Dear Tripped Up,
I was set to take what for me was the “trip of a lifetime,” a $17,000 Antarctic cruise with Australia-based Aurora Expeditions. But when I tried to check in for my flight from Nashville to Santiago, Chile (via Miami), the check-in agent insisted that entering Chile required two forms I had never heard of, even though I had researched the requirements carefully. I missed my flight, and the cruise. When I complained, American Airlines quickly refunded the (nonrefundable) flight, but Aurora would not give me credit for a future cruise and my travel insurer, Trip Mate, denied my claim. I’d like American to acknowledge in writing that they made a mistake and use that to ask Aurora to reconsider and to file an appeal to Trip Mate. Can you help? Deborah, Franklin, Tenn.
Dear Deborah,
I have good news for you: American will reimburse you for the total cost of your cruise.
I have bad news for everyone else: Getting you reimbursed for the airline’s obvious incompetence was such a maddening process, even for me, that I have very little hope for average consumers who suffer equally absurd wrongs in the future.
For starters, Trip Mate and Aurora could have been more understanding or even — though this is a stretch — humane. In an ideal world, American would have immediately recognized its error in writing, Trip Mate would have approved your claim for at least a portion of the cruise’s cost, and Aurora would have made up for another chunk with a sharp discount on a future cruise.
This is especially true given how responsible and persistent you were before, during and after your debacle.
Help! A Check-in Agent’s Mistake Made Me Miss an Antarctic Cruise and I’m Out $17,000.
- Advertisment - 