Can You Get Your Money Back From Spirit Airlines

Here's what you can do when airlines' policies go on your cash, give vouchers

CLEVELAND — More and more people are traveling now than in the past few months, merely some are left wondering why they can't get their money back. That includes airline tickets afflicted by the coronavirus pandemic. Here'south what you can practise to help rebound from your by purchases.

"My husband and I were going to gloat our 40th wedding anniversary," said Dyan LeBlanc from Stow. She wanted to go up in a aeroplane heading to Florida, but when people came down with Coronavirus, she asked for a cash refund from her booking amanuensis CheapOAir.com and Spirit Airlines. "We tin't give you your coin back plus, they charged us $35 per ticket for cancellations," said LeBlanc. "So, that was an additional $70."

The federal rules are if the airline cancels a flight, it has to give yous a greenbacks refund option. "Or if they accept essentially delayed it," said President and CEO of the Better Business Bureau Serving Greater Cleveland Sue McConnell. "Now, in that location's actually no definition for substantial delay. Then, you'll demand to cheque your airline's policy."

Nosotros contacted every airline that flies in and out of Cleveland and Akron/Canton Airports. If you abolish your trip, policies ranged from Delta saying it "…continue(south) to take steps to improve (its) refund policies and speed upwardly" refunds; to Southwest offering customers who don't want to fly a 2-year time frame to wing again; to a flat out no response from Spirit Airlines to our questions.

We did find customers talking near their refund issues with Spirit on the Better Business Bureau'due south website. "Nosotros accept seen consumers filing complaints after being very frustrated that they can't become their money back," McConnell told united states.

The U.Due south. Department of Transportation showed that in a typical month it receives about 1,500 air travel service complaints, only in March and April of this year, there were more than 25,000 with a majority surrounding refunds.

"Information technology would be a different story if nosotros canceled just considering. We canceled because of the coronavirus," LeBlanc said.

So, what can you lot practise? Consumer Reports suggests you lot call the airline and emphasize that the "government and experts (had) recommended that y'all non wing." It said you should "dispute the charges with your credit card visitor." The FTC even has a class letter to assistance y'all with that.

And McConnell said if you're having a conversation with the airline, make sure it sends you a confirmation email almost what information technology's promising. Plus, if you do communications online you tin secure proof. "If you're doing this through a alive chat, y'all can print that alive chat, re-create and paste that conversation into a certificate," suggested McConnell.

Even McConnell has seen the various policies in her own personal travel recently. "One flight got canceled and I was given a refund on that," said McConnell. "The other flight was non canceled so I ended upwardly with a voucher that I can apply for up to 2 years."

LeBlanc's example is even so upward in the air now, but she hopes her money comes dorsum downwards into her easily soon. "It's very frustrating when you take to beg to go your money back for something that wasn't your fault," said LeBlanc.

Since our interview with LeBlanc, we contacted CheapOAir.com and the company told us it has to follow Spirit Airlines policies.

CheapOAir.com sent this statement:

"The passenger booked two round trip tickets on Spirit Airlines to travel from Akron/County to Ft. Meyers, Florida. The booking was made on March 4^th, and the trip was due to embark on March 28^th.

On March 27^th we received an electronic notification from Spirit Airlines that the passenger had cancelled the flying. Our agent followed up by contacting Spirit Airlines to confirm the cancellation and asking a refund or credit on the passenger'south behalf. Spirit Airlines confirmed that the purchase was non-refundable, and that a credit for the flight would exist given to the passenger. Our amanuensis then sent a credit confirmation e-mail to the client.

On Apr 27^th the customer filled out our online cancellation class.

Nosotros did not receive any phone phone call notification from the client regarding the cancellation of this flight. Yet, It is possible the passenger tried to contact the states. From early March, well into May, our entering telephone call center capabilities were seriously impacted by the massive increase in daily call volumes we experienced as a result of coronavirus fears and travelers cancelling flights. Below is an overall notation on that state of affairs which you might find useful, or at least informative.

To clarify, we are an online travel agency providing travelers a portal through which they can purchase airline tickets. The toll of the ticket is passed through our visitor to the airline itself. When cancellations occur, we must abide past the airline'southward policy in place at the time of the cancellation transaction regarding the involved flight or flights. In this case, the airline offered a credit for future travel, which we communicated to the passenger.

