WHY YOU SHOULD GO PRO
Stuck with a problem? Take it to Backchannel.
Every week, readers bring their impossible consumer cases to Backchannel, and our advocacy team tells them how to fix it. Last week, we helped consumers recover airline refunds and told them how to get back into their locked Amazon accounts.
PRO members get their own private room on Backchannel. You can exchange information with other informed consumers — and get the help you need 24/7. My team and I are there to help you with any consumer problem, too!
We’re also working on a stealth project that will help you become a smarter consumer. We can’t talk about it yet, but PRO members will see it first.
The airline let go of the money. Somebody else is holding it. (Illustration by Dustin Elliott)
💸 A refund that got away — American Airlines approved an Arizona reader’s refund after a death in the family. Then it sent the money to the online agency that sold her the ticket. The agency decided to keep the money. The A-Team investigates.
📖 Over on Backchannel, Natali Skidan has a screenshot of an Amazon manager promising her a refund, dated the same day Amazon closed her account forever. Oh no!
🔒 In Confidentially, a passenger group is asking a federal appeals court to block a rule that would let airlines stop paying for your hotel when a broken plane strands you overnight. Who covers the hotel bill when your plane breaks?
🏴 New executive contacts: We just added Cape Air.
By the way, you’re seeing only half of this newsletter. PRO members get the other half, including today’s report on the rule that could take your hotel room away. Here’s how to subscribe.
— Christopher Elliott
FEATURED ARTICLE
Your airline refunded your ticket. But where’s your money?
An Arizona woman canceled a trip after a death in the family. American Airlines approved the refund and sent about $535 a ticket to the online agency that sold it. Three weeks later the agency still has the money, on the grounds that the fare was nonrefundable. Who owes you when the airline has already paid?
OUR UNDERWRITER
EMBARK Beyond is a luxury travel advisory dedicated to creating thoughtfully designed experiences that go beyond a destination. Focused first on client needs, we have built (and continue to build!) relationships with the world’s most sought-after lifestyle and fashion brands to open the world - beyond imagination - to our clients. Find out more at EMBARK Beyond.
FORBES EXCLUSIVE
Travel insurance and European strikes: Will your policy pay out?
As France, Spain, and Italy face major walkouts, experts reveal why buying travel insurance now might be too late for your European trip — and what travelers need to check immediately.
📌 Here’s what you missed this week
Catch up on the latest stories from the Elliott Report
What happens when you die on vacation?
The State Department counted 6,062 deaths of U.S. citizens abroad in 2022, nearly 10% more than the year before. Families without repatriation coverage have paid $6,000 to $20,000 to bring someone home, and in a country with weak consumer protection laws a funeral director can bill 10 to 20 times what the same service costs in North America.
Amazon locked my account after a hacker stole my gift cards. Can I get my money back?
Joanne Crissey, a senior citizen in Tinley Park, Ill., got two notices that the phone number and email address on her Amazon account had been changed, and she had requested neither. Amazon restored the email weeks later but never the phone number, which left her locked out while a hacker drained her $255 gift card balance and a delivery she never ordered showed up at her door.
A blizzard canceled my flight. Why won’t Road Scholar refund my $5,999 trip?
Karen Carano, a registered nurse from Garrison, N.Y., let Road Scholar book the airfare for a 14-day program in Chile and Argentina, then watched a historic blizzard take out her departure. The replacement flights the tour operator found would have put her in South America three or four days late, and when they disappeared, Road Scholar kept the $5,999 program fee on the grounds that she had canceled inside 24 hours.
Amazon deleted his 25-year history. Here is how he got it back.
Rafael Guimaraes, a business jet pilot based in Brazil, lost a 25-year-old Amazon account, his Prime membership and an $800 Kindle library after his bank declined a $650 purchase in Costa Rica. Amazon’s American and German operations each told him the other one owned the problem, and the password recovery page demanded a phone number he had never had.
Holiday flights are packed. Board last anyway.
Air travel is heading for its busiest holiday season on record, with the average domestic Thanksgiving round trip at $402, up 31% from last year, and most major U.S. airlines charging about $10 more for a checked bag. Frequent fliers who board last and deplane last say rushing saves them nothing, because everyone ends up waiting at the same baggage carousel.
Look who decided your airline seat is big enough
The Federal Aviation Administration told Congress this summer that it sees no reason to set a minimum seat size, closing out a fight that ran through two congressional mandates, a federal appeals court and 26,100 public comments. Its own peer reviewers at the National Academies had already found that the research behind that answer can’t establish whether cramped seating slows an evacuation.
OUR UNDERWRITER
Faye Travel Insurance provides whole-trip travel coverage and care that brings out the best in each journey with industry-leading technology that enables smarter, faster, smoother assistance and claims resolutions. Our robust travel insurance covers your health, your trip, your stuff, and even your pet, via an app that provides real-time proactive solutions, quick reimbursements and 24/7 support from anywhere in the world. Wherever you go, we’re there too, taking care of the details so you can make the most of each moment, with the only travel protection that is by your side and on your side every step of the way.
💬 What you’re asking on Backchannel
Amazon promised the refund on the same day it closed her account. (Illustration by Dustin Elliott)
Natali Skidan has a screenshot of an Amazon manager promising her a full refund for a damaged dinnerware set, dated the same day Amazon closed her account over a second account she says she never had. The appeals team says the decision is final, and the money still hasn’t arrived. Can she separate the refund from the account? Here’s our team’s advice on Backchannel.
OUR UNDERWRITER
Flying Angels provide medical transport anywhere in the world on commercial airlines with a Flight Nurse or Doctor. A Flight Coordinator handles the logistics. The client receives care during the entire transport—bedside to bedside. Visit FlyingAngels.com or call 877-265-1085 to speak with a flight coordinator.
CONFIDENTIALLY
Information and insights for Elliott Confidential PRO subscribers
A broken plane used to be the airline's problem. (Illustration by Dustin Elliott)
Consumer group sues DOT over rule that takes 10 delay causes off airlines’ books
A new federal rule would let airlines skip the hotel and meal vouchers when a broken part grounds your flight. FlyersRights wants a federal appeals court to throw it out.
If a mechanical problem strands you overnight, your airline promises you a hotel room. A new federal rule could change that.
Now a passenger group is asking a federal court to stop it.
The rest of this exclusive report is for members only.
Behind this line: the 10 disruptions that would stop counting as the airline’s fault, and what to say at the gate once the change takes effect.
A Members Only story like this runs in every issue, along with Backchannel and the vault.