By Christopher Elliott
Melissa Smithers’ flight credits on American Airlines have expired. But wait! Doesn’t she have a screenshot of the vouchers showing that she still has a few months?
Question: My family and I planned a trip to Hawaii two years ago. We booked our tickets on American Airlines through Expedia. Our trip included airfare and hotel.
We canceled the trip because of the pandemic. We received a refund for the hotel, but American Airlines gave us a ticket credit.
In March 2021, I used some of this credit for another trip. When I used some of these credits, an Expedia representative told me I now had until Oct. 31, 2022, to use the remaining credits.
In November 2021, I looked on my Expedia account online and did see that I had four airline credits for $508 each (one for each of my family members). I took a screenshot of this information and emailed it to my husband to show him for our records and to remember to use the credit.
I went to book a trip this May using this credit to find my credit was now gone. Expedia tells me that it expired in March 2022. Expedia reps promised they would look into this. I sent them the screenshot of my credits, with passenger names and the Oct. 31, 2022 expiration date. I also told them to check the phone records because they told me Oct. 31, 2022.
I believe this is an Expedia error that they are not owning up to. Perhaps the credits expired, but they told me that the expiration date was Oct. 31, 2022, and I had proof. I get emails from them that they reviewed my case and the credits are expired, and that’s it. Can you help me get my credit back? — Melissa Smithers, Lansdale, Pa.
Answer: If your ticket credits don’t expire until October, you should still have a valid ticket credit with American Airlines. This is just a mistake, right?
But no. I reviewed the paper trail between you and Expedia, and it’s no mistake. Your credit is gone.
You did such a great job advocating this case by yourself. Keeping screenshots of your vouchers was brilliant. You also worked with my team to politely escalate this to one of the Expedia executives I list on my consumer advocacy site. Unfortunately, that didn’t bring you any closer to a resolution.
I’ve been getting a planeload of cases that involve expiring ticket credits. The problem is the pandemic. It is lasting much longer than anyone thought, and airlines sometimes changed their credit terms in 2021, which led to some vouchers expiring sooner than expected.
My advice? Whenever possible, ask for a refund instead of a credit. And if you have to accept a credit, everyone should do what you did: Take a screenshot and save it.
Your diligent documentation saved the day. I showed it to Expedia. “I received an email from them that I will be getting a refund, instead of a credit extension, which is what I was asking for,” you reported. “But I’m very happy with the refund.”
Christopher Elliott is the chief advocacy officer for Elliott Advocacy. Email him at [email protected] or get help with any consumer problem by contacting him at www.elliott.org/help
