Airline seat reservations gone awry

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sophie131
sophie131 Posts: 853 Forumite
edited 27 February 2015 at 11:00PM in Consumer rights
Hiya,

I hope this is the right board to post this in.

I booked flights to the U.S back in August and in November decided to pay for extra legroom seats to the tune of £65.

In mid November, the airline changed planes and placed me elsewhere on the plane with no extra legroom. I phoned the company and asked if they could just put me back in extra legroom - they said no, I would have to be refunded and rebook my seats - the refund could take 2 billing cycles of my credit card (I find this strange, but I did wait!)

Mid January and I still have no refund. I phoned again and they put my refund request through a second time. Told me 4 weeks for refund. I also backed up my complaint through email.

I am now 5 weeks past the phone call I made in January and I still have no refund!!

It seems that I have been waiting nearly 4 months for a refund! Can anyone help me with my rights as a consumer here or what my next steps should be with this company?

Thanks for any help.
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  • mgdavid
    mgdavid Posts: 6,705 Forumite
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    which airline?
    who did you book through, or was it direct with the airline?
    The questions that get the best answers are the questions that give most detail....
  • sophie131
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    It's American Airlines and I did book directly through them.
  • CKhalvashi
    CKhalvashi Posts: 12,060 Forumite
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    Did you just book 'standard' seats, selecting those with extra legroom, or did you book 'premium economy' or similar?

    There's probably something in the ticket to state they can change the seats, which is often used when they use a different type of aircraft (one of the new 787s instead of a 767, for example, as I don't know what routes their 787 is doing at the moment).

    In the airline business, if you haven't paid extra for it, you can't expect it.
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  • visidigi
    visidigi Posts: 6,440 Forumite
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    CKhalvashi wrote: »
    Did you just book 'standard' seats, selecting those with extra legroom, or did you book 'premium economy' or similar?

    There's probably something in the ticket to state they can change the seats, which is often used when they use a different type of aircraft (one of the new 787s instead of a 767, for example, as I don't know what routes their 787 is doing at the moment).

    In the airline business, if you haven't paid extra for it, you can't expect it.


    Whats that got to do with the OP's case? They are chasing a refund the airline has agreed is due.

    OP was the total £65? I'd be getting in touch with the credit card company anyway to advise them this is now a questioned transaction
  • sophie131
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    CKhalvashi wrote: »
    In the airline business, if you haven't paid extra for it, you can't expect it.


    This is the point, I have paid extra for it. The specific seat is called Main Cabin Extra with AA. I could have chosen standard seats for free, but I chose the one with extra legroom for a premium.

    The new plane had the same type of seats on it so I don't see why it is taking 4 months! I have receipts to prove I have paid for an upgraded seat to the same level twice for the same leg of the journey.
  • sophie131
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    visidigi wrote: »
    Whats that got to do with the OP's case? They are chasing a refund the airline has agreed is due.

    OP was the total £65? I'd be getting in touch with the credit card company anyway to advise them this is now a questioned transaction



    Yes, the total was £65, not a huge amount of money - but I want it back!

    I was thinking about raising it with the credit card company but I was concerned because I haven't flown yet and wondered it it would affect my flights in anyway?
  • paddyrg
    paddyrg Posts: 13,543 Forumite
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    Shouldn't affect your flights unless AA are complete morons. It could possibly be that they have a rubbish system that won't release the money until after the flight in case they can resolve it for free somehow, but that's their problem. I'd ask the credit card company for help.
  • ThumbRemote
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    Was the original payment a separate CC transaction to the flight booking, or did it go through together with the flight payment?

    If the latter I wouldn't use the credit card route yet, as otherwise they'll dispute the whole payment and you may end up with no flight.
  • CKhalvashi
    CKhalvashi Posts: 12,060 Forumite
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    sophie131 wrote: »
    This is the point, I have paid extra for it. The specific seat is called Main Cabin Extra with AA. I could have chosen standard seats for free, but I chose the one with extra legroom for a premium.

    The new plane had the same type of seats on it so I don't see why it is taking 4 months! I have receipts to prove I have paid for an upgraded seat to the same level twice for the same leg of the journey.

    Its ok, I take your side then.

    £65 is usually more than I'll pay for a return flight, so I can understand your reason for wanting this back.

    Send a tweet to AA chasing it, as the public nature of it (especially with Twitter being popular in the US, where MSE isn't) should solve the problem. I often use Twitter to sort any problems, and 99% of the time it's within few hours.
    💙💛 💔
  • photome
    photome Posts: 16,362 Forumite
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    CKhalvashi wrote: »
    Its ok, I take your side then.

    £65 is usually more than I'll pay for a return flight, so I can understand your reason for wanting this back.

    Send a tweet to AA chasing it, as the public nature of it (especially with Twitter being popular in the US, where MSE isn't) should solve the problem. I often use Twitter to sort any problems, and 99% of the time it's within few hours.

    enlighten us to how you get those transatlantic flights for less than £65, or is that irelevant as well.

    OP keep chasing. I had similar issue with Delta and they refunded straight away
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