How do my friends get their money back?

August 12, 2023 5:58 PM

Friends of mine purchased refundable airline tickets with Aeromexico. Soon after, they changed their plans, and now nine months later, they still haven't been refunded. When they call, they get the runaround from the customer service agents and have been unable to speak to a supervisor. Just today, they were told: "Yes, our system says you've been refunded." But they haven't been refunded! So far, their credit card issuer hasn't been helpful. What should they do to get their money back?
posted by swheatie to Travel & Transportation (9 answers total)

Have they already told the credit card co that they are disputing the charge? Because that in my experience will get the merchant to do what they said they would do.
posted by zippy at 6:28 PM on August 12, 2023 [7 favorites]

They could try filing a complaint with the air travel regulator in their country. In Canada, this is the Canadian Transportation Agency.
posted by heatherlogan at 7:26 PM on August 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

Presumably the credit card disputation process won’t work for a charge that old. Very possibly that was the intent of the airline in giving the runaround?
posted by sesquipedalia at 7:43 PM on August 12, 2023

Yes, air travel regulator for the country in which they purchased the tickets (although if it was in Mexico, it might actually be PROFECO, which is the consumer protection agency).
posted by ssg at 9:28 PM on August 12, 2023

Get the TV Consumer Ombudsman involved? There's usually one every large city that specialize in stuff like this.
posted by kschang at 1:10 AM on August 13, 2023

The NYT travel advisor column might be helpful.
posted by knucklebones at 3:28 AM on August 13, 2023 [3 favorites]

WaPo also has does travel problem resolution. Let By The Way help you navigate travel dilemmas.
posted by theora55 at 8:32 AM on August 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

Depending on where your friends live, this could be a situation where going into an airline’s ticket office and talking to someone in person might help resolve things. If your friends live in a city with Aeromexico service, this might mean just showing up at a ticket desk at the airport itself, or in a larger city there might be a city center ticket sales office location.
posted by mdonley at 11:01 AM on August 13, 2023

Since they have tried politely working with low-level customer service, I suggest they escalate. Elliott.org is a consumer advocacy website and they have contact information for company executives. The contacts for Aeromexico can be found here (scroll down a bit).

If you still can't get a resolution, have your friends submit a help request on the same website and maybe Elliott's team can work their magic.
posted by tacodave at 4:08 PM on August 14, 2023