Anyone receive Airline refunds instead of credits?

[tlcdoula]

Well it’s official west jet cancelled our flights for our trip to Disneyland for Halloween. I knew it was going to happen but still sucks.

They are only offering a credit good for 24 months. Has anyone had any luck getting the credit back on the original form of payment?

 

[bcwife76]

Nope, we've had two flights cancelled by WJ, August to Orlando and Oct to LA and we.have their travel credit

 

[Reepicheep]

Well it’s official west jet cancelled our flights for our trip to Disneyland for Halloween...

If WestJet cancelled the flights, then if all else fails you should be able to get a refund from your credit card company (assuming you paid by credit card). If you used another form of payment (Airmiles, for example), then the situation would be more complicated.

In my case, I booked Edmonton/Orlando return flights with Swoop in February, Swoop cancelled the flights in March, and I contacted TD Bank in August for a refund, which was given to me within ten days. I documented my experience in the following thread:

Refund of Swoop fares

 

[gskywalker]

I did chargebacks via my credit card for flights with Westjet and Air Transat, so I have full refunds even if the airlines didn't want to refund the flights.

 

[Sue M]

I recieved full refund from Alaska Airlines for my Aug flights no problem.

 

[Reepicheep]

I recieved full refund from Alaska Airlines for my Aug flights no problem.

I had booked a flight for my daughter with American Airlines which was cancelled, and that flight was refunded, without any fuss, by the airline. In fact, because of currency fluctuations, my daughter made $5 profit on the transaction.

In general, it seems like US airlines were more willing to give refunds than Canadian airlines.

 

[tlcdoula]

Thanks for all the replies, I sat on hold for over 3 hours with West Jet today and finally gave up. I will try again tomorrow and see if I can get through. On a good note I did get through to the Disneyland ticket line and they refunded me for the one ticket we won't be able to use so that was great!!

 

[Sue M]

I had booked a flight for my daughter with American Airlines which was cancelled, and that flight was refunded, without any fuss, by the airline. In fact, because of currency fluctuations, my daughter made $5 profit on the transaction.

In general, it seems like US airlines were more willing to give refunds than Canadian airlines.

It looks that way doesn’t it! I prefer to fly Alaska because living in Vancouver I can just go thru US customs here, get on plane with short hop to SeaTac, and connect to direct flight to MCO or FLL depending on my destination. Or just drive to Seattle to get flight.
It’s the one thing I hate about the Canadian airlines, no direct flights to Florida and have to get off plane, and go thru customs in Toronto. Worse, used to have to collect luggage too. Makes for a long travel day as you probably need a 2 hr layover. Bad things have happened to me in Toronto With flights.

 

[Reepicheep]

It’s the one thing I hate about the Canadian airlines, no direct flights to Florida...

We've only gone to Disney World once, and our two stop all day trip from Edmonton to Orlando was made even longer by a three hour weather delay in Chicago. That's why I was looking forward to, this year, taking a direct flight using Swoop.

It appears from your trip history that you don't ever visit Disneyland. Do you mind if I ask why? Although there are obviously many ways in which Disney World is superior to Disneyland, the reverse is also true, and overall I have a strong preference for Disneyland. My top reasons for preferring Disneyland are (1) high humidity and near daily thunderstorms in Florida, (2) transportation time from the Disney resorts to the parks, and (3) the necessity of booking fast passes two months before hand.

There used to be many direct flights between Edmonton and LAX, but in recent years the direct flights have been too expensive, so we usually end up flying to Vancouver and going through customs there. For years, we could catch a direct flight leaving Edmonton at 7am, catch an airport bus from either LAX or SNA to Anaheim, drop off our luggage at the hotel, and be inside one of the parks by 1pm. I really miss those days.

 

[Carolynleanne]

Thanks for all the replies, I sat on hold for over 3 hours with West Jet today and finally gave up. I will try again tomorrow and see if I can get through. On a good note I did get through to the Disneyland ticket line and they refunded me for the one ticket we won't be able to use so that was great!!

You need to go through twitter. Handled all my stuff via private dm and never had to wait on the phone.

PS - Weve got a stupid amount of credits, but thats fine with us. We'll fly again within the next 12 months.

