I love traveling… Well maybe not the part about being in the plane for 20 hours to get to Thailand but you get my drift. As soon as I turned 18, I went on my first cruise and pretty much every year thereafter, it became a tradition to travel for my birthday. See Dubai travel recap here, Thailand travel recap here, Haiti travel recap here, Aruba travel diary here.
Well earlier this year, I turned 33. This age was significant for me because it is commonly known in the Christian world as the age of Christ since he died at 33. With that in mind, I decided that I wanted my birthday trip to be more of a pilgrimage, centered on spiritual growth instead of my usual touristy trip. “Israel would be an awesome destination” I thought. I figured I’d have about 10 of my friends and family join but to my surprise, 25 people booked the trip. I couldn’t believe it.
We found a tour guide in the Holy Land who set up a detailed itinerary for us. By November 1, 2019 all of our flights were booked through Expedia. By mid December, we had already wired our deposits for the tours and lodging. Our trip was scheduled for the week before Easter in April so we felt super ready. In March, we sent our remaining balance and everything was ready to go. And then, you guessed it: COVID-19 hit and everything got cancelled. We held onto hope for a while at first, seeing as though there weren’t many cases in Israel. As time progressed, it became evident that this trip was not happening. I made peace with it – well not really; I’m still kind of annoyed about it in all honesty but such is life.
Now the process began to get refunds for our flights and for the tour. Our tour guide has been super cooperative and responsive throughout the entire process. The payment balance we transferred in March was immediately sent back to us and we were made aware that they had to wait for the hotels to reopen to issue us refunds for the accommodations which were already booked. Makes perfect sense.
Expedia on the other hand, has been making things so difficult to get a refund. Someone in our group booked her flight directly on the airline’s website. A refund request was submitted and within 2 weeks, a full refund was given. Expedia however issued us credits. Excuse me, but who wants a credit when you don’t know when you’ll be able to travel again? They have been telling us that they need to get approval from the airline in order to issue refunds and we are now in July – 3 months after our initial phone call and no refund has been received.
We called in April, they said a request was submitted to the airline and we should hear back within 30 days. Not a word.
We called in May, a follow up request was supposedly submitted. Still not a word.
We called again at the beginning of June. When they heard the frustration in my voice, I was told that the request was escalated to a special team and we should hear back within 72 hours. You guessed it: NOT A SINGLE WORD!
Outfit details:
NANETTE LEPORE button down // ZARA trousers – similar here // ZARA heels // TORY BURCH crossbody bag
The Department of Transportation issued an enforcement notice regarding refunds by carriers given the unprecedented impact of the covid-19 public health emergency on air travel. It states “that passengers should be refunded promptly when their scheduled flights are cancelled or significantly delayed.” You can click here to read the entire notice. But unfortunately, it appears that “The refund/reservation requirement for airlines does not apply to tickets booked through online travel agencies, travel agents, or other third-party agents. However, these agents are free to apply the same or similar procedures to provide equivalent or similar customer service.”
Third parties such as Expedia are benefiting from the fact that they are not required to follow the same regulations that the airlines do. That alone is reason enough for me not to ever book through Expedia or any other third party again because COVID-19 was not the type of incident that anyone could have prevented. The cancellation is through no fault of the passenger and if the airlines are required to refund passengers, I am not clear on what exempts third party agents from the same requirement.
Furthermore, if for any reason, Expedia isn’t able to issue a refund, the least they could have done was to provide valid updates and responses to their customers. I have spoken to other people who were somehow able to get refunds from Expedia so I am not clear as to why it is so difficult to get a response or a clear answer in our case.
I really hesitated to share this post because my goal is not to be messy but I felt it necessary to share this as a cautionary tale. I’m fortunate to not have been part of the statistics but so many people have lost their jobs during this pandemic and could be relying on these refunds to feed their families. I find it to be quite insensitive that these companies would hold onto funds that rightfully belong to their customers. I hope that they will make this right because these credits are to be used within a specified amount of time which then means if you choose not to travel anytime soon as a precautionary measure against this virus, you risk losing your money altogether and that to me is just not right.
Love the comfy chic look! 😍 Midi dress and sneakers for the win! ✨ What’s your go-to Traveloutfit?
It is very frustrating indeed!!! I make it a habit long time ago to book directly with the airlines. I think they need to issue more laws that will require Expedia, cheap tickets and other ones to refund customers their money. Don’t be discouraged, continue to fight. It sounds like a lot of money, ou paka fe yo kado’l.
Author
Frustrating is an understatement. I truly don’t understand what makes them exempt. I’m guessing it’s because they didn’t get the same bailout from the government that the airlines got. But still, it’s the principle of it all.
Sigh! Definitely won’t stop fighting. It’s a whole lot of money PER PERSON for two dozen people. We’re talking thousands here.
When they make a booking, the money goes to the airline so if the airlines are refunding them, I don’t understanding why they are giving customers such a hard time with the refunds. I’m so annoyed on your behalf!
Author
Exactly. That’s what I don’t understand. If the airline is refunding their customers, why is Expedia holding the refunds hostage? Add that to poor customer service and all you get is frustrated customers.