What to do if an airline cancels your flight and refuses to issue a refund

Like many travelers, I have seen several international trips cancelled due to the Covid 19 Pandemic.

Two of the airlines (American & British Airways) did the right thing and issued a refund right away without much hassle but I cannot say the same thing about Aeromexico.

A few weeks into the Pandemic, got an email from Scott's Cheap Flights that informed me about a very cheap trip to Chile on Aeromexico for around $392 round trip.

Had no plans to visit Chile but figured that by October, the pandemic would be well in the past.

Over the summer got several notices from the airline about schedule changes and I watched travel advisories for Chile.

Then over the weekend got a notice from Aeromexico that the trip had been cancelled. They mentioned that what was paid for the flight could be used in the future towards the purchase of a future flight on that airline.

This was not at all acceptable because that is not an airline that I typically fly and that most likely the fare would be much higher when I would be able to fly and would have to make up the difference.

Contacted Aeromexico customer service assuming they would quickly refund the money that was paid but to no avail.

This was then followed up by attempts at escalation within Aeromexico. They quickly responded with the same exact answer given by first line support.

Striking out in reaching out to Aeromexico I wondered what the regulations were about refunds when the airline cancels the flight.

Turns out any flights that takes off or lands within the United States, the airline is required to offer a full refund on cancelled flights.

The Department of Transportation has issued a clear ruling on this matter.

The next two steps to take if the airline that you booked a flight with refuses to offer a refund is report them to the Department of Transportation. Click here for the form to report the airline to the Department of Transportation.

The next step is to contact your credit card to request a chargeback.

The LA Times wrote this article about getting a charge back from the airlines if they refuse to refund your money.

https://www.latimes.com/travel/story/2020-04-27/dispute-credit-card-refunds

Taking these three steps should get the airline to do what is required of them and get your ticket refunded.