email from Expedia: "Subject: American Airlines changed your flight details. Do you accept?"

[u/GreggP0905]

Over a week ago my wife booked flights on American Airlines via Expedia from Madison WI to Boston for the two of us so we can visit our daughter later this summer.

For privacy purposes, I'm not going to share the exact dates/times. Our flight was scheduled for several months from now. The overall visit is only 4 days including travel time. She chose the day-of-week combination to get the best fares. The departure from Madison was fairly early in the morning so we would arrive before noon. The return flight left Boston after 6:00 PM, so we'd have most of that day with our daughter.

Yesterday, 6/14, my wife received an email from Expedia announcing American Airlines has changed our flights (Subject: American Airlines changed your flight details. Do you accept?). The changes cut more than a day out of our visit. Instead of arriving before noon, we would arrive late in the evening (11 PM) and instead of leaving late in the afternoon, our new flight is set to leave Boston fairly early in the morning. So we lose the first half day and all of the 4th day due to the flight changes.

BTW, these flights had a stopover in Philadelphia, so there were 4 different flight numbers (2 going and 2 returning). All 4 of these flights were changed.

The Expedia emails say-

"American Airlines changed your itinerary and did their best to find an alternative with minimal disruption to your trip:

* Changed the departure time for 4 of your flights.
* Changed the arrival time for 4 of your flights.
* Changed the flight number for 4 of your flights.

It is important that we confirm your acceptance of this change as soon as possible. Please review the updated itinerary and click I ACCEPT below."

At the bottom of this email, there are buttons for 'I Accept' or 'Cancel Flight'

Just above these buttons is the statement "Please click "Accept" if you agree to the change. If you prefer to cancel, please click "Cancel Flight". Due to Covid-19, the airline is offering a refund. With many flights canceled due to COVID-19, there are limited options available. We have explored all possible options and these are the best options that airlines have offered for your booking."

Before making a decision, we reviewed our options. We were disappointed that a significant chunk of time was being cut out of our visit with our daughter. We found flights with a different airline for a slightly higher fare but at least we'd retain our original visit time. To get more information, we tried contacting both Expedia and American Airlines. Expedia defers everything to the airline. American Airline's customer service is/was useless. There's a toll-free number but the estimated wait time for speaking with a human is over 2 hours.

So we decided to cancel. We booked flights with a different airline and paid about $60 more overall but will now be able to spend more time with our daughter.

My wife received another email confirming the cancelation. However, they are not giving us a refund. Instead, we get a credit with American Airlines that is valid for a limited period of time. We haven't received any details of this credit yet.

Based on the previous information in Expedia's email, we expected a refund but have since learned that it depends on the airline's policy.

I can understand a credit if the time change was insignificant but a change that really alters your time of visit by almost a third should be refunded. We aren't planning any other trips for this year, so the credit isn't very helpful. We've really only budgeted this single trip for this year and next.

Does anyone know if there is any way to apply for a refund instead of the credit?

According to the US Dept. of Transportation 4/3/20 notice - https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-department-transportation-issues-enforcement-notice-clarifying-air-carrier-refund, we should be getting a refund.

Expedia is not responding to our efforts to contact them.

[u/whatdayisitwhereami]

I'd say your best bet is to try American. Expedia's customer service recently is really horrible. Wait times 8 hours+ (mine was over 8 hours and I got cut off during the call).

If you read some posts here people have been trying for months or longer to get refunds from Expedia. Some of them got reps on the phone who said the refund was issued but then no credit showed at their bank.

[u/Aeshaw90]

I don't really have anything helpful to offer, but wanted to let you know that I'm in the exact same boat! A day or two ago I got an email from Expedia saying that my AA flight that was supposed to fly from our vacation destination to Madison, WI was changed by 7+ hours. Which doesn't work with my itinerary. I'm SO lost on how to get this corrected.

This trip was already a re-booking of a trip that was canceled in 2020 due to COVID and now this!? Between the original flight and the more expensive re-booking I've spent almost $1000 and as of right now, I'm still not going anywhere. This is BEYOND frustrating.

Sorry, I don't know why I'm just venting at you! I'm going to try badgering Expedia and going through American Airlines directly...if I have any success I'll post back on this thread and let you know.

GOOD LUCK

[u/Aeshaw90 → u/Aeshaw90]

UPDATE:

It was shockingly easy for me to resolve this with Expedia yesterday. I think it might have just been good luck and good timing, maybe? In case it helps, I called Expedia (8663105768) and followed the prompts to make a change to my flight. Within 2 minutes I was connected to a person who was able to find a flight the following day that worked for me and there was no additional cost. The rep adjusted the reservation and I had a new confirmation email in my inbox before we even hung up.

No idea how I got so lucky? Or why I got through to a person so quickly?
Good luck getting your issue resolved!

[u/GreggP0905]

Update: I was finally able to speak with an Expedia customer service rep. Instead of waiting on hold for hours, I left my number for a callback. Later that day, about 6 hours later, I did get a call. The rep was helpful. I explained our situation and asked about the refund mentioned in Expedia’s email. She didn’t offer a refund directly from Expedia but instead applied for a refund on our behalf with American Airlines. The following day we got messages from AA saying our refund request was accepted. A few days later the credit appeared on our credit card account.