American Airlines canceled my flight by mistake, and it cost me thousands. Where’s my refund?

I’m an American Airlines frequent flyer, and I recently booked an award ticket with Japan Airlines, an American partner, from New Delhi to Haneda, Japan, and on to San Francisco.

A couple of days before my flight, I called American Airlines to upgrade the Japan-to-U.S. leg to business class. Unfortunately, the agent canceled my entire ticket without telling me. I got off the phone thinking my ticket was still valid.

But when I contacted Japan Airlines the day before my flight to check on my vegetarian meal, a representative told me that there was no reservation for me.

I called American Airlines and spoke with a supervisor, who reviewed the notes of my call. She said that the agent had written that I had canceled my flight. This of course was not true.

The supervisor tried to find me a ticket, but the only one available was a full-fare business class ticket for $3,548. I booked the ticket, but I would like American Airlines to refund it since this was their mistake. A few months ago, American Airlines promised to review my request, but it hasn’t gotten back to me, and it no longer responds to my emails. Can you help? — Satrupa Kagel, Taos, N.M.

American Airlines shouldn’t have canceled your ticket — and it should have quickly refunded the extra money you had to spend.

Why didn’t it? In reviewing your correspondence with the airline, I can find no obvious reason. By the way, great job on keeping all the emails. Those are your key to a fast resolution. There was one minor problem, which is that the emails you sent contained some ALL UPPERCASE statements (that’s considered yelling online) and American’s agents, who have some discretion in which cases get prioritized, might have been put off by them.

They shouldn’t have been. The agents should not have stopped responding to your messages and emails when you used the assigned case number. There was no written evidence that American had promised to refund your fare.

By the way, you can find the names, numbers and email addresses of all the American Airlines customer service executives on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org. A brief, polite email to one of them might have at least prompted another review of your case. It looks like you tried to reach out to the executives but didn’t get an answer.

That brings me to the main takeaway for the rest of us. American should have found a way of fixing this without you paying another cent. You should never pay for a ticket or a hotel room, hoping the travel company will refund you. It probably won’t.

But not for you. I reached out to American Airlines on your behalf. A representative called you and said the reason for the lack of response was “high turnover” in the customer service department. (I can only imagine.) You received a full refund for your ticket and your miles — a great resolution.

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him on his site.

© 2024 Christopher Elliott.