Direct Air - Refund Thread

[matt88]

Post your situation and whether or not you've been successful at obtaining a refund. I'm curious to see how many RFD'ers are in the same situation as me. I'll start:

• Payed for 2 round trip tickets for April 1st and 11th, for a total ~$500 CAD.
• Booked last November.
• Payed with MBNA Smart Cash Platinum Plus
• Sent dispute to MBNA via fax, with itinerary, statement, dispute form, Direct Air's notice, and a descriptive letter.
• Waiting to hear back from MBNA.

EDIT: MBNA has reimbursed me the $500. I will contact them soon to see if this is permanent or temporary.

[Diamond_Ace]

My friends bought Family Ties tickets back in October and redeemed a month ago for a trip April 15 to 20th. They got a refund from their cc company. Don't know which cc it was but it was a successful refund.

[groo]

I bought a flight for two to Orlando in June on my Amex. Called them up, the opened a dispute and credited my account for ~$322 (cost of tickets). Took less than 5 min.

[johnsazzr]

Booked flights from Plattsburgh to Lakeland Fl for last week...have faxed items to Scotia Gold Visa for refund of part of ticket price..HOWEVER..the card also carries trip cancellation/interruption ins which should cover our more expensive return flights on Jetblue but they have denied this request as they will NOT provide trip cancellation or interruption coverage when the reason for the flight cancellation is the airline going out of business...what a crock!! I have made a complaint to the office of the president for Scotia as I know of other people with trip cancellation/interruption ins from other cards have been fully coverasd for all return costs

[FunSave22]

Booked flights from Plattsburgh to Lakeland Fl for last week...have faxed items to Scotia Gold Visa for refund of part of ticket price..HOWEVER..the card also carries trip cancellation/interruption ins which should cover our more expensive return flights on Jetblue but they have denied this request as they will NOT provide trip cancellation or interruption coverage when the reason for the flight cancellation is the airline going out of business...what a crock!! I have made a complaint to the office of the president for Scotia as I know of other people with trip cancellation/interruption ins from other cards have been fully coverasd for all return costs

The terms of different insurance policies ate often different. And unfortunately, a claim will normally only be paid if it matches the terms of your insurance.


The terms of your insurance don't appear to mention anything about a carrier going out of business. And the terms quite specifically say they won't cover anything that is not listed in the items they cover.

http://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/file..._Insurance.pdf

[matt88]

Booked flights from Plattsburgh to Lakeland Fl for last week...have faxed items to Scotia Gold Visa for refund of part of ticket price..HOWEVER..the card also carries trip cancellation/interruption ins which should cover our more expensive return flights on Jetblue but they have denied this request as they will NOT provide trip cancellation or interruption coverage when the reason for the flight cancellation is the airline going out of business...what a crock!! I have made a complaint to the office of the president for Scotia as I know of other people with trip cancellation/interruption ins from other cards have been fully coverasd for all return costs

From here: http://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/file..._Insurance.pdf
Claim this: Section 3, d) "delay of an Insured Person’s Common Carrier resulting from the mechanical failure of that carrier"

Due to this: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toront...-canceled.html
Quoting the line: "Direct Air's marketing manager Ed Warneck told The Sun News newspaper in Myrtle Beach that the airline missed a fuel payment and the supplier cut it off"

Reasoning: An airplane cannot mechanically function without fuel.
As per: http://www.nrel.gov/analysis/power_d...r02_engine.pdf (From the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Power Technologies Energy Data Book)
Quoting this line: "Reciprocating engines, also known as internal combustion engines, require fuel [...] to function."

[matt88]

I bought a flight for two to Orlando in June on my Amex. Called them up, the opened a dispute and credited my account for ~$322 (cost of tickets). Took less than 5 min.

Does your Amex have any specific travel insurance? How long ago did you make the transaction?

[JWL]

From here: http://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/file..._Insurance.pdf
Claim this: Section 3, d) "delay of an Insured Person’s Common Carrier resulting from the mechanical failure of that carrier"

Due to this: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toront...-canceled.html
Quoting the line: "Direct Air's marketing manager Ed Warneck told The Sun News newspaper in Myrtle Beach that the airline missed a fuel payment and the supplier cut it off"

Reasoning: An airplane cannot mechanically function without fuel.
As per: http://www.nrel.gov/analysis/power_d...r02_engine.pdf (From the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Power Technologies Energy Data Book)
Quoting this line: "Reciprocating engines, also known as internal combustion engines, require fuel [...] to function."

