Update on refund for AA flights

In case others are in this same situation, I wanted to provide an update on getting a refund for our non-refundable AA tickets. Thanks to input from this forum and specifically Carol, we were able to get a refund from AA.

Our trip to the islands was supposed to start yesterday Of course, getting a refund is a tiny thing compared to the challenges faced by the islands’ residents. We felt it was too soon to go on the trip and wanted to cancel our flights. We bought our tickets in March 2016, and the cancellation policy for non-refundable tickets is to use it by 1 year from date of purchase. We are not able to travel after the 1st week of Jan through March, and this fall/winter seems too soon for us to go back to the islands. Soon after Maria, I started asking AA for a refund by calling Customer Service, but soon realized that approach may not work.

I took the advice from the TTOL St Martin forum. Someone said to write a letter to AA on their Compliments/Complaints page. I did so and explained why we couldn't use the ticket before Mar 2018. I received a response fairly quickly and the answer was yes! We were very thankful because technically they didn't have to give us a refund for non-refundable tickets. We got the refund today, so it took about 10 days for it to show up on our credit card.

Our original flight from MIA to STT did go on time yesterday and looked to be about 1/2 full when I checked on Mon.

We also received a complete refund from Peter Island Resort.

Looking forward to returning to the islands...maybe next fall/winter. I think I will buy trip insurance next time, although I realize I need to read the fine print on exactly what situations are covered.

Thanks so much for your input.

http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/s...e=5#Post1747519

My brother and two friends had tickets booked for 2 Dec from LAX to STT. They explained that the Moorings will not reopen until 9 Dec and American fully refunded their tickets. They were not required to do so.
G

Glad it worked out for you. Overall, I think the airlines have done a decent job in this situation of doing the right thing for their customers.

Has anybody had any luck with Delta? Or tickets purchased through Orbitz?

Again, check out the posts on the SXM forum...

We had tickets booked on Delta (booked with Delta not a third party) for Nov 3rd and they called us last week and offered us a full refund!!

Yes. We were scheduled for an SVI charter from 25 Oct to 04 Nov, 2017, flying into STT on Delta with non-refundable tickets. It took about an hour, but Delta re-issued those tickets with no change fee and no fare differential for Apr 18 to Apr 28, 2018.

The hangup is that we had purchased our tickets direct from Delta (no travel agent) in early Feb 2017, and the official hurricane policy for such tickets is that (1) only re-booking fees will be waived (any fare increase must be paid) and (2) travel must be completed within one year of the ticket issue date. I was able to convince Delta to waive both restrictions for two reasons. First, it is fundamentally unfair to punish with a short travel deadling those customers whose money Delta has held the longest. Second, the hurricane policy applicable to tickets issued by professional travel agents contains neither restriction. Here is a Dropbox link to that policy.
Delta Professional Advisory: 2017-09-23

Act quickly, because both the lay and professional policies have a re-ticketing deadline of Oct 31, 2017.

Another yes for Delta. They were very helpful with us in transferring our 2 weeks in November to 10 days in January. No increase in fare, no fees. Sweet!

We still have a shorter trip planned for Nov to Jost to assess, regroup, and stabilize. Fingers crossed all legs of the journey are uneventful!

Imagine that, companies doing good by their customers under unusual circumstances. Seems like a smart approach - take a short-term loss but generate goodwill and positive buzz, and ideally increased business long-term.

We changed our flight for next week and AA gave us a travel voucher for the fare difference. I noticed they charged us a change fee, so I called them and they gave us another voucher for $400 for the refunded fees.

Was this flight booked AFTER the hurricane?

I booked the original a couple of months ago and changed it last week.

I still think you should have gotten a REFUND. That's what others have gotten..

I could have pressed for a refund, but we were cool just changing to a future flight.

OK, I would have demanded my money back. No reason for them to keep your money for free for that time..

You were luckier than us. We were flying Southwest on Sept 16 from BWI to SJU and then Air Sunshine from SJU to Virgin Gorda. (our return was Sept 26.) We asked SW for a refund or credit (our credit had to be used within a year-Feb 2018.) We asked for the credit to be extended due to this HORRIBLE hurricane. NOTHING! I called, emailed, and used Messenger on Facebook. NOTHING! We cancelled Air Sunshine and they charged us a $50 fee per person per segment so $200 total. They said the rest of the ticket could be used next year (less the $200!) We then went to the Azores and saw the news about Puerto Rico....Horrible devastation! We again asked SW about a refund or extended credit and they said no! We returned at the end of September and AGAIN approached SW. This time they said they would forward my request for exception! They finally credited our CC for the return flight as it turned out...it was cancelled! Yesterday in the mail we received four drink coupons per person!!! Guess they know we needed them!! Now....what to do about Air Sunshine.....

Hoping Cape Air can come through for us.. we were set to go down Dec 10-20th, but it looks like our boat may stay up here this winter instead of making the trip down there. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />

We had a charter thru Sunsail and nonrefundable airfare thru Delta and both refunded trouble free. Vacation was schuduled for Oct. 20th. Wishing everyone the best. Look forward to seeing the beautiful Bvi's in 2018!

We had an almost identical situation but unfortunately I did not have much luck with AA. I followed the exact same protocol, and explained our situation very carefully; we even have mitigating circumstances that will make rescheduling to later in the year or next year impossible. But no dice from AA.

All I was "offered" was a travel voucher for the value of the flights (which is standard procedure when you cancel a non-refundable reservation anyway). I also got a condescending reminder from them that "non-refundable means non-refundable." Yes, that's a quote from AA's response.

