How can I find an advocate?
 

I have been trying to get my money back from Expedia and am wondering if there is a way to get some entity to advocate for me. My flight was cancelled a year and a half ago due to COVID and I am basically out $900+. Expedia tells me that I need to get the money from Aer Lingus, and Aer Lingus tells me that I need to get the refund from Expedia. I have tried everything I can think of and am wondering if anyone has any ideas on the path forward.

Thanks -

george

In this sort of situation usually the best option is to dispute the charge with your credit card company. But it is probably months too late now . . .

I did that, but the company was able to delay things long enough that the credit card company says that it is too late.

I haven’t dealt with Expedia and airfare but have had issues with Expedia and hotels. Expedia are not easy to deal with and even if the hotel tells them to refund, they will not. My experience means I will use them less but during my research, I have seen them respond favorably to the consumer if they are reported to the BBB (better business bureau). Social media calling out as seems to get their attention.

Good luck as you deserve your money back.

I have reported them to the BBB and the Department of Transportation, so hopefully that will be helpful.

Suggest you contact Elliott Advocacy. They were of assistance to me in the past.

Thanks. I tried them and they referred me to the DOT website, where I opened a case.

Please come back and let us know what happens. It’s worth trying anything and would be good to know what helped.

I"ve heard some complaints about that issue but your arrangement was with Expedia, so they are responsible for giving you your money. Yes, they should get it from Aer Lingus but they are the ones you dealt with.

I presume you have learned a lesson but you have to take the consequences when you decide to book through a third party that you are going to have to deal with them in case of problems. I do not understand why people do this as it can only cause problems. I will admit back in the day, I used to buy airline tickets on Travelocity sometimes as those type of online "travel agents" were the only way to buy a RT ticket but going on one carrier and returning on a completely different one that was not a partner (eg, United and Delta), at least for a reasonable RT fare. Generally, you are stuck with online the airline's partners. In fact, I think Travelocity lost that feature so now you can't do that anyway. I personally have never seen a cheaper price on them for a regular ticket so that's why I don't know why people do that (use Expedia, etc).

IN any case, it's hard to know what really happened, I hope you didn't cancel the trip yourself due to concerns. And when you complain, you have to be clearer as to what happened than on here. For example, you got notice that Aer Lingus cancelled your flight, documented how? an email I presume, hope you have a copy you can attach. I am not familiar with any airline cancellation telling you the reason was COVID, that's why I wonder. Even if it were, whatever that means (I am speculating you think they cancelled it because volume was down due to COVID so they were cancelling some flights as nonprofitable, which I can understand why an airline can't run a lot of empty planes, but they don't usually tell you the reason was COVID). The reason doesn't really matter if they did cancel, unless it were really due to weather and they offered a reasonable delay flight. I think I did read some flights into Ireland from the UK were cancelled due to COVID, but forget the details. I just know even when travelers weren't allowed certain places, flights still happened as citizens were allowed to fly home, and there are exemptions such as certain workers, etc.

Doubt if it works, but you can try contacting this guyDavid McAughan
Vice President, Operations
1111 Expedia Group Way W
Seattle, WA 98119
[email protected]

Expedia needs to tell you if Aer Lingus has responded to their refund request or not, and what they have done.

Have you complained on the Expedia Facebook page? Usually a company will respond fairly quickly to a public outing like that.
I had a problem with Federal Express and could not call them or find their email. As soon as I complained on Facebook, I got an immediate response from FedEx.
Good luck!

https://www.facebook.com/expedia

I did write to the head of their Customer Service but never heard back from them. Unfortunately, I believe that they have successfully slow-walked this. My lesson is to never trust that Customer Service is telling me the truth.