This is wild. Are they really asking to be able to take money for a flight, then cacel it and keep the money? That's crazy.
I think even an arbitration court would have them reimburse you if they simply canceled a flight and kept your money.
Airlines have full time lawyers with nothing to do but push paper around.
Why are we making it harder for the consumer to resolve an issue when the flight is clearly cancelled?
They just want to force you into weird store-credit style refunds so that you cannot go to a competitor or choose not to travel.
If there is any upside to mandatory binding final arbitration, it's that proceedings are cheaper and quicker. It might be that the arbitrators decide to universally rule in favor of the airlines amidst unambiguous evidence that the airlines took money and canceled the service, but seems unlikely.
It's also a huge risk on the part of the airlines to decide that their official policy is to stiff customers and hope it works out in arbitration.
> Why are we making it harder for the consumer to resolve an issue when the flight is clearly cancelled?
Because we elected the guy who said he would, going so far as to ensure he had a majority in both houses of Congress.
> They just want to force you into weird store-credit style refunds so that you cannot go to a competitor or choose not to travel.
Lol yes that is exactly it. I wouldn't have written that stuff above if I knew you were going to correct yourself.
I wish every flight cancellation and delay emails had FAQ style “what are my choices” section where you can see your right clearly.