Consumer complaint received 2023-01-21
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: FL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
One of the most important points is that I booked this airline ticket not through XXXX, but XXXX. I dont know XXXX XXXX Ive never worked with them, until the day the flight was denied a boarding pass I had never even been on their website, however, it was billed to me as XXXX this is a lie. I am attaching my proof that this was booked through XXXX. Important points to keep in mind on this is that I was not given XXXX policies or told I was booking with XXXX via XXXX. I 100 % was under the impression I was booking a ticket through XXXX. While I knew it was a nonrefundable ticket, that does not mean that you can not cancel/change/get credit applied if needed on a ticket, it does not mean youre just screwed out of money. I 100 % felt safe booking through XXXX whom I have worked with for at least 15 years on trips and was completely fine with thinking if something needed to change I would be able to contact XXXX and get credit that could be used for whatever travel I wanted in the future. This was a complete dupe. When the boarding pass was denied, I immediately called XXXX, it was at that time I was told this was booked through them and billed direct with XXXX and that I had to deal with them. I expressed my confusion to XXXX and the rep told me he wished he could help and normally they would help in such a situation but because XXXX billed it the way they did they couldnt help. This is a serious violation of trust to me, especially since I had no dealings or relationship with XXXX and would have read up on them prior to booking if I hadnt felt I had to protection and safety of XXXX as my travel agent. 
Point number 2, related to point above is that even with a nonrefundable ticket, you can get credit/reassign a flight/etc, work something out so you arent just money grabbed, especially in a circumstance like mine where I thought I did everything correctly and by the book. The rep at XXXX gave me 2 reasons why she wouldnt help me. The first being that the flight had been checked-in and the second that it was on the website. BOTH of these claims are incorrectly applied to my situation. The first claim that I was checked-in for the flight is also a scam. You can not check in online for flights out of XXXX airports, AT ALL. Paper boarding pass tickets are required. He went directly to security, they turned him away and said a paper boarding pass is required for all flights. So it was at the boarding pass/ticket counter that a boarding pass was denied, he was not checked in according to the rules of XXXX airports, he was denied check-in. He wasnt even allowed through the security area of the airport to the gate, this is where they denied the flight, not at the gate. He was actually directed by a XXXX agent through their app on how to bypass the system to check in for the flight online and not warned about needing a visa ; again, the airline always knew all of this information. Passengers being given false information by airlines should not reward an airline with free money, they are literally profiting off of deceit at this point. It is not out of their control they literally hold all of the control and we are at their mercy. The second claim that this information was on their website is crazy because I never dealt with their website. This is a money scheming racket that I could be held accountable by policies and information that was never shown to me, never emailed to me, and not even explained during first actual contact with XXXX. Had the rep through the app told him that he needed a visa we could have at least called the airline and worked on rescheduling the flight for a later date instead of them saying theyre taking the money just because they feel they can and get away with it. This is just fundamentally not right or fair to unsuspecting consumers. I will give XXXX examples. Example number XXXX : Earlier this year I flew via XXXX to XXXX. I have a XXXX XXXX, so naturally I get visa on arrival for XXXX, HOWEVER due to COVID requirements, there were explicit directions, itinerary requirements and other documents that had to be submitted to XXXX authorities prior to my flight. XXXX emailed me about all the flight requirements well in advance and I was able to prepare for my flight, if they had not I wouldnt have had any idea about these requirements and would not have been able to fly. This type of information are things that airlines ALWAYS know on a daily basis as they are the ones flying people all over the world and dealing with these changing things all the time. This is not something that even passengers that take time and do their research thoroughly will know. We always have to rely on the company we are traveling with to help us be prepared for our travel. XXXX never emailed me 1 time. Never gave a list of whats needed to fly. Neither did XXXX. I doubled checked through all my emails. There was no attempts made by either company to inform of flight requirements ahead of time nor at the time of booking. How is this an acceptable policy? How is this out of the control of the company that holds all the information and all of the cards? If this is not required how is it that XXXX provided all my necessary flight information before my XXXX flight? Ive never heard of an airline not providing in advance to passengers everything they need to have successful travel. How on earth could the onus be placed completely on a passenger when these policies change so frequently and there is so much mucked up information out there in the world that confuses people. Call XXXX or XXXX consulate they even tell you that you dont need a XXXX for XXXX for XXXX XXXX, but the airlines literally tell you at the airport that what the governments say and what the airline reps tell you means nothing and they have all the control. So if they claim all the control at the ticket counter, the airline should 100 % be responsible for informing passengers ahead of time of what is necessary to fly, not at the ticket counter when literally nothing can be done and they just take advantage of you. Second example is that in online retail, if XXXX or any other carrier does not deliver a package the party that is responsible is the retailer. The customer does not take the hit for it. This is a situation where it is completely out of control of the retailer, they are at the mercy of the shipping company yet they are held responsible financially for undelivered packages. So saying that a company is not responsible for something out of their control is simply not true. This is a double standard. 
I was also told on the phone that sometimes it is just company policies, but this also confuses me. I have always been under the impression that credit card companies and the XXXX are in place to protect us from predatory practices and polices/situations like this and it is exactly why I use my credit card for everything. I am a responsible shopper, I do my homework and I have only had to do a few disputes in my whole life, but I use my credit card for the protections it is supposed to give me. I do not feel that I have been protected at all in this situation. I feel that a predatory situation happened to me from the very beginning of this transaction via XXXX and all the way through to the end with this dispute suddenly being given in favor to this company that took advantage of me. Please contact me if you should have more questions or need any further supporting evidence to protect me from this situation. I am very happy to provide anything and everything I can to Bank of America to make sure that these people dont get away with this grift they have set up with XXXX XXXX

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation