My complaint:
My trip to South Africa was cancelled because of COVID 19 and I was told hat after paying a penalty ($75 per person), I could use my travel credit on other future flights (Sep. 2021). In early March ’22 I used their online tool to book a new flights using my credits and received an email saying that the requests was being processes. At the time of my booking requests there were lots of flights available at a cost way below the credit. After weeks of waiting I tried calling and no answer, and many emails using their online tools, I finally got a call about my booking and was told that the booking was never made. So, on the call, they attempted to make the booking but told me that it was only available if I paid an extra $200 per passenger. They gave me no explanation for the delay so I asked to speak to a supervisor. No one called me back and again, I could not reach them by phone. After weeks of trying I finally got someone on the phone who told me that the change would now cost me $337 per person. That is, the longer we wait, the higher the costs since the prices go up, but they have no regard for the fact that they are causing the delay with no explanation. They won’t give me a refund and they are suggesting that the 3 person ticket to Barcelona costs almost $5,500 which is the $4,300 credit plus the added $1,200. This is however, not the costs I see online, so it appears that they are charging me a premium for using my credits and causing unnecessary delays, then passing on the cost of the changed fees to me. If they had booked the flights in early March when I requested, there would be no additional costs. They are nearly impossible to reach and even when I do reach them, they seem to want to charge me additional money to use my credits in amounts above and beyond the actual costs of the flights, based on available flight information online. I’ve been scammed and they are holding my $4,300 credits without giving me reasonable opportunity use.
Suggested solution:
Either a refund or booking the requested flights at the price when the request was made (not current price 2 months later), or at least at the price available online - not at their padded price to use the Credits.
