Consumer complaint received 2022-01-27
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Problem with rewards from credit card

Complaint:
There are 2 issues : the first is Chase not following up with my issue as promised, and the second more serious one is deceptive practices in what prices and fare classes are made available to customers using the XXXX XXXX XXXX  looking to REBOOK flights using XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

I booked a trip in XXXX using Chase XXXX XXXX. I canceled my trip and had airfare credit ( XXXX  XXXX ) redeemable only through Chase XXXXXXXX XXXX for two tickets total {$480.00}. It was unclear through the portal whether I had to just rebook my flight by the date that XXXXXXXX XXXX had noted or if I had to complete my travel by then because the instructions note that the rules abide what the Airline policy is. XXXX XXXXXXXX has a policy where you just need to REBOOK travel by a certain date, but travel can occur in the future. To get clarification on this, I contact Chase XXXX XXXX After a lengthy phone call with them, I asked Chase to send me a confirmation email of the rules. They gave me a case number but never followed up. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called again about this credit. Though I never heard from Chase, I decided to use my airline credit in advance of the expiration date. I logged into Chase XXXX XXXX  to look for flights. I saw the flight options available to my on the portal and tried to rebook. The Chase portal prompted me that I needed to call to use this credit toward my flight rather than being able to do it online. I called an agent and told them I am on the XXXX XXXX portal and have identified the flights I want to use my credit toward. They informed me that for rebooking using existing airline credit, they are only able to offer me DIFFERENT FARES that are higher than is listed on the XXXX XXXX XXXX. It was NOT a matter of fare differences that can change live at the time of researching flights. They told me that NEW bookings versus REBOOKINGS have entirely different prices. But those are NOT reflected on the XXXX XXXX XXXX where a customer should reasonably able to access them in order to make an informed decision on what are the actual prices available. 

I told them that was misleading and not transparent because whatever prices I am able to view as my options on my XXXX XXXX XXXX  should reflect the real options available to me to use. If the XXXX XXXX XXXX  clearly noted that REBOOKING flights had different prices and options, then I would not complain. But this portal misleads customers looking to rebook using credit because the TRUE prices and options are not reflected. Again, it is not a matter of prices changing live as I was looking in the portal. The agent repeatedly confirmed that REBOOKING flight options are not visible to the customer on that portal. For example, one of the flights I was interested in was from XXXX to XXXX, XXXX XXXX flight XXXX for {$180.00} main class. I was on the phone live with the agent and no matter how many times I refreshed the page, I was still able to see this flight option but she said the cheapest one for that flight available for customers who are trying to REBOOK rather than book a NEW flight was {$230.00}. If that was the case, then the {$230.00} should be visible to me in that portal with a CLEAR note that the {$180.00} and other reflected prices are for NEW BOOKINGS ONLY. 

XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX  has a lack of transparency that does NOT disclose higher prices to customers. In total I spent over 3 hours talking to customer service agents who have not been able to provide any reasonable solution. The last call on XX/XX/XXXX was XXXX hour and XXXX minutes long alone. 

Today XX/XX/XXXX, Chase emailed me saying that they can not refund my my points or give some resolution and attribute it to changing live prices that are subject to availability. They are mischaracterizing my issue. It is NOT about live prices that are changing. It is about the TRUE cost of flights not being transparent and made visible to customers looking to use existing airline credits. If cost to rebook flights are separate and not the same ones on the portal, that should be clearly communicated and visible in the portal when customers try to rebook so that customers can make an informed decision with real prices reflected.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief