Air France charged me $1401 CAD to “modify” my booking to the exact same flight, approved a refund in writing, then refused it
Posting because I'm out of options with their customer service and curious if anyone's seen this.
Timeline, all on one booking (Vancouver to Paris, later rerouted via Amsterdam):
April 16: Booked round trip, $1280.67. Fine.
May 12: Bought a Premium cabin upgrade, both directions, $1214.90. Fine.
June 9: Changed my outbound routing, paid $343.40 difference. Fine.
June 20: At check-in, took a business class upgrade offer and paid $1401. Instead of an upgrade confirmation, I got a "Reservation confirmed, your booking has been modified" email. Opened it: same flight numbers, same dates, same times, same Premium cabin. Same seat. Nothing changed. I was not upgraded.
June 20, later: Contacted them, was told not to worry, it would be refunded. Retried the upgrade, this time it worked, separate charge of $906.70. Got the actual upgrade.
So three transactions processed correctly and one that produced literally nothing.
What happened since:
Multiple agents told me contradictory things. One said my return flight was "unchanged and has not been modified." Another said I had validated "a modification for the same date and in the same class." Both are admissions that nothing changed, yet I was billed $1401 for a "modification."
My own fare rules state modifications are free unless the new ticket is more expensive. It was the identical flight.
A customer service agent approved a refund in writing, with a refund reference number.
Days later: automated rejection email. No amount, no reason.
I sent a detailed timeline. Response: my ticket was booked in cabin W, I flew in cabin W, so no refund. Which was never what I was disputing. I was complaining about being charged twice for the same ticket, not about my cabin.
Final response: "there is nothing more I can add to our previous message."
The part I still can't get past: I bought the business upgrade separately for $906.70. You can't buy the same upgrade twice, same day, at two different prices. The $1401 bought nothing.
Filing a credit card dispute this week. Has anyone had this happen, an upgrade attempt at check-in silently processing as a paid rebooking to the same flight? Curious whether it's a known bug.