Q: I've been trying to get a refund for my US Airways vacation since this summer. I hope you can help me.
Earlier this year, I booked a stay in St. Maarten for my 45th anniversary. It was supposed to be a second honeymoon. I made my reservation through US Airways Vacations.
Conditions at our hotel, the Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort, were deplorable. The hotel agreed to credit us $887, which it sent to US Airways Vacations. I waited to get the money back through US Airways, but it never came. I called, and a representative suggested that I send an e-mail to US Airways Vacations. But all I'm getting is an automated reply.
I've been a loyal customer to US Airways. My wife is a Silver Preferred member of its loyalty program, and I have used US Airways Vacations before to book my travel plans. But the way it's handling this complaint leaves me wondering what is going to happen when American Airlines and US Airways complete their merger.
A: US Airways Vacations should have processed your refund as soon as it received the money from Sonesta. And when it didn't, it should have explained why it was keeping your $887.
US Airways Vacations may have been imposing its own restrictive refund policy on your vacation package. (You can read its rules online at www.usairwaysvacations.com/customerservice/generalterms.html.) The policy notes that some vacation components are nonrefundable and that your right to a refund "is limited if changes are made to travel plans, travel dates, hotels, hotel categories, hotel configurations, changes in origination or destination."
In other words, it's possible that even though Sonesta agreed to refund you $887, US Airways Vacations' refund rules prohibited the return of the money. Technically, US Airways Vacations would have been within its rights to keep the money.
But let's not get mired down in technicalities. That was your money, and the refund policy of your tour operator is irrelevant. It had no right to pocket the $887.
Regarding the merger between American and US Airways, I, too, am skeptical of the "benefits" the airline promised. Interestingly, while this merger may reduce competition and drive ticket prices higher, it is one of the smoothest corporate combinations I've seen in recent history.
I contacted US Airways Vacations on your behalf, and it promptly sent you the refund.
Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine. Read more tips on his blog, elliott.org or e-mail him at chris@elliott.org.
