When an airline sells you a service, you should be able to receive a refund if it doesn’t deliver. But when is it not worth your time to even bother asking for one? I asked this question recently when I had serious trouble connecting to Wi-Fi during an American Airlines flight. The carrier charged $17 for the privilege.
I figured that the nuisance of getting the money back would cost more than $17 of time and aggravation. Turns out I was wrong, according to more than 100 readers who set me straight after I asked for advice. Nearly everyone who asked for a refund when the Wi-Fi didn’t work properly got the money back.
Many had even cracked the code on how to make the request in under 60 seconds. This past week, I distilled their wisdom and talked to the major airlines and credit card companies that were willing to answer my many detailed questions. First, some guidance from the airlines on the fastest path to a refund request: Go to care.
inflightinternet.com . You can chat with a representative on that page about a refund or contact the airline via the email address or phone number provided there.
I did end up asking American for a refund, without quite knowing how. After a few minutes fumbling around on its website, I found a place to send the airline an email . The response I received offered vague platitudes but no compensation.
Readers suggested a different tactic: Find the email receipt for the Wi-Fi purchase, hit reply and ask for a refund. I tried that, too, and sev.