I spent a lot of money to book business class on a transatlantic flight so I could be well rested ahead of a busy week. The airline had to cancel flights due to weather and rebooked me on a partner airline, and it said business class in the new airline ticket and I got lounge access for said airline. But when I went to board, I found my seat was in economy in the very back of the plane.
I felt like a Karen but I called the airline when landing because I spent a lot of money on this ticket. They said it was out of their control and to call the partner airline. So I did and they told me they can’t do anything; only the original airline can offer a refund or credit. Called the original airline back, they say they can’t help with anything. Oof!
Anyone have any advice or should I kiss those dollars goodbye?
Lian said:
Do NOT give up. Write to the airline. TWEET loudly to the airline. Do not accept no for an answer. They owe you the difference in fares.
Put them on blast publicly in every forum available to you. Just make sure you state actual facts. The airlines usually do enough shady things to make themselves look bad enough without anybody needing to exaggerate.
They should get people to tag Pete Buttigieg; that’s the only way an ex-McKinsey employee will care. Consulting isn’t a business you join if you remotely care about people outside of appearances.
Amex is well known to be the hardest for merchants to win a dispute. To the point that many merchants won’t accept them. Anecdotally, I’ve had good experiences with both; it’s not like Chase is overly merchant-friendly.
You always run the risk of being banned from the business when doing this, fwiw. If this is an airline in a large group, you may end up costing you more over time than the original seat, unfortunately.