My online travel agent canceled my flight but didn’t tell me. Now what?

Donna Fredkove says her online travel agency, MyFlightSearch, canceled her Sun Country flight to Newark without notice. Now she wants help getting reimbursed for the new, more expensive tickets the cancellation forced her to buy. Can we help you?

Question

Last year I purchased round trip tickets through MyFlightSearch for my husband and I on Sun Country from Minneapolis to Newark. MyFlightSearch charged us $477 for these tickets.

The day before our outbound flight, we tried to print our boarding passes from the Sun Country website, but received the response that we needed to check in at the airport. When we arrived at the Sun Country check-in counter, a representative told us that our tickets were not valid. Sun Country staff called MyFlightSearch and found that the online travel agency had canceled our reservations. We had to book a new, more expensive flight to Newark.

Neither Sun Country nor the online travel agency had informed us of the canceled flight. While we were at the Sun Country check-in counter, someone from MyFlightSearch called me on my cell phone and said they had emailed me a notice. However, when I told him that there had been no emails or further contact from MyFlightSearch after we received the e-tickets, he admitted that he had in fact not informed, but that he “had tried”. He said that the amount I was charged had been refunded to my credit card account.

Neither Sun Country nor MyFlightSearch were prepared to take responsibility for canceling our tickets without notice. Sun Country charged us $1,279 for airfare when the original price we paid for our return flights was $477. We also had to fly to Hartford instead of Newark and get additional ground transportation from Hartford to Newark the same day at our own expense.

After getting home, I checked my credit card statements and found that MyFlightSearch had paid Sun Country a total of $477 in two transactions – one for $40 and one for $437. I only received the $437. I called MyFlightSearch and asked for the $40 refund, and they agreed to refund the money in 7-10 days to post it to my account. It’s been weeks and I haven’t received the refund. Can you help ? — Donna Fredkove, Minnetonka, Minn.

Responnse

The $40 fee is a booking fee associated with your reservation. You deserve a refund of fees and your fare. In fact, you should get more than that. MyFlightSearch should consider covering the additional expenses of booking a reservationless fare on the day of your travel. But I’m moving forward.

Of course, MyFlightSearch should have notified you when it canceled your flight. He should have owned the cancellation instead of first telling you that he notified you and then admitting that he didn’t. It should have offered the “prompt personal attention to your travel-related questions and requirements” that it promises on its site.

These online travel agencies are highly automated, so something definitely didn’t work the way it should. You didn’t want to cancel your flight, so MyFlightSearch shouldn’t have canceled it.

The “Check with us at the counter” warning is a huge red flag. When you see this, it’s time to call the airline. It may be nothing. But in my experience, it’s often a sign that something has gone terribly wrong.

Since your online travel agency canceled your flight, they are responsible for the refund.

You may have contacted a Sun Country executive to figure out what happened and ask for some sort of compensation. We list the names, numbers, and email addresses of Sun Country executives in our database. I think Sun Country could have helped you when your agent canceled your flight, helping you get to Newark at a reasonable price. Looking at your correspondence, it looks like you paid hundreds of dollars extra. He could consider reimbursing part of it.

In the end, it was up to your online travel agency to sort out the problem since they were the ones who canceled your flight. I think he should immediately refund your $40 booking fee and consider covering your additional flight costs.

I contacted MyFlightSearch on your behalf. He promptly refunded his booking fee but would not cover your additional costs. Maybe next time you should consider booking directly with your airline or using a human travel agent.