Who's At Fault For Not Clarifying Fare Rules?

Buyer beware: AmericanExpressTravel.com is not really American Express.....it's really just orbitz (and Orbitz does not stand behind the customer the way that AmEx does, in my opinion). Not surprised by Ed's experience....BUT....Orbitz should make this right instead of simply blaming the consumer.

If the airline is 20-30% more expensive, I'd rather book through an OTA.
Lufty does expensive fares best!

This happens all the time, even on airline websites (looking at you, Delta). It is absolutely criminal as sellers are not disclosing the full fare information. The airline should be at fault as they are the ones who file the ticket and the rules. Though Amex should be able to help out given their relationship with each airline (via Orbitz).

My opinion is just that, it doesn't have any legal merit. The way I view this is that, absent of any rules being provided to the consumer, it is reasonable to expect that the consumer would assume that the rules are the same for outbound as for inbound (especially if the same class of service).

Since we (still) live in a consumer-friendly society, I would expect AET to honor the cancellation with a 2x$500 penalty, even if those rules are not explicitly stated. It seems like a solid compromise and reiterates to the consumer that he/she won't be left holding the bag if something goes wrong. Travel booking is largely a commodity nowadays, the differentiation is in customer service and reliability.

Skip AET at this point, and simply dispute the charge (less the $500 fee that you knew about) via American Express (the credit card people).

If nothing was disclosed to you, and nobody (Neither AET nor BA) can see the fare rules, then what? No refund? If not, that's quite a steep penalty, and it would be illegal, since the penalty was never disclosed when the ticket was purchased. It's not about simply "the fare rules" not being disclosed, it's about the full price not being disclosed, and any penalties are part of the price. Which, again, neither AET nor BA can fully understand.

The statement that "...even if the rules are not posted or if the website is not functioning, the fact that it is not posted and you still purchase the ticket that you are agreeing to any rule that may or may not be posted" is just plain wrong (and I can smell the AET desperation from here). Nobody, still, has been able to furnish terms of the fare, which (again) was never disclosed to the purchaser. We have consumer protection laws for a reason, and this is one of them.

The DOT would be very interested in this, along with the Conde Nast Ombudsman (hey, it's an option). I don't think American Express would be too pleased to know about this, either.

The default is that all fares are refundable without penalty. Anything other than that should be explicitly disclosed in fare rules. If nothing has been disclosed through fare rules (which is the case of this incident), there would be no restriction or penalty for a refund or change whatsoever. It is as simple as that.

No fare rule = no restrictions. If there are restrictions then they will need to spell it out. Dispute the transaction and just deduct $500 for outbound is what I would do

I would most definitely take this up with the DOT and/of CFPB. I imagine one or both of them would find this especially interesting

So, my question is whether he booked two one ways or a round trip. If he booked two one-ways, all bets are off. (I'm not going to touch what happens if he thought he was booking a round trip and instead got a creative ticket from the OTA, ie two one ways.)

But, if he booked a round trip that was a combination of fare rules (which is typical) then the most restrictive rules apply. I.e., what he sees should be the price he pays.

He might want to drop the Cranky Concierge a line and see if they're willing to help (even for a small fee.) Worst case scenario is that he pays the bill and the sues AmEx travel. He'll probably win in small claims court. Although $5k is on the high end for some jurisdictions.

Sounds like a job for Chris Elliott. 🙂

I would definitely contact the DoT, FTC, and my state's attorney general or consumer affairs office. I would let AET know that is where you are headed and give them one last chance to do the right thing before you escalate.

I agree that if they don't spell out a specific rule then the expectation should be that the ticket is refundable, not that it's not refundable.

@Lucky - do you really read the fare rules in detail before booking every one of your tickets?

@ Peter -- It depends on the ticket. 95% of my revenue tickets are domestic tickets which I know come with a $200 change fee. For the times I do book paid international business class tickets, yes, I'm always sure to check the change fee on the ticket.

Wow, this is insane! No way a consumer should be liable if he/she can't even view the fare rules!

one problem here is that BA loves to collect the money/miles for C/F fares, but balks at refunding or even making changes - maybe they got in so much trouble with DOT/EU regulators that they simply decided not to publish their rules, rather than putting it out there that they will not allow refunds or changes?
had an issue with them a few years ago where their website went wonky (as the brits say) and would not allow a change before the outbound - but even while admitting that, they would not allow a change or refund once travel had begun - and they were fairly shameless about it (whatever 'SOL' is in britspeak) - that was the last time i flew TATL with BA...