Crusader: Passenger to fly again after two year struggle to get refund | The Crusader | Finance

Holidays lost their allure for a traveller when, after almost two years, she was still struggling to get a refund for return flights to New York that she had cancelled.

Sophia Andrews felt very lost among the layers of agents involved in the £1,253 transaction and, having been told several times payment had been made to another party in the chain. “I’ve been informed again and again that my case has been escalated but nothing happens and I’m on the brink of giving up. You are my last resort,” she admitted to Crusader.

If you’ve been affected by this issue or feel you’ve been a victim of injustice, please contact consumer champion Maisha Frost on maisha.frost@express.co.uk.

Sophia had planned to fly with JetBlue in July 2023 and made the reservation through Booking.com. When needing to cancel she ensured she did it within the time limit and did so directly with the airline.

JetBlue responded quickly, confirming the refund had been made through Booking.com’s flights partner GotoGate. Nothing however materialised.

Sophia battled on spending time in long exchanges with the respective customer services and in April last year she received £427.90 from Booking.com. Paid as a goodwill gesture it underlined correctly that as the agent Booking.com was not directly responsible.

Although pleased with the payment, there was still a shortfall and when Sophia explained what had gone on, we realised she risked never getting to the bottom of what had happened or be fully recompensed.

After taking up the cause we now understand that despite efforts by Booking.com no record of Sophia’s missing refund can be found.

Follow-ups will continue, but recognising the long wait and, in a further gesture of goodwill for £825.51, it said: “we have processed a full refund”.

We are unlikely ever to know where exactly the disconnects occurred. But during the course of her struggles Sophia did mention about problems when she tried to cancel online with the airline. “In the space to put in my card details, there was a partial number already in the box which wasn’t mine,” she recalls. “I couldn’t put my number in and left it.”

Delighted though with the settlement, happy holidays are really here again for Sophia. JetBlue and GotoGate were contacted for comment.

[names have been changed]

How to head off travel problems before they happen

Booking flights through an agent can secure a good deal just as going directly to an airline can. The important thing is to know beforehand where you stand and with whom if things go wrong. So if you do need to cancel, that means not just the time limit, but who you do the cancelling with and how that process works. It should be in the booking terms and conditions, but check and be confident you understand. In our digital world knowing what to put in response boxes is crucial and before you send anything completed take an image so you have a record. If there are hitches that’s a red alert so contact the company. And if you pay with a card that, during the time of claiming back anything, changes, again check or make the other party aware. Often companies may refer to a ‘wallet’, an account where your returned money is held, but again be clear about the process.