Questions and Answers

Dear Lucky
I am kind of desperate and shocked at AA !
I had booked two round trip AA tickets from LAX to Barcelona connecting in Charlottesville for myself and daughter.
On our flight back our connecting flight from CLT to LAX was canceled due to AA inability to secure a pilot.( see flight info below).
Consequentially I purchased two tickets online to secure our return back to LA as it took 3 hours to find a rep.
Once I finally was able to talk to the representative they advised me that they just found more suited flights for me and that I can just call and cancel the ones I had booked as they were booked within 24 hours.
I accepted their reservation and proceeded with my cancellation. However no refund was processed.

I have since filed a dispute the charge with both American airlines and with Visa
Initially I received a letter from AA confirming the refund however simultaneously Visa informed me that my dispute was dismissed because their notion that the tickets were purchased with 48 hours of departure rendering them nonrefundable.
Ignoring all the facts around why they were booked and canceled in the first place.
American airlines website shows that the tickets were refunded however they have since reversed the refund and charged my account for it again.
I have spent over 40 hours on the phone with my credit card and online with AA as i have filled your refund forms repeatedly attempting to get my money refunded.
Not only did we have an incredibly awful return trip causing y daughter to get sick s well as staying in an awful motel overnight that AA also has not refunded yet.
But now I have been charged for my trip twice.

Please help me. This seems like a huge injustice and reflects incredibly poorly on AA

Rasha Shalaby
Ticket # 0012103735478
Hanna Montague (child)
Ticket # 0012103735479
Refund requested
672.70 +672.70 USD = $1344 USD
plus $110 for the overnight motel
=$1444 USD

Hi Rasha,

Just to be clear – you flew LAX – CLT (Charlotte) – BCN. On the return leg you flew BCN – CLT, and the CLT – LAX flight was cancelled by AA. But to be clear, your [B]ticket[/B] was not cancelled. Are you saying that after landing in CLT from BCN, AA cancelled your ticket? The flight was cancelled. Did AA try to rebook you on a different flight to LAX? CLT has a Customer Service desk to help rebook. After you bought two new tickets to LAX, you finally got an AA rep on the phone and they told you to cancel your tickets that you just bought?

Which flight did you fly on – the one you bought or the one you were rebooked on by the rep? I think if you complain to AA succinctly and explain what happened – the motel and sickness are irrelevant. Just explain that you bought two new tickets and were told you get a refund (about which the rep was wrong). Chances are you will not, but keep it short and sweet. If you did not fly the tickets, but instead your original ticket (rebooked from the cancelled flight), you will have at the very least $472 for both you and your daughter to use within a year (the unused ticket minus a $200 change fee).

Good luck.

Wow thanks so much for the fast response. My clarifications are below:

[I]
“Just to be clear – you flew LAX – CLT (Charlotte) – BCN. On the return leg you flew BCN – CLT, and the CLT – LAX flight was cancelled by AA. But to be clear, your [B]ticket[/B] was not cancelled.[/I]” [B]correct[/B]
[I]”Are you saying that after landing in CLT from BCN, AA cancelled your ticket? The flight was cancelled.[/I]” [B]No they only canceled my flight and initially told us there were no flights available to LAX for the next 18 hours. Given that i had an emergnency back in LA with my son arriving in LAX the next morning from a flight from germany with no one to pick him up I proceeded to purchase the first flight i found on AA back to LA which was only 8 hours later contrary to what the agents had yelled out.
However once i finally spoke to an agent. 3 hours later now. the agent rebooked me on another fight that would get me to LAX just in time to pick up my son. I showed her the second ticket I had created with AA and she told me to just go head and cancel it and that its not an issue bc i can cancel any booking within 24 hours. [/B]

[I]”Did AA try to rebook you on a different flight to LAX? CLT has a Customer Service desk to help rebook”.[/I][B]
yes they did yet the Aiprt was going through many canceled flights and it took 3 hours to talk to a rebooking agent. Who as i mentioned rebooked me on another flight and told me to just cancel the one I booked in replacement.[/B]

[I] “After you bought two new tickets to LAX, you finally got an AA rep on the phone and the told you to cancel your tickets that you just bought? “[/I]
[B]No I finally got to the agent in line and they told me to cancel it on the phone which i did subsequntially.[/B]

[I]”Which flight did you fly on – the one you bought or the one you were rebooked on by the rep?”[/I] [B]I flew on the one they rebooked me on and was told the other will be refunded.[/B]

[I]”I think if you complain to AA succinctly and explain what happened [/I]”- [B]I did complain to AA and they initially refunded my ticket.. they even send me info saying they refunded it and it’s still marked as refunded on their site. However meanwhile My visa dispute decided that based on the refund policy i was not due a refund completely ignoring the circumstances to why I was purchased the ticket and why i was requesting the refund.[/B]

[I]”the motel and sickness are irrelevant.” [/I][B]only reason the motel is relevant is because they were suppose to also refind the motel[/B]

Just explain that you bought two new tickets and were told you get a refund (about which the rep was wrong). Chances are you will not, but keep it short and sweet. If you did not fly the tickets, but instead your original ticket (rebooked from the cancelled flight), you will have at the very least $472 for both you and your daughter to use within a year (the unused ticket minus a $200 change fee).

Good luck.[/QUOTE]

[I][QUOTE=”Rasha Shalaby, post: 62405, member: 4949″]Wow thanks so much for the fast response. My clarifications are below:

“However once i finally spoke to an agent. 3 hours later now. the agent rebooked me on another fight that would get me to LAX just in time to pick up my son. I showed her the second ticket I had created with AA and she told me to just go head and cancel it and that its not an issue bc i can cancel any booking within 24 hours.”
[…]
“yes they did yet the Aiprt was going through many canceled flights and it took 3 hours to talk to a rebooking agent. Who as i mentioned rebooked me on another flight and told me to just cancel the one I booked in replacement.”
[…]
“No I finally got to the agent in line and they told me to cancel it on the phone which i did subsequntially.”
[…]
I flew on the one they rebooked me on and was told the other will be refunded.
[…]
I did complain to AA and they initially refunded my ticket.. they even send me info saying they refunded it and it’s still marked as refunded on their site.
[…]
However meanwhile My visa dispute decided that based on the refund policy i was not due a refund completely ignoring the circumstances to why I was purchased the ticket and why i was requesting the refund. [/QUOTE][/I][QUOTE=”Rasha Shalaby, post: 62405, member: 4949″][/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

@Rasha – my first suggestion – call your credit card and withdraw the dispute (first ask if you can re-submit if you can’t work it out with AA. They will probably allow you to refile IF you explain you are trying to work it out.

Second, where do things stand with AA? Do you have evidence – a printout or screenshot of:
[B]”[I]they even send me info saying they refunded it and it’s still marked as refunded on their site. “[/I][/B]

If you have that, you should submit it. If you don’t, then you call customer service, and ask nicely to speak to a supervisor. When asked why, explain nicely that you were told there were no flights for 18 hours. When you found flights on AA to LAX, you purchased them on your own. By the time you got to an agent 3 hour laters, they rebooked you and told you your tickets would be refunded. That’s it. Short and sweet. Give it a try.