Bankrupt Airlines

[Danny]

I had my honeymoon to Hawaii booked with ATA airlines. who just went bankrupt. Because this trip was booked as a package through a third party, I can't dispute the charge on my credit card. I talked to all of the other airlines who said they would be willing to try and pick up ATA passengers. I couldn't be accommodated because the trip is in August, so I ended up canceling the hotel and will be booking a different trip. We actually wanted to change and go to a nice all inclusive resort in Cancun anyway, so while losing the money sucks, we are happy about booking a Cancun trip. And even with losing $800 from the flight, the change will probably break us even or even save us a small amount because the same quality in Cancun is cheaper. Of course if we had booked Cancun from the start

Anyway, to my question, is there anyway to file a claim with the government against ATA for the $800? If so, is it worth the trouble and would I actually have a chance at getting some reimbursement?

[sterlingice]

I can't help but I can say "Rough break, there. That's a pile of suck. "

SI

[cartman]

Yeah, you can file a claim with the bankruptcy court, but you'll be lucky to get back one or two cents on the dollar at most.

[Grammaticus]

Originally Posted by Danny

I had my honeymoon to Hawaii booked with ATA airlines. who just went bankrupt. Because this trip was booked as a package through a third party, I can't dispute the charge on my credit card. I talked to all of the other airlines who said they would be willing to try and pick up ATA passengers. I couldn't be accommodated because the trip is in August, so I ended up canceling the hotel and will be booking a different trip. We actually wanted to change and go to a nice all inclusive resort in Cancun anyway, so while losing the money sucks, we are happy about booking a Cancun trip. And even with losing $800 from the flight, the change will probably break us even or even save us a small amount because the same quality in Cancun is cheaper. Of course if we had booked Cancun from the start

Anyway, to my question, is there anyway to file a claim with the government against ATA for the $800? If so, is it worth the trouble and would I actually have a chance at getting some reimbursement?

If the services are not going to be provided, you can charge the amount of the tickets back. It doesn't matter who booked it. If the third party charged your card, the debit goes back to them. Who told you that you could not dispute it?

[PilotMan]

Honestly, It wouldn't be worth the effort. And in the end you probably won't get anything. You would be in line behind so many people that they owe money to that they would be out of money before they even came close to you. IF they did, then maybe you would be lucky to end up with a penny or two per dollar that you were owed. Sadly, that's the truth.

[Danny]

American Express, they have an agreement with hotwire.com that they will file a dispute against them.

I booked our new trip tonight and we are even more excited about it. It's a really nice all inclusive resort in Cancun called Dreams Cancun Resort and Spa. Its a 4 star resort which is very highly rated on trip advisor, frommers, and every other review site out there. We also got a really good deal with perfect flight times through Orbitz. I also purchased the trip protection just in case . On the whole, even with the $800 loss, we will likely save 500+ since this trip is all inclusive.

[Danny]

I thought it would be worth it file the claim. I'm not counting on or expecting anything though. We're really happy with how things turned out overall and the trip we have planned. Getting a great all inclusive week long trip for $1900 with the flight times we wanted makes up for it. There's always a blessing in all things, if you give it enough time

[Grammaticus]

Visa / MasterCard requires its member bank that setup the merchant to cover valid chargebacks the merchant cannot cover. The Merchant processing bank (Acquirer) often takes a bath on this type of scenario. Although with Airlines the Acquirer often holds back funding until flights are completed. If that is the case on this ATA situation, it will mitigate their loss by a lot if not all of it.

Not sure on Amex as they are in most cases a closed circuit. They own the merchant agreements and the cardholder agreements. But both Amex and Discover are starting to use banks for Issuing and Acquiring.

One good thing is that federal law allows you to use the claim or defense (regulation Z) statute. As long as you have not paid off the balance, the amount is greater than $100, you live in the same state or within 100 miles of the merchant (phone or non-face to face trans. are considered same state) and you have made a good faith effort to resolve with the merchant, you can dispute it.

[Danny]

I paid off the balance a couple months ago when we booked the deal

[Shkspr]

If AmEx is really telling you they're keeping your money from the transaction without recompense, my next three calls would be:

1) to the supervisor's supervisor's boss of the person that told you that;
2) to your state's Attorney General's office;
3) to the consumer affairs reporter for the local TV station.

1) This call will generally get you to the sort of regional manager who not only realizes what a small thing it is to the company's bottom line to help you, and has the authority to handwave the $800, but likes getting mad at underlings who told you no because they DON'T have the authority to handwave away $800.

2) Whether this helps or not depends on how busy the AG's office is. Remember that this is a public appointment, however, and the newsworthiness of your situation may convince them that it's good PR to be seen standing up for their citizens in this matter. Also, AG letters can scare a company much more shitless than a personal lawyer.

3) The bigger a douche your local consumer affairs reporter is, the more blood they will smell in this water and the better it is for you. The case is a national headline, the honeymoon is a good hook, and the intransigence of AmEx in phone call 1 makes for a good villain. I smell Peabody.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Danny

I paid off the balance a couple months ago when we booked the deal

That shouldn't matter. I pay off the balance every month, but I had an issue where a merchant didn't deliver promised goods 2 months down the road. I challenged the charges and my Visa card cut me a check for 300 dollars and went after the merchant who failed to deliver what they promised (or wrote it off.)

[Danny]

The issue is hotwire has a strict no refund policy which I agreed to when I booked the trip. And then when I filed a claim with American Express, they said it didn't go through because they have an agreement with hotwire not to dispute any charges. Can I go above that somehow?