Earlier this week, we booked a trip to Burlington, Vermont through US Airways. At the time of booking, we thought we were getting a great deal, and that if anything, the price of the flight would only go up. Only 3 days later though, we have found that the price has now gone down $20/ticket.
With this knowledge, I called up US Airways looking to see if they would refund me the price difference of the $20/ticket. However, the customer service representative I spoke to said that they can only do refunds if the difference in price per ticket is $150 or greater. When speaking to his supervisor, they informed me of the same thing and that their computer system would not allow them to waive that. To me, and I'm sure to any consumer, this makes no sense and is only aimed at enhancing the profits of US Airways.
While I understand any business is out there to make money, it should also treat its customers right and make ethical decisions. I consider what US Airways has done to be unethical and just greedy. With this, I have submitted a complaint to the appropriate department at the company asking them to review this policy and either to change it or to make an exception in this case. Hopefully, the person that ends up reading the complaint will not just "toe the company line" and will make the right decision and reimburse me the price difference.
I do understand they are under no legal obligation to reimburse me. They do need to realize though that their decision will be made public via this website to allow our readers to make a better informed decision when choosing airlines. I hope for a speedy resolution to this.
Once this is resolved, in either a positive or negative fashion, I will share with you the results.
07/23/2010 - UPDATE: We have received a response from US Airways that can be found by clicking here.
Did you just book your trip with out doing any homework? ALL Airlines have the same policy, so you are just wasting your time. And, I'll bet your ticket is pretty cheap if it is on US Airways. Go look and see what United , American or Delta would charge you. If you w3ant a price guarantee, book with Hot Wire. But there ae pluses and minuses with that approach too. Just go enjoy your trip and be thankful you are lucky enough to afford one this year!
ReplyDeleteHi, Evelyn, and thanks for your feedback. You should please note that not all airlines have the same policy. These are the refund policies of all the major American airlines for any price changes:
ReplyDeleteFull refund/credit - Southwest, JetBlue, Alaskan Airlines
Refunds for Price difference of $75 or more - AirTran and Virgin Airways
Refunds for Price difference of $100 or more - Hawaiian and Midwest Airlines
Refunds for Price difference of $150 or more - American, Continental, Delta, United and US Airways
In terms of price guarantees, no travel site offers one. The ones you typically see are very flimsy at best. For example, on Orbitz they say if someone books the same flight as you later on at a cheaper price, they'll refund you the difference. The caveat to that is that someone has to make that purchase through Orbitz when it is cheaper and there is no way to prove whether this happens or not. This means you are doing it with the faith that a large corporation will be fully honest about this.
The main purpose of the article is to show our readers of one of the many practices of some airlines that we believe are unethical and to also show that there are options out there. If you bought at TV at a store and then found it advertised for a cheaper price the next week, most stores would refund the difference. This is the case in almost every industry as it is "the right thing to do". We'll see if US Airways can do the right thing or if they'll just look to maximize profit by refusing to help customers.
Again, as mentioned in the article, there is no legal obligation for US Airways to refund us the price difference. However, we believe that they should on the basis of doing what is right for your customers. We will continue to stand up to large corporations with whatever is within our ability. If you disagree with that, it's perfectly fine. However, our opinion has not changed.