Q. I paid $ 7,155 for a business class ticket from Hartford to Dublin sur Aer Lingus. When a pilot strike threatened my trip, the airline sent me three options by e-mail, including a full refund, which I selected.
Aer Lingus reimbursed me $ 6,096, but retained $ 1,058, saying that business class tickets only qualify for a reimbursement of 85%. I have filed several complaints, called on several occasions and even sent a letter recorded to the CEO. No one answered. How can I get my money back?
Martha Rhin, West Hartford, Conn.
A. Aer Lingus owes you the full refund he has promised. Period. Under Regulation 261 of the EU, passengers are entitled to a full refund if their flight is canceled due to a strike. Airlines cannot impose arbitrary reimbursement ceilings based on the class of prices in this situation.
The 85% policy of Aer Lingus seems to violate EU 261. Worse, the airline has ignored your documented requests for months, and it is a blatant violation of consumer confidence.
Aer Lingus should have dealt with your refund quickly after asking for it. Its customer service service should have set out its policies in advance and degenerated your case when you had a problem. And, of course, the CEO’s office should have recognized your letter when you wrote it rather than on stone.
Maybe Aer Lingus confused when you reimburse your ticket. He thought that you had asked for a reimbursement of the ticket for reasons other than the strike, and the rules of your business class tickets gave you only an 85%refund.
You have done everything correctly. You have recorded the correspondence, pursued several channels and contacted the executives. But when companies are committed, persistence alone is not enough. It was at this time that the involvement of a defender or regulator such as the United States Ministry of Transport or the Irish Aviation Authority becomes critical. The filing of a complaint with one or two of these agencies could have been sufficient to light a fire under Aer Lingus to give you what he promised.
By the way, you don’t have to send a letter to the CEO next time. You can start at the start of the executive channel, which could lead to a faster response. I publish the e-mails of all the leaders of Aer Lingus on my consumer defense site, Elliott.org.
I contacted Aer Lingus on your behalf. “Aer Lingus sincerely apologizes for the delay in the treatment of this customer’s full reimbursement,” replied a representative. “The in suspense amount has now been treated by priority.”
Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy (elliottadvocacy.org), a non -profit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Send him an email at Chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him to elliottadvocacy.org/help.