I am still waiting for an update on the rental car. I do apologize for how long this is taking, but we must wait to hear back from the car rental visitor. This should happen in the side by side day or two.

As mentioned, beneath are some facts regarding our call eye status in March. I do non know if this information is applicative to this consumer's inquiry, as I see no mention of "phone" in the information originally provided. Information technology is likely they did try to call however, then I share the following;

Call Center Overview

The global pandemic significantly affected our ability to receive phone calls. In a matter of days our incoming call volumes went from an average of xxx,000 per day to over 250,000. Our systems were taxed and hold times and unintentional dropping of calls became a big problem. Inside days we created an online coronavirus information folio with instructions for customers that were having trouble reaching us via phone.

Calculation to the state of affairs, CheapOair is actually a global operation, with call centers in New York, Las Vegas and our two Republic of india offices. This is not an outsource situation. All of our agents are Fareportal employees. Our New York part, which includes a phone call middle, had to vacate our workspace March 13th. Las Vegas followed and shortly thereafter, when the Indian government began enforcing lock downs to combat the virus, thousands of our agents there were unable to become into the office to field telephone calls. This escalated the difficulty our customers were having attempting to cancel or reschedule their reservations via phone. We moved as quickly as possible to create an enhanced online coronavirus related cancellation class, and began reaching out to customers via directly emails and our social media portals to get the word out. To address urgency, we started by prioritizing those customers with flights booked within the next two weeks, and continued from there.

I realize I still owe yous data, but can assure you this customer'southward situation has been escalated and we should take final resolution regarding the overall case within days. We take our customer relationships very seriously, as evidenced past the numerous customer service awards we have won over the years. The surge in customer need acquired past the virtual shutdown of travel in March was a claiming for everyone in the travel industry, including CheapOair, simply nosotros remain committed to providing our customers the all-time quality of support."

Hither are the airlines' responses to our questions near cash refunds:

"Delta continues to provide full refunds to eligible passengers requesting them when we have cancelled a flying or made a significant schedule change. Since the beginning of March, Delta processed more than 3 meg refunds, totaling $1.6 billion. We continue to take steps to improve our refund policies and speed up our refund-issuance procedures. Taking care of our customers is at the center of everything we do, and nosotros sincerely appreciate their patience as we navigate this unprecedented time together."

Crystal I. Drake

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"Sun Country Airlines has one of the nigh flexible change policies in the manufacture. Our standard policy (not a COVID-related exception) allows changes and cancellation gratuitous of accuse (other than fare difference) up to 60 days prior to departure. Additionally, for those with scheduled travel through May 30, all alter and cancel fees were waived, regardless of days prior to divergence that the change was made. Yet, all Sun Country Airlines tickets are nonrefundable, as stated in the terms and conditions agreed to at purchase. Customers who choose to cancel their flight reservation will retain the value of the ticket to be used toward future Sun Country Airlines purchases. In compliance with DOT regulations, whatever customer who's flight has been canceled by Sun Country and has not been rebooked on a comparable flight is entitled to, and will receive if requested, a refund back to the original form of payment.

Let me know if you have additional questions. "

Best,

Jessica WheelerSenior Managing director MarketingSun Country Airlines——————

"JetBlue does offer refundable fares, but when a customer cancels a not-refundable ticket, nosotros have relaxed our standard policies and are offering a full credit for time to come travel. Near new travel bank credits are now good for 2 years to let people time to travel. We do offer the choice of a total refund for customers when JetBlue cancels a flight or in certain cases when there is a modify in the flying's scheduled departure, consistent with Department of Transportation guidelines."

Derek Dombrowski

Manager, Corporate Communications

——————
"Due to the situation with the COVID-nineteen pandemic, customers with reservations may change their travel plans without incurring modify or cancel fees. We piece of work with each individual on all-time options for them, including changing to another flying, providing a total-credit voucher, or a refund. Note that customers would be credited for any coincident purchases (ie seat choice, priority boarding) included in their reservation in either scenario.

When customers book a flight on Allegiant, they can elect to be notified if their flight exceeds 65 per centum capacity. We infinite passengers out on our aircraft merely for fuller flights, that's non always possible. So if a customer isn't comfortable traveling on that flight, they can either receive a credit voucher or select another flight. Customers are responsible for any fare differences, merely no alter fees are assessed. We also provide complimentary health and rubber kits to all of our passengers. The kits include a disposable face mask, non-latex gloves and sanitizing wipes.

