Expensive Vacation TROUBLESHOOTER: I booked a flight from Cairo to New York through Rome on Alitalia. When I attempted to verify in for my flight to Italy, an airline agent denied me boarding, since my visa was rejected. My visa does not allow me to enter Europe en route to the U.S., according to Alitalia.
The good news is, my ticket was refundable. I despatched an email to Alitalia right before the flight departed, requesting a refund. I enclosed the ticket receipt, which shows that the ticket is refundable, as lengthy as I terminate in advance of departure, and is subject matter to fees.
Alitalia replied that my ticket experienced “no worth,” and it denied a refund. Alternatively, it offered me a ticket credit rating and a refund of the taxes. They’ve stopped answering my e-mail. I have also called them, but I have gotten nowhere. Can you assist me get my $700 back again, you should?
— Ahmed Seloma, Giza, Egypt
Remedy: If your airline ticket was refundable, you should really be equipped to get a full refund. Sad to say, airways have taken their time throughout the pandemic. They have been sluggish just before, and they are even slower now.
Your situation is instructive for everyone setting up an international vacation in 2021. Passports and visas are your accountability, not your airline’s. Experienced Alitalia authorized you to board your flight with the improper visa, it could have confronted federal government fines. So make sure you have authorization to enter the place prior to you e book your ticket.
What paperwork do you want? If you reside in the U.S., test the U.S. Office of Point out web site at https://vacation.state.gov/. Also, check out the Intercontinental Air Transportation Association web site at www.iatatravelcentre.com, which keeps the most up-to-date visa facts.
You saved a wonderful paper path of the correspondence involving you and Alitalia. It would have been very good if you also despatched the facts to an government get hold of at the airline, inquiring for their aid. I listing the names, quantities and e mail addresses of all the Alitalia administrators on my client advocacy web site at www.elliott.org/business-contacts/alitalia/.
On the lookout at your scenario, I assume component of the delay was related to COVID-19. One more aspect was just ordinary airline shenanigans. Alitalia seems to have misinterpret the terms of your ticket, falsely boasting that they owe you a ticket credit history. By the way, if they’d persisted, you could have filed a credit history card chargeback. In the U.S., the Fair Credit score Billing Act shields you versus rates for products or companies not shipped, which this undoubtedly was.
Contacting Alitalia would not have accomplished you a lot fantastic. Telephone or online chats are excellent for producing a swift alter to a reservation or asking a problem about an upcoming flight, but not for refunds. You’re better off trying to keep anything in writing.
I contacted Alitalia on your behalf. It issued a $700 refund.
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