Lan Airlines Won't Give Refunds On Refundable Tickets

[Bricky]

I'd be inclined to skip lan and go straight to the credit card company for a refund. In my experience (although it wasn't with a flight), if you can prove that you have attempted to get the refund from the company, and of course that you're due it (do you have any email acknowledgement from them saying that they'll refund you?) - then the credit card company will refund you.

Admittedly my experience was not with an argentine credit card (and it sounds like yours is?)

 

[Joe]

This is for a ticket purchased in Ecuador using a US credit card. I took Sleuth's advice and posted to the Flyer Talk forum. There I learned LAN has three call centers (Santiago, Lima and Bogota). So my struggle has NOT really been with LAN Argentina. I did initially go to their office in BA naively expecting a quick refund. But since then the struggle has been with these call centers. I call the US (English) number and get routed to one of them. The attendants are fluent English speakers but with an obvious accent.

I do have an email saying I requested a refund. But despite repeated requests they won't send an email confirming refund approval. Although verbally they say that they sent the refund in January.

I have told them that if they would send me an confirmation email I would stop calling but they haven't which has led me to believe that they never intend to pay me.

I filed a dispute with the credit card company back in late January (note this is before the actual date of the flight). LAN had 60 days to respond. They responded last week so now I am gathering the paperwork per the credit card company's request for the next step of the dispute process.

I won't pay the money. I have stopped using that credit card. The only unpaid charge is with LAN. If AmEx sides with the company, I will tell them I refuse to pay and they can f-up my credit score to their heart's content. I will take them to court when and if I return to the US.

PS. If you can find my post in the LAN Facebook page please like it and make a comment. As an added bonus you will find the true identity of Joe and an even MORE famous BAexpat member.

 

[Joe]

I'd be inclined to skip lan and go straight to the credit card company for a refund. In my experience (although it wasn't with a flight), if you can prove that you have attempted to get the refund from the company, and of course that you're due it (do you have any email acknowledgement from them saying that they'll refund you?) - then the credit card company will refund you.

Admittedly my experience was not with an argentine credit card (and it sounds like yours is?)

I have an email from LAN saying I "requested a refund". This email is dated more than a month BEFORE the flight departure date.

But since LAN has repeatedly lied to me, I suspect that they will say they never sent that email. I have the original email with the header but I doubt if it is legally binding. I don't know.

 

[Bricky]

I'd certainly expect you to get the refund then. In my case a forwarded email was sufficient (and in fact I think I forwarded the email I sent, rather than the reply). It's trivial to forge, but I don't think that bothers them.

Can't like your facebook post I'm afraid (but would if I could). I deleted my facebook account a while back following a suspicious leak of account data which could only have come from facebook. sry

 

[citygirl]

Credit card companies are usually pretty decent about it. I had a similar situ with British Airways a few years ago and my credit card had no problem refunding me after I provided the evidence that I had filed.

 

[Alicia karr]

Come join joes protesta! There's even talk of free fugazza, plenty of billboard paste and a few expats demanding their rights from that giantopoly LAN While Policia federal provide protection to our claiming the streets (9 de Julio?) in protest of our constitutional right to fly without lie!
LAN MIENTE
LAN SACA NOS DERECHOS VOLAR SIN IMPUDIAR!
Viva Los pasajeros!
Abuelos de pasajeros les invitamos manifestear "abuelos contra LAN vuelos"

 

[ben]

Both as a customer and as an agent, I've had a couple of really weird experiences with LAN.

I had someone's flight - reserved and ticketed - get marked 'unavailable' without any new flight/workaround offered. Just like that. When contacted they were either utterly unhelpful or simply ridiculous. When I was already at my wits' end, and had already had to contact the passenger about a problem I couldn't even fully explain, the flight simply reappeared as confirmed - albeit without a reservation code. Weird. (Of course, when the passenger called the airline, they told him that the agent had done something wrong...)

In the airport/on the plane their service is decent, but their customer service oscillates between excellent/professional and atrocious.

BTW when calling their US call center about anything meaningful, you're probably being routed to Chile.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Why don't you threaten to do an ad campaign with AeroCámpora?

 

[Joe]

I started my Monday holiday with a pleasant conversation with Christian at LAN Santiago. He told me because I initially requested the refund in Argentina the refund has to be made by LAN Argentina. He took my email and promised to contact LAN Argentina about the status of my refund. I was thinking all this talk about having difficulty because the ticket was bought in Ecuador and the refund was requested when I was physically in Argentina was just a fabricated story to avoid paying refunds. But after talking to a number of people there, maybe it is a real problem in the bureaucracy. One thing they might do, if they they decide to honor their commitment to refund my money, is to offer to give me the refund in pesos (obviously as the official rate).

But if LAN cannot even process a simple credit card refund because they cannot coordinate between their different country's offices, how can the maintain the safety of a modern jet fleet?

 

[Jaredberryman]

Joe, you definitely need to take this issue to defensa al consumidor with all your paperwork. Defensa al consumidor would slap a huge fine on LAN when they see that they are not going to give the refund. If you take the case to defensa al consumidor, then the jerks will pay attention to you because if not they could get slapped with a 100,000 peso fine. But nothing will happen until you do that.