To date I've received nothing. The strange thing is my TA has said these costs would be refunded by direct cheque to me, even though the cruise and fares were booked through him. Other costs like shore excursions were refunded back to my CC.

I can't work out why but I'm just being optimistically patient.