Department of Transportation and EU regulations clearly state that the customer is entitled to cash refund in case the airline cancels a booked flight. Obviously many airlines at the moment are refusing to do this.
Questions:
- Do the same regulation apply to tickets not directly booked with the airline but through a third party like Expedia ?
- Is Expedia required to at least honor the cancellation rules of the airline
Background:
We booked Air France tickets on Expedia and Expedia cancelled since Air France cancelled the flights. Expedia offers airline credit but it's extremely restricted. Basically you can only use it for a single ticket on one booking for the same person on the same airline departing from the same country and costing the same price. Ideally we want cash back or at least Air France's conditions which offer a voucher that becomes refundable after one year. Expedia has removed the original fare rules from their website but they didn't include any specific verbiage about cancellation by the airline.We like to charge back through the credit card company but would like to understand the legal situation first.
Links to the regulations
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261&from=en https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/refunds
UPDATE ON EXPEDIA VS AIRLINE In this case I think we need to deal with Expedia since they took our money (not Air France). If we were to execute a charge back, we'd have to do it against Expedia. I had a different booking with Priceline on Air China, but in this case Air China charged us and also refunded the money as well (without any problems, I might add).