How to get a refund from my airlines for an upcoming trip?

March 11, 2020 1:37 PM

I bought a flight with two separate tickets, from the U.S. to Barcelona on Iberia on March 20 and returning to the U.S. from Paris on Norwegian on March 28. I was hoping they'd offer refunds proactively, but that doesn't seem to be happening. There also doesn't seem to be good chat or email support for customers; one of the airlines has a chatbot with rote answers only. What do I say on the phone?

I'd rather get a refund than reschedule because these were nonrefundable and therefore very cheap tickets; I think I'd have to watch the listings for a while to get a similar price for nonstop flights. One of the airlines offered the option to reschedule on the site, but when I clicked through nothing actually seemed to be available.

posted by ziggly to Travel & Transportation (9 answers total)

Christopher Elliott (who, ironically, is in Spain right now) is a good consumer advocate, especially when it comes to travel. He often has contact phone numbers no on else can seem to get: https://www.elliott.org/
posted by Rumi'sLeftSock at 1:45 PM on March 11, 2020 [4 favorites]

Is there a phone number? I’d get on the phone on hold with whomever you booked with (the airline or site or whatever). But sometimes waiting can help. I decided to cancel a trip three weeks out; at two weeks out, there was a full refund available. They’re all getting slammed right now. You can decide to cancel but wait to do it.
posted by bluedaisy at 2:54 PM on March 11, 2020

First of all check if there are any changes to your flights. Airlines (especially Norwegian) are cancelling flights, so check if they move your flights, add or change connections, change departure or arrival time, etc. If yes, then use that as an excuse to cancel the flight and get full refund.

Then check any governmental/ regulatory notices banning, restricting flights, etc. Try to use those to cancel & refund.

If they don't give refunds, then ask to have the ticket value as a credit. That would allow you to use the funds against any other ticket on that airline (not tied to Barcelona flights).
posted by zeikka at 2:57 PM on March 11, 2020

As mentioned above, airlines are cancelling flights left and right currently. A quick Google search shows Norweigan alone has cancelled 3,000 flights over the next couple of months. I wouldn't be surprised if you're having a difficult time getting a hold of anyone, but I would keep trying.

If your flight has already been cancelled, you might be able to get compensation via EU 261 if you can't get a full refund. If it hasn't been cancelled, I think getting a full refund on a nonrefundable ticket is going to be a challenge to be honest (and I say this as a frequent flyer who has tried it before, although not with Norwegian or Iberia). Maybe try contacting one of the consumer advocacy groups mentioned upthread?
posted by photo guy at 3:15 PM on March 11, 2020

Just as a metapoint, Norwegian is in metatrouble these days. I wouldn't expect much from them. Honestly, even without the pandemic, if I had Norwegian tickets I would be expecting to lose out on them anyway.
posted by humboldt32 at 3:19 PM on March 11, 2020 [2 favorites]

I emailed JetBlue over the weekend about an April trip and they proactively offered me no cancellation charges and the return of all my points to me credit card. (The trip was 100% paid or with JetBlue travel points). I think you need to just ask. It's not like the airlines don't know what is happening.
posted by COD at 4:15 PM on March 11, 2020

Iberia is a codeshare/partner airline with American, which is offering refunds. I don't know if that connection is at all exploitable for your particular ticket, but it might be (for instance, if it was an AA-sold ticket on an Iberian-operated flight, it'd be refundable).
posted by jackbishop at 5:04 PM on March 11, 2020

It might be worth seeing if your credit card provider would help.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 5:16 PM on March 11, 2020

You're at least partially in luck, Trump just banned travel from Europe to the US for a month, starting Friday, so it seems unlikely you'll be able to travel from Paris back to the US at the end of this month.
posted by jgreco at 7:50 PM on March 11, 2020