Over Spring Break 2020 we were supposed to head to Ecuador and the Galapagos.
This was a trip that took a lot of work to plan and one that Kim and I had dreamt of taking for many years. However, the COVID-19 pandemic had other plans. The trip wasn’t meant to be this time.
Before we had a chance to cancel, Avianca canceled our flights in Ecuador from Guayaquil to the Galapagos.
You’d expect it to be common sense that if an airline cancels a flight, you get a refund. Avianca initially was only offering the opportunity to change the dates of our flight or get a voucher. (Find out more here.)
After not getting through to the airline, I decided to file a complaint with the DOT and contact the credit card company.
I was also able to finally file for a refund through Avianca.com after having issues doing so previously.
After waiting some time, (around 60 days!) I finally received an e-mail that our refund had been authorized. (This was in early June.)
We had never actually paid for the flight since we had disputed the charges with our credit card company. After notifying the credit card company about the refund, we had not heard anything else (until now) and the charges did not reappear.
A couple of days back I received another official response from a lawyer with Avianca I had been dealing with during this process. His e-mail to me included one short sentence, “I confirm you the refund has been made“.
I think it’s safe to say, that our refund saga with Avianca has officially come to a close. I hope that those of you who have reached out to me have had similar success.
Let us know in the comments where you stand with your refund from flights canceled due to COVID-19.
So they are telling me I still need to wait. My trip was set for the end of June and I started fighting for this in May but they said the trip could still happen (that was ridiculous because everything was shut down) – would you mind send me the information to the lawyer that you contacted? I would like to know what else I can do? The waiting is frustrating.
J- I hear ya but we never paid for the charge. Our flight was canceled before the bill was paid so it’s been disputed ever since.
Honestly, it doesn’t mean much until you receive the refund on your card. LifeMiles “authorized” award ticket refunds since March but they haven’t processed any of it, even if you paid their cancellation fee.