Airfrance refusing to refund
Booked this flight itinerary direct with Virgin:
Outbound:
MAN > ATL (Operated by Virgin)
ATL > SMF (Delta)
Return:
SMF > MSP (Delta)
MSP > CDG (Air France)
CDG > MAN (Air France)
Context:
Travelling with my mother who suffers from severe back pain. Wanted to book seats to ensure we were sat together and had decent seat options. Virgin’s website allowed me to select seats for the Virgin and Delta flights but for Air France I had to go the AF website instead. So I booked 4 seat selections with AF, costing £30, £30, £15, £15. I also ticked the option to partially pay with miles I had previously been awarded with KLM and because of AF and KLM collaboration via Flying Blue, they were eligible. 7000 miles used across the 4 seat selections. £90 and 7000 miles down for 4 seats.. But ok, whatever, at least my mother will have a nicer flight.
Fast forward and Virgin end up changing the SMF > MSP flight for ‘operational’ reasons. This brings forward the flight time by 7 hours, meaning I’m going to have to get to the airport at 4am and I also now have an 8 hour layover in MSP. This is simply not feasible, especially with the pain it would put my mother through sitting in an airport for 7+ hours. So I get in touch with Virgin who thankfully advise that the flight is eligible to be rebooked to a more suitable option (terms and conditions say if the impact is > 5 hours it is eligible, this is key). This then completely changes the return itinerary and I now simply go SMF > ATL > MAN. I take this as a win… Nicer journey in my opinion with a nicer layover. Delightful customer service in arranging the change. No extra cost. Until…
I raise the question, will my seat bookings for the final two flights with AF be refunded? I obviously can’t sit in those seats anymore and ultimately it’s not my fault my itinerary has ended up changing for what were originally ‘operational’ reasons. Customer service advice they don’t have access to the seat bookings made with AF and that I will have to reach out to them instead. A bit annoying, but ok, I get it. Computer says no, so I’m not gonna give the Virgin customer service any grief.
So I reach out to AF via multiple customer service chats and eventually I am given a link to the correct refund request form. I fill it out and they finally get back to me today advising (quote):
“We hereby inform you that we have rejected your refund request, because it does not meet the criteria listed on the website.”
An operational change to a flight which leads to the *airline* changing my itinerary is not criteria for a refund of a seat selection ON A FLIGHT I AM NO LONGER ON???
Surely that is the definition of a refund-eligible scenario. I am not receiving the service paid for because of the service providers changes..
Got in touch with the customer service again who in a long winded way advised there is nothing they can do other than to suggest to submit a refund claim form again. But honestly what is the point.. Nothing has changed and I already provided full context.
Any advice please? Any opinions in general? I am honestly gobsmacked