Hope this helps."

Best,

Sonya Padgett

Allegiant Media Relations

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"Southwest Airlines offers some of the most Customer-friendly policies in our industry, and in calorie-free of the electric current circumstances, we previously made even more changes to our already flexible policies. If a flight is cancelled by Southwest, Customers may select a new flight between the same origin and destination on a new appointment without paying any difference in fare, may receive travel funds for hereafter use (currently extended to September 7, 2022), or may request a refund to the original class of payment.

Southwest is unique in the airline manufacture because we do not charge fees to change or cancel flights. If a Customer decides not to travel, equally long equally they abolish their flight at least 10 minutes before its scheduled departure, the funds used to pay for a nonrefundable ticket (Wanna Become Away® fares) are normally valid for ane year from the engagement of purchase. All the same, in recognition of the current travel surroundings, we are extending the expiration date of some travel funds:

• Customers' funds that take expired or will expire between March ane, 2020 and September 7, 2020, will at present expire September 7, 2022.
• Whatsoever travel funds created because a Customer cancels a flight betwixt March 1 – September vii, 2020, volition expire September 7, 2022.

We designed our industry-leading policies to provide flexibility and support to our Customers during these unprecedented times. You tin can larn more well-nigh other deportment we're taking by visiting www.southwest.com/Coronavirus [southwest.com] or past reviewing The Southwest Promise [southwest.com].

Nosotros hope this information assists you!"

Best regards –

Brian Parrish

The Southwest Communications Squad

————————
"Thanks for reaching out. We are continually looking at means to amend support our customers, and as part of that effort, nosotros've updated our guidelines for handling refunds when our flight schedule changes. We have always provided refunds for refundable tickets, and these updated guidelines volition offer boosted flexibility to our customers requesting refunds for not-refundable tickets when flight changes occur. If our customers would like to check on their refund eligibility, they tin go to united.com/refunds [united.com] or call us direct."

Cheers,

Leigh Schramm

Media Relations

United Airlines

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"Every bit we work to take intendance of our team members and continue critical air service amid a drastic downturn in demand, nosotros're as well working around the clock to take care of our customers. We've implemented a comprehensive travel waiver program to make sure that customers who want to change their travel plans have options and time to do then, and every bit always, we continue to offering refunds for flights we cancel for any reason.

Summary of our electric current travel waiver (detailed here):

· Previous bookings: We are waiving change fees for all customers who accept travel booked through Sept. 30, 2020. This enables customers to rebook immediately – or in the future – and retain the total amount of the ticket they paid without incurring whatsoever change fees. Customers need to complete travel past Dec. 31, 2021, and have the ability to alter their origin and destination besides.

· New bookings: We are also waiving change fees for tickets bought March 1 through June 30, 2020, for future travel. This is available for whatever of American's non-refundable published fares. This enables customers to rebook without any change fees.

· If American cancels a flight for whatsoever reason: Every bit has always been our policy, if American cancels a flight for whatsoever reason, a client can receive a full refund dorsum to their original grade of payment."

Sincerely,

American Airlines
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PREVIOUS RELEASE FROM AIR CANADA

"Air Canada announced that information technology will suspend scheduled service to the U.S. after April 26 every bit a result of the agreement between the governments of Canada and the U.s.a. to extend edge restrictions past an additional thirty days, constructive today. Air Canada plans to resume service to the U.S. May 22, field of study to any further regime restrictions across that appointment.

The airline is waiving change fees for affected customers with bookings during this catamenia to enable them to reschedule their travel with no boosted fee. Customers can discover more information nearly Air Canada's rebooking policies and revised schedule at www.aircanada.com

Since March 16, Air Canada has reduced its schedule past more than 90 per cent as a consequence of COVID-xix. Following the initial announcement of U.Southward.-Canada travel restrictions on March 21, Air Canada maintained limited service to 11 U.S. destinations from its three Canadian hubs, primarily to facilitate the repatriation of Canadians. The terminal scheduled commercial flying from the U.S. to Canada will exist on April 26.

More data virtually Air Canada's COVID-19 response is available at https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/book/travel-news-and-updates/2020/covid-19.html"

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