Would-be European traveler from Seattle fights for $4,700 refund | Travel Troubleshooter

Daniel Quinn-Shea’s airlines are canceling their flights to Lisbon, Portugal during the pandemic. But Ovago, its online agency, is taking its time with a refund.

Q: I booked four plane tickets from Seattle to Lisbon, Portugal in December 2019 from Ovago, an online travel agent. As our travel date approached last May, I was concerned about our flights and contacted our airlines (Air Canada and Lufthansa). . A representative told us our flights had been canceled and I needed to speak to Ovago about a refund.

I contacted Ovago and a representative told me that they were in the process of determining refunds and that we would likely receive a refund, minus a “processing fee”. A representative from Ovago promised to contact us.

Nobody called or answered, so I called Ovago. An agent told me they were working on it and would contact me as soon as they heard from the airline. Ovago never called us.

I filed an unsuccessful credit card dispute and complaint with the Consumer Protection Department of the Washington Attorney General. However, while this complaint was being processed, we received an email from Ovago stating that a full refund was allowed. We have mountains of documents about our attempt to obtain a refund from Ovago in accordance with their stated policy of “a full refund on flight cancellation”. Can you help us get our $ 4,722 back? – Daniel Quinn-Shea, Seattle

A: If your airlines have canceled your flights, you should get a quick and full refund. I can’t believe your credit card company didn’t see it that way and sided with the online travel agent.

Your case was complicated. To start with, Ovago preferred communication by phone. This means that you never received written confirmation of your refund request last year. The only written response seems to be Ovago’s rebuttal of your credit card dispute and brief confirmation that it would issue a refund earlier this year. That is unfortunate.

It looks like your online agency has made some claims about your tickets that you think are untrue. That further clouded the problem and may have confused your credit card issuer. Another unfortunate fact: filing a credit card dispute can slow down a refund even further. I think that may have happened in your case.

In a perfect world, both your online travel agent and credit card company would be by your side, fighting to get you a timely refund from an airline.

Remember, according to Department of Transportation regulations, if an airline cancels your flight, you are entitled to a refund within seven working days if you paid by credit card and within 20 working days if you paid by check. The airline cannot force you to accept a ticket credit.

I think Ovago just needed a nudge. It had already agreed in writing to give you a full refund. I contacted the company and you got your $ 4,722 back.

Christopher Elliott
Christopher Elliott is the author of How To Be The World’s Smartest Traveler (National Geographic) and the Travel Troubleshooter column, which appears Mondays on seattletimes.com/travel.