Q: Last year, my family and I had first-class tickets on American Airlines to fly from Boston to Phoenix. American delayed that flight, rebooked us and then downgraded us to coach class on another flight.
A few days later, I received an email from American that it had refunded the fare difference between first class and economy class, and advised me to contact my travel agent.
When I returned from our vacation, I contacted the travel agent at AAA, who had arranged our tour through Pleasant Holidays. The AAA travel agent contacted Pleasant Holidays, which had no record of a refund from American.
Over the course of a few months, I followed up with AAA and Pleasant Holidays on the status of this credit to no avail. Finally, I reached out to one of the American executives who you list on your website. The airline contacted me a day later and referred me to a website to check the status of the refund. That website indicated that a refund had been completed.
I still don't have our refund, though. Can you help me?
A: If you get bumped from first class to economy — that's called an involuntary downgrade — you should get a prompt refund of the fare difference. Looking at your case, I can see the problem — and a possible complication.
The complication is the fare difference. Airlines often calculate the fare difference in a way that is advantageous to them. So, if American were to give you a refund, it would be based on the difference between a first-class ticket and an expensive walk-up fare in economy class instead of a less expensive fare purchased in advance. That way, it wouldn't have to refund you much — or anything at all.
The second issue is that you have a tour operator and an agent involved. A good travel agent can fight for your refund, but the bureaucracy of getting the money from the airline to the tour operator to the travel adviser and finally to you — well, that's probably why it's taking so long.