LOL. That's a pretty big stretch: No fuel = mechanical failure.
They probably didn't attempt to start the engines either (manual says "Reciprocating engines must be turned on to function") or open the doors ("doors must be opened in order for passengers to fly on the airplane").

[matt88]

LOL. That's a pretty big stretch: No fuel = mechanical failure.
They probably didn't attempt to start the engines either (manual says "Reciprocating engines must be turned on to function") or open the doors ("doors must be opened in order for passengers to fly on the airplane").

...or print their physical tickets
...or put people at their counters to print those tickets
etc.


It may sound like a big stretch at first, but here in Ontario, the Consumer Protection Act allows for any contractual ambiguities to favor the consumer. Since they don't explicitly define what constitutes a mechanical failure in their policy, any other reasonable interpretation that favors the consumer would be acceptable.

Is it a reasonable interpretation? I would pose the question: "If you asked a class of 9-year-olds whether or not an engine can run [or mechanically function] without fuel, how do you think most of them would answer?"

[dawgbone]

...or print their physical tickets
...or put people at their counters to print those tickets
etc.


It may sound like a big stretch at first, but here in Ontario, the Consumer Protection Act allows for any contractual ambiguities to favor the consumer. Since they don't explicitly define what constitutes a mechanical failure in their policy, any other reasonable interpretation that favors the consumer would be acceptable.

Is it a reasonable interpretation? I would pose the question: "If you asked a class of 9-year-olds whether or not an engine can run [or mechanically function] without fuel, how do you think most of them would answer?"

The reason why they don't explicitly define what constitutes a mechanical failure is because you'd increase the size of the PDF by about 30,000 pages.

The airplane didn't take off because the airline cancelled all the flights.

[matt88]

The reason why they don't explicitly define what constitutes a mechanical failure is because you'd increase the size of the PDF by about 30,000 pages.

The airplane didn't take off because the airline cancelled all the flights.

Ultimately, his best approach would be to ask for dispute resolution based on the non-delivery of products and services. After reading through other cancellation policies from other providers, that ScotiaGold Visa one is very poor and limited.

[uo88man]

I bought my tickets last August for a trip between March 11 to 18, 2012. I was stranded in Orlando when I heard that Direct Air went bankrupt. I bought the Direct Air tickets by using my RBC Avion Infinite card. the card covers trip interruption/cancellation insurance. Yesterday, I called RBC insurance, they denied my claim because the insurance does not cover for airlines out of business.

they transferred my call to RBC visa dispute department (1-866-666-5955), they only agreed to credit back the unused portion of the Direct Air costs (i.e. about $260 for 3 tickets), but I paid for three one-way tickets are over $700 on United Airlines. They denied to pay the $700.

[dawgbone]

Ultimately, his best approach would be to ask for dispute resolution based on the non-delivery of products and services. After reading through other cancellation policies from other providers, that ScotiaGold Visa one is very poor and limited.

Generally how these work in a non-delivery of products or services is that the credit card company in question (Visa, Mastercard, whoever), typically tries to push around the company by doing things like threatening to raise merchant fees, denying payments, etc...

Doesn't really work when the company is going out of business, there is nothing the credit card company can do to really threaten them with.

[matt88]

Generally how these work in a non-delivery of products or services is that the credit card company in question (Visa, Mastercard, whoever), typically tries to push around the company by doing things like threatening to raise merchant fees, denying payments, etc...

Doesn't really work when the company is going out of business, there is nothing the credit card company can do to really threaten them with.

I think the credit card companies can facilitate obtaining refunds from the escrow account Direct Air has. Direct Air could not include their escrow account as an asset when declaring bankruptcy, as far as I'm aware. Additionally, the DoT is condoning that people follow this course of action: www.visitdirectair.com/pdf/dot.pdf

[D-Roc]

I bought my tickets last August for a trip between March 11 to 18, 2012. I was stranded in Orlando when I heard that Direct Air went bankrupt. I bought the Direct Air tickets by using my RBC Avion Infinite card. the card covers trip interruption/cancellation insurance. Yesterday, I called RBC insurance, they denied my claim because the insurance does not cover for airlines out of business.

they transferred my call to RBC visa dispute department (1-866-666-5955), they only agreed to credit back the unused portion of the Direct Air costs (i.e. about $260 for 3 tickets), but I paid for three one-way tickets are over $700 on United Airlines. They denied to pay the $700.

I would call RBC back and tell them that Direct Air is not out of business. At no time has it been reported that they have gone under. Just temporarily suspended operations.