So it seems like it may depend on whom you get answering the email.

What time frame were you trying to cancel the flights?
G

Last week of October.

Personal contact, not e-mail, is the preferred method of contact. I talked to three different people at Delta, on two different occasions, for a total of an hour. On the second call, I asked to talk to a supervisor. She apologetically put me on hold several times, as she had to get authority from an internal "help desk" apparently accessible only to frontline Delta agents.

We have had good luck with most everything. We got our deposit back in full from Mark (Orion, TMM) and got flights (Delta...super helpful agents) switched to Antigua without a change fee. Also the folks at Horizon base in Antigua have been great to work with too.

Easy enough to cancel post sail room on STT, but no word yet back from Sandra at Mongoose Apartments on that deposit for pre sail lodging. Given what I saw of CGB, may be awhile before I hear from her.

I tend to agree with you, but the OP specifically laid out a method of sending an email as a supposedly better way to get action from the airline. I did call AA and got nowhere, so I figured an email might in this case work better (as others have been reporting).

I also got nowhere with trip insurance paying us back for the flights, since they said that the airline has offered a change of dates and therefore the trip is not technically "cancelled." This is why, in my estimation, trip insurance is generally a rip-off. They will always find some loophole to avoid paying a claim.

Glad your interaction with Delta worked out...it seems it may depend on airline, status with that airline, and even which agent handles the case.

As reported on the SXM board, try this website for AA anyway.

Thank you to everyone on this board. We were scheduled for Nov 11th CLT to STT. I called AA and changed our flights to December with no issues or extra charges. Yes, it was a non refundable ticket. They told me I get one free shot at a change. If I needed to make another it would be $200. Thanks again guys and gals for your help and advise.

I just got a full refund. We were flying non stop from Charlotte to St Thomas and they no longer are flying non stop. Because of that scheduling change I got a full refund instead of changing my ticket.

Did have to call twice though.

I am now trying to book for February and am not liking the fares.

Oh well.
Ellen

Just to follow up, we are using VIAirlink for the flight from STT to Anegada. I emailed them yesterday to change from November to December. They are going to hit me with a change fee! I am just starting to argue with them.

Ellen, have you seen what AA is charging for CLT to STT in December? Not only are the direct flights gone as you stated. But $3,000+ round trip!?!?!?!

Yes I have been watching. Taking the fun out of traveling for sure.

Just booked CLT to STT for Nov 5th. Had to take the CLT. MIA STT route and only seats available were those requiring a premium but did not have choice. Ended up around 800 included the insurance. Not a fan of insurance but the insurance did make me whole on the trip I had to cancel on Oct 17 without any questions. Have not looked at December yet the 3000 dollar number will kill that trip.

Ken
S/V Imiloa

Yes, AA1153 (CLT-STT) Although listed, has shown canceled for weeks. (not flown) I guess they are waiting for more tourists.

I'm a little nervous as I'm booked on AA1391 (MIA - STT) in late November. I logged onto the AA website and checked on that flight - they only show the status a few days in advance but that flight is cancelled every day until this Friday which is the furthest out they will show. I'm not going to bother calling AA because whoever I speak with probably won't have correct info so I checked out the VI Port Authority web site which was a little more enlightening. They stated that currently only 5 of the 11 gates are operational and until more are open each airline is only allowed one flight per day. That would be AA943 with all other AA flights being cancelled including AA1391. They said that once more gates are operational more flights will be allowed in. The port authority web site posted just yesterday that they have a target of November 1st to open the remaining gates (thus allowing more flights). However, the VI Port Authority's Facebook page also posted yesterday that the remaining gates will be open by December 1st. I'm really hoping that the Facebook post was incorrect and the web site post was correct. I should also note that I was originally scheduled to fly from CLT to STT but that flight was cancelled so they moved me to AA1391. I am traveling with someone and they couldn't get us two seats next to each other suggesting that the flight is relatively full on a 757, so it isn't a demand issue. And that was 3 weeks ago.

Eriesailor, I have that happen several times on the way to STT, wife and I separated. I have always been able to get someone to switch so we are together. It seems to me most are going to STT for the same reason I am and are very accommodating. Just ask around once on board.

Ndfaniinc, yeah thats the plan - I'm hoping someone will switch. Right now I'm more worried about the flight actually happening. I don't think I can make it down to Miami in time to catch AA943 unless I fly the day before and overnight in Miami. I'm somewhat optimistic that more flights will be happening by late November though. Fingers crossed!

Last Sunday, only 2 commercial gates were operational so maybe the other 3 are the charter gates. The charter terminal appeared to be unaffected. The 2 gates they had for commercial were very crowded but at least you could still buy cold beer!!

Jason, how did the progress look on the opening of the remaining gates? Does it appear that the target of November 1st is plausible or does it still look like a war zone in there?

They were walled off so I couldn't get a good look at the state of them. When I walked by the windows on the outside 2 weeks earlier it looked pretty grim but that was 3 weeks ago. I'm sure a lot has changed.

I just got off the phone with the VI Port Authority (surprisingly easy to get in touch with them). They did confirm that the only flight for AA coming in and out was AA943 until more gates are open. I asked about the status of the gates being ready by 11/28 and she said "maybe". She had no updated info on that. So yeah, I'm getting nervous, especially since it appears that AA943 is sold out for my dates.

So here is the latest info - one of the guys on my charter called AA to switch from AA1391 to AA943. They did it for him but said it was probably unnecessary because according to their latest intel, all gates at STT should be open by Nov 15th and all flights will be coming and going as scheduled. I hope that is really the case!