Consumer complaint received 2023-07-24
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: RI
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:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I purchased four round-trip tickets on XXXX XXXX with my American Express Card . 

XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Flight XXXX XXXX to XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Flight XXXX Seat charges XXXX, XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX Flight XXXX XXXX to XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Flight XXXX Seat charges XXXX, XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX Flight XXXX XXXX to XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Flight XXXX Seat charges XXXX, XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX Flight XXXX XXXX to XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Flight XXXX Seat charges XXXX, XXXX On XX/XX/XXXX I changed the outbound flight using my American Express card. 
XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Flight XXXX Seat charges XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX Flight XXXX Seat charges XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to XXXX, XXXX XXXX Flight XXXX Seat charges XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX Flight XXXX Seat charges XXXX I was issued vouchers from XXXX for my previous seat purchases to apply to my new seat purchase. The vouchers were not working. I have a copy of the screen showing they did not work. 

XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX and XXXX at the time of purchase I called XXXX with the issue of the vouchers. I was instructed to pay with my card and I would have to file a complaint on the website. 

XX/XX/XXXX As instructed, I filed a case with XXXX XXXX, case number XXXX. 

The auto-response generated by the airline stated that we would have a resolution within seven days. 

XX/XX/XXXX, I received a generic response from the airline, stating that they were not honoring my complaint and would not be giving me credit or allowing me to use the vouchers. I responded again, documenting that their voucher system was not working and that we had double-paid for our seat selection. The airline has yet to respond. 

XX/XX/XXXX I contacted the airline because our seat assignments were all in row XXXX. I expressed concerns that I would not have under seat storage for my sons EpiPens. Here is a list of the call times in EST : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX During those calls I expressed concerns that the website was not working. If you listen to the recording of the calls, you will hear that each representative made a series of mistakes, including cancelling our flight. The last representative at XXXX assured me that we had all corrected seat assignments, even though I was seeing us all sitting in both rows XXXX and XXXX on the website. I also expressed concern because a new booking code seemed to keep appearing. Not once was I informed that any of the seats were cancelled back in XXXX as I am being told by XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX We arrived at XXXX XXXX to board out flight. At the ticket counter the woman from XXXX XXXX ( operating for XXXX ) informed us she was the manager but would not give us her name. She told us that we could not board because our childrens tickets were cancelled. She told me she could not help and I had to call customer service. The following calls took place : XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX the rep at XXXX XXXX from my phone to the General Manager at the counter and they hung up XX/XX/XXXX XXXX the rep had not idea what was wrong and denied me to speak with a Supervisor After that point the General Manager said we were all not allowed to board the airline XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX call a representative assusred me that despite not being allowed to talk to his Supervisor, the case was being escalated to XXXX and within several hours we would be rebooked on a flight. 

XX/XX/XXXX XXXX I had not received a call or email so I called back and spoke with XXXX XXXX I was told it would take 7 days to resolve and there was no proof of my call from the prior evening. He again denied my request to speak to a supervisor. I asked if I booked another flight to XXXX if we would take out return flight on XX/XX/XXXX and he said we would not be allowed to board that flight because all of our tickets were cancelled. 
XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX call where a woman I believe names XXXX told me it was our fault we didnt board the flight, we missed the flight. 
XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX call I spoke with XXXX again and he was just as unhelpful We had a cruise and several other nonrefundable portions of our trip. Based on the ambiguity of the responses from XXXX we could not conclude that it would be covered under insurance. We had not choice but to rebook a rountrip ticket for all four of us. 
Travel Details XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Origin XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Departing XXXX XXXX Arriving XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX tickets Travel Details Sunday XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Airline Record Locator XXXX Airline XXXX Operated By /Iberia For XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Origin XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Departing XXXXXXXX XXXX Arriving XXXX XXXX Class E Premium Economy Seats XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX - XXXX tickets We had already purchased seats for the identical XXXX XXXX. 
XX/XX/XXXX XXXX stay XXXX XXXX XXXX has violated both the Passenger Bill of Rights and their Contract of Carriage. The airlines did not compensate us or provide substitute compensation. In direct contradiction to that they informed us that our ticket was cancelled for our XX/XX/XXXX flight and it was not. They also were supposed to refund all credit card payments within 7 days. 

In XXXX Contract of Carriage it states : As established in the European Parliament and Council Regulation ( EC ) No. 261/2004 of 11th February, in the event of denied boarding to passengers although they have presented themselves for boarding under the conditions established in this Regulation, compensation is fixed and the carrier is liable for the provision of immediate aid and assistance to affected passengers. 

Both XXXX XXXX and American Express are equally to blame. XXXX XXXX, to date has never notified us of any cancellation. To the contrary, we were allowed to change the seat of all passengers and were allowed to make seat selections. Furthermore, the XXXX agent incorrectly stated that our XX/XX/XXXX flight was cancelled and we still had those seats, therefore we did not need to pay an additional XXXX for the identical same flight AND XXXX XXXX American Express has admitted that their customer service representative made a mistake when disputing the charges. They reviewed the call and I have notes of the call. The agent kept making mistakes and I was repeatedly correcting the agent. AMEX lied to the CFPB in complaint XXXX and said that they applied credits and they did not. The investigation is still in progress in their system and they are still adding charges back. I have emailed the office of XXXX XXXX, CEO to speak with someone and XXXX keeps calling back stating that the case is still open with CFPB. The entire problem is that no one from either AMEX or XXXX will speak with me and both companies have made monumental mistakes.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief