Emirates has cancelled the dirt cheap Maldives tickets that were available on Wednesday.
You do have the option of filing a DoT complaint.
The DoT has helped me out several times, including getting reimbursed by American for cancelling our flight to London, getting Southwest to provide advance notice before ending companion pass status for hotel transfers, and for American charging an award redeposit fee after the electronics ban was launched.
If you booked other airfare and hotels you should definitely file a complaint and attach all supporting documentation. Emirates may have to pay for those other accommodations if they cancel tickets, even if there was a price mistake.
Want to go the Maldives with your miles?
Male, Maldives is served by:
-Aeroflot (a SkyTeam/Delta partner) via Moscow
-Air France (a SkyTeam/Delta partner) via Paris
-Air India (a Star Alliance/United partner) via Bangalore
-Alitalia (a SkyTeam/Delta partner) via Rome
-Austrian (a Star Alliance/United partner) via Vienna
-British Airways (a OneWorld/American partner) via London/Gatwick
-Cathay Pacific (a OneWorld/American partner, but not bookable on AA.com) via Hong Kong
-China Eastern (a SkyTeam/Delta partner) via Shanghai
-China Southern (a SkyTeam/Delta partner) via Guangzhou
-Edelweiss/Swiss (a Star Alliance/United partner, but not bookable on United.com) via Zurich
-Emirates (an Alaska, JAL, and Korean partner) via Colombo or Dubai
-Etihad (an American partner, but not bookable on AA.com) via Abu Dhabi
-Korean (a SkyTeam/Delta partner) via Colombo and Seoul
-Lufthansa (a Star Alliance/United partner) via Frankfurt
-Singapore (a Star Alliance/United partner, but not bookable on United.com) via Singapore
-Turkish (a Star Alliance/United partner) via Istanbul
-Qatar (a OneWorld/American partner, but not bookable on AA.com) via Doha
For example:
-A round-trip flight from the US to Male on Emirates would cost 60K JAL miles in coach, 100K in business, or 155K in first “shower” class round-trip. You can transfer Starpoints to JAL at a 20K:25K ratio. You must call JAL to book this award.
-A one-way flight from the US to Male on Etihad or Qatar would cost 40K AA miles in coach, 70K in business, or 115K in Etihad first “shower” class. You can transfer Starpoints to American at a 20,000:31,250 ratio with the current transfer bonus. You must call AA to book these awards.
-A one-way flight from the US to Male on Cathay Pacific would cost 40K Alaska miles in coach, 62.5K in business, or 70K in first class. You can transfer Starpoints to Alaska at a 20K:25K ratio. You must call Alaska to book this award.
-A one-way flight from the US to Male on any Star Alliance airline would cost 42.5K United miles in coach, 80K in business, or 140K in first class. You can transfer Starpoints to United via Marriott at a 18,667:25,000 ratio.
There are lot of great points hotels in the Maldives.
-25K Chase or Hyatt points is enough for a free night at the Park Hyatt Maldives.
–An overwater villa at the S. Regis Maldives is on sale from 46.8K Starpoints per night on a 5 night stay. It’s probably the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in.
-The Conrad Maldives starts at 69K points per night on a 5 night stay.
-The Sheraton Maldives costs 16K Starpoints per night on a 5 night stay and can be reached from Male by boat for just $136.
Note that you’ll have to pay some $500-$700 for a seaplane to get from Male to most resort islands, though some can be reached with a far less expensive boat ride from Male.
American Express is a DansDeals.com advertiser
Short on points?
You can buy up to 30,000 Starpoints per year here. Plus you can buy more than that with multiple members by transferring points for free between members living at the same address.
-The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express offers a 25K point signup bonus.
-The Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express offers a 25K point signup bonus.
-If you have the Platinum Card® from American Express or the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express OPEN you can call to have your Starwood account upgraded to Gold status.
-The Chase Marriott card offers 87,500 Rewards points (transferable to 29,167 Starpoints) for spending $3,000 and adding an additional user card. After hitting the signup bonus it’s not worth spending on this card. You’ll get 3 Marriott Rewards points per dollar by spending on a Starwood card instead!
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35 Comments On "Emirates Cancels Maldives Tickets"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
Will Priceline refund the amount?
@tony:
They should. If they don’t you can always file a chargeback.
But first you might want to see if the DoT will help get it honored.
Dan, can you file a DOT complaint evan if it doesn’t involve travel to/from the USA, would it help?
Thanks Dan. How does DOT work exactly?
@dot:
You can, but they’ll probably say it’s not under their jurisdiction.
@tony:
They work out solutions when passengers have problems with airlines.
This is horrible and wrong. How can they do this.
Can DOT make Emirates reinstate the ticket? I think it’s very unfair. I’ve had situations where I’ve booked mistake fares, couldn’t go on the trip anymore and still be forced to pay for cancellations fees. If it’s their mistake, we pay for it. If it’s our mistake, we also pay for it!!
I’m a little confused. If Priceline is going to refund my tickets then why should I file a DoT claim?
@Isaac:
If you don’t want a refund but want the ticket
Since all the blogs alerted travelers to this, DoT is going to rule in Emirates favor and say that people who booked fully understood that it was a mistake fare.
@Dan1:
The Dot doesn’t believe in “mistake fares”. Otherwise, every time a sale goes to well, and the airline realizes they could have made more money, the airline would say, “oops, it was a mistake”. The Dot changednthe rules recently. The airline has the option to not honor the mistake fare, but they do have to cover unrefundable bookings associated with the airfare.
