What to do when airline does not update you regarding refunds?
Back in February I cancelled a flight I booked with AirChina and asked for a refund due to COVID-19 cases. I would know later that my refund request was processed on March and I was informed, presumably like all the other people who asked for a refund, that the money should arrive to my bank account within two months.
After two months, they told me I should ask my bank to check for the transaction associated to the refund. The bank tells me they know nothing about this.
A few weeks after that, AirChina admitted that because of some technical problem, the refunds on March failed.
When I asked for more information on when the refund will arrive, the person who replied tried to pass me around departments by saying that they are the sales department and not the refund department. I told them to give me the contact of their refund department, but they told me that those contact details are not for the public.
I asked them to ask the refund department on my behalf and I haven't heard since.
I don't have so much experience with what companies do in this situation but I can't help but speculate that they are intentionally "delaying" the refund until people get tired of following up. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I would like to know what else I can do.
Does anyone have any idea on what I should do next? Is there something else I can do to get my money back?
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How long does an airline have to process a refund?
Airlines and ticket agents are required to make refunds promptly. For airlines, \u201cprompt\u201d is defined as being within 7 business days if a passenger paid by credit card, and within 20 days if a passenger paid by cash or check. For ticket agents, prompt is not defined. This may be addressed in a future DOT rulemaking.Can an airline not give you a refund?
You are entitled to a full cash refund if the airline cancels, makes a significant schedule change or significantly delays a flight, so wait as long as possible to cancel. Unless a new law is passed, airlines won't be required to give you a refund if you're the one canceling.Do airlines have to give refunds due to Covid?
Airlines and ticket agents have a legal obligation to provide refunds to consumers if the airline cancels or significantly changes a consumer's flight. However, in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines had difficulty processing the significant volume of refund requests that they received.How do I get a refund for a Cancelled flight?
In the US, airlines have no obligations to refund or reroute you when your flight is cancelled. Just like they don't have to pay flight cancellation compensation. That being said, in practice, airlines will generally try to rebook you on an alternate flight at no additional cost when this happens.Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Max Vakhtbovych, Andrea Piacquadio, Andrea Piacquadio, George Dolgikh @ Giftpundits.com