 

[bcwife76]

It looks that way doesn’t it! I prefer to fly Alaska because living in Vancouver I can just go thru US customs here, get on plane with short hop to SeaTac, and connect to direct flight to MCO or FLL depending on my destination. Or just drive to Seattle to get flight.
It’s the one thing I hate about the Canadian airlines, no direct flights to Florida and have to get off plane, and go thru customs in Toronto. Worse, used to have to collect luggage too. Makes for a long travel day as you probably need a 2 hr layover. Bad things have happened to me in Toronto With flights.

Westjet does have direct flights from Vancouver to MCO, we were booked on one in August before it was cancelled. Calgary also offers direct flights to MCO. But I know the Alaska flight you are taking about, it's a good alternative when there are no direct flights from YVR.

 

[caisland]

Got a note from Airmiles that I can apply Nov 1st for refund of dollars and have airmiles put back in my account.
Got refund for seats from Westjet already.

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

I purchased the Manulife insurance when I booked our Airmiles flights in January for our April trip.

Initially Manulife said that since the airline carrier would be offering me a voucher for future travel that my claim was denied. I didn't agree with that and emailed them back requesting 100% reimbursement of my airmiles and taxes/fees.

I received a reply a month later advising that that they will will pay my claim "on a one time exceptional basis"........whatever that means.....guess another way of telling me I'm lucky ??!!

Anyways, I haven't received my refund yet, but given it took 6 months to get to this stage, I can wait a few more months - especially since we decided not to travel 'til at least 2022.

 

[ottawamom]

Got a note from Airmiles that I can apply Nov 1st for refund of dollars and have airmiles put back in my account.
Got refund for seats from Westjet already.

Did you have insurance on those flights? Did Airmiles previously tell you you would only have a credit? I'm wondering if it is worth it for me to call and inqire about getting my Airmiles back. Booked for April 2020 and told I would only have a credit with the airline good for two years. Which essentially means I lose my money because I won't be travelling before summer 2022 at the earliest.

 

[tinkerone]

Did you have insurance on those flights? Did Airmiles previously tell you you would only have a credit? I'm wondering if it is worth it for me to call and inqire about getting my Airmiles back. Booked for April 2020 and told I would only have a credit with the airline good for two years. Which essentially means I lose my money because I won't be travelling before summer 2022 at the earliest.

Airmiles had originally told me I would only get a credit with AC flight so I didn't cancel, then out of the blue I received an email from them saying the flight was canceled and to call them, they would refund the AM's and taxes I paid. I had no insurance. Not sure how it would go if the credit has already been issued but it can't hurt to call them back and ask again....and again if necessary. You have nothing to lose.

 

[LuvMyEAR]

WestJet has direct flights from Halifax, which are a game-changer on travel day, for sure! I will never, ever deliberately book a flight which goes through Toronto. It’s always a horrible experience.

We will be cancelling our Nov 28 trip and soon start the process of trying to get our refund from WestJet. I booked one as a companion ticket through my RBC WJ credit card, so this will be interesting. I will let you all know how it goes.

 

[bardays]

Air Canada gave me credit that never expires. As long as the airline doesn't expire, I am good with that.

 

[ottawamom]

I'd be happy with that too. I purchased my flights on Air Canada through Airmiles and Airmiles put a 2 year cap (at the time) on the credit for the flights. I'd be happy to have them keep the Airmiles if they would just extend it to non-expiring like Air Canada. I know I will be using them down the road I just don't know how far down the road that is.

I'm going to call this coming week and see if anything has changed.

 

[tlcdoula]

You need to go through twitter. Handled all my stuff via private dm and never had to wait on the phone.

PS - Weve got a stupid amount of credits, but thats fine with us. We'll fly again within the next 12 months.

That worked great thank you for letting me know about using twitter. I was able to get everything straightened out and cancelled for our first trip. They would only give us credits good for 24 months but I am sure I will be able to use them by then even if I book something a year out after that. Come Novmeber I will have to go through it again and cancel our group trip for December... Twitter will definitely be used again.. thanks again.

 

[caisland]

Did you have insurance on those flights? Did Airmiles previously tell you you would only have a credit? I'm wondering if it is worth it for me to call and inqire about getting my Airmiles back. Booked for April 2020 and told I would only have a credit with the airline good for two years. Which essentially means I lose my money because I won't be travelling before summer 2022 at the earliest.

No insurance purchased. I am thinking the offer of cash back is because it is NOT a domestic flight. SIL had AM flight to Calgary cancelled and received no such offer.