{"id":8693532,"date":"2022-12-19T08:50:26","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T16:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/?p=8693532&preview=true&preview_id=8693532"},"modified":"2022-12-20T06:40:03","modified_gmt":"2022-12-20T14:40:03","slug":"travel-troubleshooter-help-my-tap-air-portugal-ticket-credit-has-expired-or-has-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2022\/12\/19\/travel-troubleshooter-help-my-tap-air-portugal-ticket-credit-has-expired-or-has-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Travel Troubleshooter: Help! My TAP Air Portugal ticket credit has expired. Or has it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER:<\/strong> I\u2019m trying to get a refund for a flight canceled by TAP Air Portugal during the pandemic. In March 2020, while I was in Lisbon, authorities declared a pandemic. On April 4, TAP Air Portugal stopped flying to the U.S.<\/p>\n

\"Christopher
Christopher Elliott, the Travel Troubleshooter <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I tried changing my flight, but TAP wouldn\u2019t answer the phone. So I purchased new tickets to fly home. When I checked in for my flight back to the U.S., I spoke to a TAP agent at the airport, who promised I\u2019d get a refund.<\/p>\n

Instead, my online travel agency, Travelocity, gave me a flight credit. But now, the credit has expired, and TAP won\u2019t respond to me or Travelocity regarding my refund. Also, my TAP account is locked.<\/p>\n

The last I heard from TAP is that since Travelocity issued the ticket, Travelocity \u201chas the ability to process our refund and has been provided with instructions on how to do so.\u201d I need your help getting $1,881 refunded from either TAP or Travelocity \u2014 whichever company has the money.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mary Dexter, Newton Centre, Massachusetts<\/em><\/p>\n

ANSWER:<\/strong> You should have never received a credit from TAP Air Portugal or Travelocity. Instead, they should have given you a complete refund after canceling your return flight.<\/p>\n

After the COVID outbreak in 2020, TAP argued that the pandemic was an extraordinary circumstance and that it could only offer a flight credit for canceled tickets. But EU regulations require an airline to offer either your choice of a full refund or a credit for a canceled flight, no matter the reason for the cancellation.<\/p>\n

Eventually, authorities forced TAP to issue full refunds, but the airline took its time. It\u2019s nothing short of the biggest refund scandal in modern aviation (more information about refunds can be found at www.elliott.org\/airline-problems\/what-should-you-do-if-your-airline-wont-refund-your-ticket\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n

But somewhere between TAP and Travelocity, your tickets remained in the system as an expiring credit. It\u2019s highly unusual \u2014 though, not unprecedented \u2014 for an online agency to be an accomplice to an airline that doesn\u2019t want to return your money. So I thought something else might be going on.<\/p>\n

I publish the company contacts for TAP Air Portugal and Travelocity on my advocacy site at www.elliott.org\/company-contacts\/tap-air-portugal<\/a> and www.elliott.org\/company-contacts\/expedia-customer-service-contacts<\/a>. (Expedia owns Travelocity.) You could have sent a brief, polite email to one of them, asking them to review your refund request. I checked your paper trail, and it seemed everyone was cooperating with your refund request \u2014 until they weren\u2019t.<\/p>\n