When United Airlines cancels her husband’s flight, it promises Maxine Biggs a prompt refund. So why is she still waiting for her $1,751 six months later?
Question
I booked a flight from Salt Lake City to Geneva for my husband through Booking.com. The flight was on United Airlines. United Airlines canceled the flight the night before and offered us a refund. United sent the refund to Booking.com three months later.
When I call Booking.com, I just get the runaround and am told they will “look into it.” I have called multiple times, and all they tell me is that the refund takes 7 to 10 business days and can take up to 14 days. But it’s been six months!
No one can provide me with any further information. The Booking.com call center is in India, and I feel like no one understands my issue. I’ve tried multiple times to reach someone in the United States who could help me.
The last time I called Booking.com, a representative promised to submit a request to United. But United also gave me very little information except that they sent the refund to Booking.com. Can you help me get my $1,751 back, please? — Maxine Biggs, Herriman, Utah
Answer
United should have sent the money quickly to Booking.com, which should have then passed it along to you. The process should have taken no more than a week.
So what happened? I have to be honest: I have never made excuses for the airlines and their proxies and have no intention of starting now. There is just no good reason for such a delay. (Related: If you reserve an extra seat on United Airlines, don’t forget to do this.)
The Department of Transportation requires that refunds be made promptly. It defines “prompt” as being within 7 business days if you paid by credit card and within 20 days if you paid by cash or check. And it applies these rules to airlines and online travel agencies like Booking.com.
Avoiding confusion: How to deal with a foreign call center
Call centers staffed by people in the Philippines or India are a fact of life for American consumers. Offshore call centers are less expensive to staff for U.S. companies and can be highly effective if you combine them with scripting and artificial intelligence applications.
But they can also be highly frustrating for customers. Here’s how to avoid confusion and be understood:
- Prepare before calling. Have your booking reference, flight details, and personal information ready before you get on the call. That will avoid any confusion on your part. (Related: United Airlines canceled my flight after a desynchronization problem. Why can’t I get a refund.)
- Slow down. Speak slowly and clearly, using simple language to avoid misunderstandings. Avoid cracking jokes or using informal language, which may be difficult for a non-native speaker to understand.
- Take notes. You’ll want to get the agent’s name and any reference numbers provided. Record the call if possible.
- Ask for a playback. After you’ve canceled your flight or made a new reservation, ask to have the information repeated back to you. That will give you an opportunity to fix any errors. Make sure the agent sends you a verification by email and then check it again.
- Try again. If you are in a conversation with someone who doesn’t understand what you’re saying, it’s best to politely end the conversation and call back. You will probably get through to someone who does understand you.
The best option is to stay off the phone. Even an online chat, which creates a paper trail, is preferable to a voice conversation. Remember, talk is cheap. What someone says in a voice conversation may not count if your reservation record contradicts it.
How to get your money back for this United ticket
You could have — and probably should have — let the Department of Transportation know about this lapse.
And you could have also applied some pressure to United and Booking.com. A brief, polite email sent to one of the customer service managers might have helped. I list their names, numbers and emails on this site. (Related: United Airlines made a mistake and it cost me $1,550!)
As a side note, I think the companies have this all backward. If you reserve a ticket through Booking.com, then Booking.com — not United — should be responsible for getting your money back to you within a week. If United owes Booking.com for your ticket, that’s between the two of them.
This is one of the strangest refund cases to land on my desk, and our advocacy team worked hard to figure out what had happened. But we finally reached the right person at Booking.com, who explained.
United never issued a ticket refund. Instead, for reasons that are not entirely clear, it exchanged your ticket for another one, which means Booking.com lost control of the ticket. A Booking.com agent then requested a refund, which apparently confused United’s system because a refund had already been initiated.
United told you that it had sent the money to Booking.com, but Booking.com could not find it. After my team and I reached out, it connected with United, found your money, and finally refunded your ticket.