@Gustavo:
They have in some cases in the past.
File a complaint and see.
@Isaac:
To potentially have it reinstated.
@Dan1:
It’s possible.
amazing how you expect airlines errors to honor mistakes. I hope anyone who runs an online business here never make a mistake pathetic.
@Dave:
Airlines require their customers to pay to fix their mistakes, so it’s a 2 way street. No other industry can say something it worthless just because you made a typo.
Regardless, I don’t expect them to honor mistakes, I expect them to honor the law. Let the DoT determine what that is.
SO frustrated. So emirates canceled their one way and now Priceline won’t cancel my other one way (for the ticket getting there) because it’s over 24hrs! Won’t make that mistake again. It’s costly: $441.90.
Going after clear mistakes is different than making a customer pay for their errors, 2 wrongs don’t make a right.
@Kbzsk:
You are exactly who the DoT wants to hear from.
Upload that documentation to them ASAP.
@Dave:
Actually, that’s exactly why the DoT makes airlines stand by their mistakes. It’s a 2 way street.
After every deal or price mistake there is always a Dave to come preach. If you want to preach go find a mirror. I’m surprised Dan entertained you there are many others he hasn’t.
Done. Already uploaded. ugh!
To everyone that files a DoT complaint: please report back to us whatever happens. Thanks!
If you get stuck with cancellation fees from other travel arrangements like the $441.90 fare from Priceline, you can buy Cancel For Any Reason travel insurance and get 75% back. Tried and tested. It works. Just make sure you send your claim form with certified mail with return receipt.
@yelped: get cancel for any reason travel insurance
how do we contact dot regarding cancelled flights can you post a link for them thanx for all the gr8 work u do for all of us
@Dave@Dan:
Seriously Dave, go make your own blog where you can share your views. This is not the right platform for you
I book a ticket and then upgraded to business class using miles, I only transferred miles after I booked the ticket, now Emirates doesn’t want to transfer my miles back to my Amex account, How do I go about this?
@bark:
There is a link in the top of the post@Max:
File a DoT complaint
@bark:
There is a link in the top of the post
@Max:
File a DoT complaint
I haven’t gotten a notice yet that my tickets have been canceled, may 20 evening. How was everyone notified ?
2 way mistakes:
When a vendor argues that all sales are final, that if you the consumer made a mistake when buying it are not able to backtrack, meanwhile if the vendor makes a mistake oh well too bad on customers ?
When you need to pay because you made a time mistake and miss a flight or your luggage is 1 lb too high etc
Why should I respect their mistakes ? they are a business
Ok dan, too many links to mistakes that do not work, resulting in
Many followers wasting time fighting Dot and
Losing $ for unrealistic plan
Yes, a few worker
But over last 3 yrs all are a waste of time
Can your blog be limited to viable and productive only ?
@YU:
YU if you don’t like the site stop following it. Pretty simple. I have found many great deals from it, the only time I was burned by a mistake the seller made it right. Please don’t change Dan!
It just sounds greedy to take advantage of an obvious mistake, two way street or not.
I agree with Dave
Thank you for sharing your personal views on this blog. It is appreciated, however that is your view. The rest of have our own views on this matter and are certainly capable of making a decision. Whether it is “right” or “wrong” is irrelevant because what may seem right to you might be wrong for someone else, or vice versa. With that said, thanks Dan for posting this deal as the one of the major purposes of your blog is to share such news. Opinions here don’t play a role. Dan chooses to share information with his readers, and we make a decision on what to do with said information. Hope we all get our flights reinstated!
DOT got back to me and informed me they have notified the airline. Awaiting their response, but based on how they respond DOT may take enforceable action. Will keep everyone updated!
From DOT today: ‘This responds to your communication regarding Emirates Airlines. The U.S. Department of Transportation seeks to ensure that all airline passengers are treated fairly. Complaints from consumers are helpful to us in determining whether the airlines are in compliance with our rules and to track trends or spot areas of concern that warrant further action.
Based on the information you have provided, your complaint appears to fall under the Department’s rules. We will forward your complaint to the airline and ask the company to respond directly to you with a copy to us. Airlines are required to acknowledge receipt of a consumer complaint within 30 days and provide a substantive response to the complainant within 60 days. We will review the airline’s response. If you need to contact our analyst assigned to your case, you may leave a telephone message on our Aviation Consumer line, 202-366-2220, or send an email to airconsumer2@dot.gov. Please include your name and case number (see above). We will make every effort to reply to your message within one business day.
If our review of your complaint and the response from the company discloses a potential violation of our rules, we may pursue enforcement action. Generally, we pursue enforcement action on the basis of a number of complaints which may indicate a pattern or practice of violating our rules. Your complaint may be among those considered and may lead to appropriate enforcement action including the assessment of civil penalties. However, we have no authority to order compensation for individual complainants.
We have entered your complaint in our computerized industry monitoring system, and it will be counted among the number of complaints filed against this airline in our monthly Air Travel Consumer Report. This report allows consumers and air travel companies to compare the complaint records of individual airlines and tour operators. The data in this report also serve as a basis for rulemaking, legislation and research. Consumer information for air travelers, including the Air Travel Consumer Report and our pamphlet Fly-Rights, a Consumer’s Guide to Air Travel, can be found on our website, http://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer. Thank you for taking the time to contact us.’
*fingers crossed*