Consumers who are based in the United States are allowed to cancel their reservation and receive a full refund without a penalty for 24 hours; but here is a warning that you may not always receive a full refund when canceling an airline ticket purchased within 24 hours, as I learned with my experience with one airline.
Warning: Not Always a Full Refund When Canceling Airline Ticket Purchased Within 24 Hours
First, here is a review of the verbiage of refunds of airline tickets canceled within 24 hours of purchase, according to the official Internet web site of the Department of Transportation of the United States:
For airline tickets that are purchased at least seven days before a flight’s scheduled departure date and time, airlines are required to either:
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- allow consumers to cancel their reservation and receive a full refund without a penalty for 24 hours, or
- allow consumers to reserve a ticket (place it on hold) at the quoted prices without paying for the ticket for 24 hours.
I purchased a round trip ticket with American Airlines to Guayaquil in Ecuador for $461.21; but although I canceled it within 24 hours, I received the following e-mail message that informed me that my refund “is complete” with only $451.21, which has since posted to my credit card account.
The problem is that the refund was ten dollars less than what I paid. No explanation was given anywhere in the e-mail message as to what happened to the missing ten dollars.
That is obviously not a full refund to me — nor is it “complete”. When I questioned what happened, a representative of American Airlines replied that “The difference is a tax paid to the government of Ecuador at the time of sale and are non-refundable.”
I responded that nowhere during either the ticketing process nor the cancellation process was this “non-refundable tax” clearly related to me. The reply I received was that “The fare has been refunded, but the taxes paid to the Ecuadoran government are non-refundable.”
The following text is the official refund policy of American Airlines:
You have 24 hours from the time you first buy your ticket for a refund if you booked at least 2 days before departure. The 24-hour refund policy applies to all ticket types, but you have to cancel the trip to get a refund. If you bought your ticket through a travel agency or another booking source, contact them for a refund. Reservations booked as part of group block do not qualify for the 24-hour refund.
Refunds will be issued to the original form of payment in full amounts, less:
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- Sale-imposed non-refundable taxes
- Service charge for booking through Reservations
To cancel your trip, find your trip online or log in to your AAdvantage® account.
Even if I read this policy, how would I know what are “sale-imposed non-refundable taxes”? Did that even apply to my ticket? I guess I would need to read the full terms and conditions of the ticket prior to purchasing it to see if this policy is buried somewhere in them?
The response I received from American Airlines was “We’re sorry for the inconvenience.”
Final Boarding Call
I am just not having good luck with American Airlines lately. Still not resolved is the recent issue with which I purchased a Main Cabin ticket but still must pay for seat assignments on two flights which are operated by a different airline through a codeshare partnership. As with this situation, no clear warning or guidance was presented at any time during the process of booking the ticket.
I have canceled tickets with other airlines within 24 hours in the past; and although I do not do this that often, I have always received a full refund — without exception or question. This was the first time that I encountered a refund that was not in full when canceling a ticket within 24 hours…
…so be forewarned: according to American Airlines, you will not always receive a full refund of the ticket within 24 hours of purchasing it due to taxes that are imposed by some countries and are not refundable — but in fairness to consumers, this policy should be absolutely clear both during the process of purchasing the ticket and before the final cancelation of the ticket…
Photograph ©2019 by Brian Cohen.
