The DoT requires refunds for flights to or from the US that are cancelled or significantly delayed.
I called on El Al to start issuing refunds a couple of weeks ago.
This is certainly a step in the right direction, but it’s easy to just put up a form. Let’s hold out on the celebrations until refunds are actually issued…
Are you waiting on a refund from El Al?
HT: yandmk
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66 Comments On "El Al Adds Refund Form For Cancelled Tickets!"
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That’s because they got a $400 million bailout from the Israeli govt. They better refund. Lol
Have they accepted the bailout?
That’s because Dan demanded it!
Ahem… If they can only get an American to write their English-language forms!! I can hear the trying-to-be-american israeli accent loud and clear while reading the form.
The form has some grammar/formatting issues but is perfectly legible. Getting an American to write a form when 90% of El Al employees are furloughed and the entire world is quarantined is hardly anyone’s priority.
Should I fill out this form ? Bec I’m waiting the outcome of my cc dispute.
My credit card sided with EL AL. I have no idea why because they have not provided a response. I paid $1743 for a ticket for September 2020. I canceled! Citicard has charged back the full amount. They do not provide me a reason, other than they’ve sided with merchant
Dan, if airline doesn’t cancel flight but I choose to cancel a biz class ticket and pay the $200-$300 refund fee, is that also eligible now for refunds? Thanks
Travel agent here.
No.
You chose to cancel a flight, it’s on you.
There is no way an airline would refund back to cc, as they converted your ticket to airline credit, which cannot be reversed.
Good luck getting any refund other than airline credit.
even if the ticket can officially be refunded for a fee? thanks
Just d a chargeback
Try, but chances are Elal will fight the chargeback with clear proof passenger cancelled flight voluntarily.
I don’t think that was the question.
If the fare rules allow a refund for a fee than the ticket CAN be refunded minus the cancellation fee.
Don’t ask the airline to refund, you didn’t pay them, you paid to the order of the Agent, he didn’t deliver the goods he couldn’t get you there, give me back my money. Let the Agent get the money back from the Airline. That’s how I filed a dispute with my bank.
Even if the cancellation was after Israel has posted the they are not letting anybody cross the border?
What happens if my flight wasn’t cancelled but was not allowed to fly due to isreal regulations?
Not eligible for a refund
The refund form indicates that if your ticket was purchased via a travel agent, you must contact yiur travel agent for the refund
can i use this form for tlv-bud-tlv flight?
I already disputed the charge with AMEX. Should I also complete the form?
It’s only if you booked through the Elal website. It’s says otherwise contact your travel agent
Anyone have success in entering their information?
Because all I get is:
We have not been able to find any booking in our system under the information you provided. Please validate your entry and try again
I got the same message. I cancelled on Elal website for TLV/LON at height of Corona when Elal started changing flight schedules, and they offered cancellation on the website. Does that mean that this refund page is not for me? What does Dan say? Or anybody for that matter?
As Dan said, it’s easy to put up a form. Your refund? Manyana….
Worked!
Your flight ticket cancellation request was successful. The refund will be made when the request is processed.
Don’t get too excited. I put in “ABCDEF” as booking code and i got the same message 🙁
Lol
Dan,
Is there a way for your to check if they enabled OTAs the option of issuing refunds?
TA are still blocked to process refunds
Expedia:
I could not cancel my ElAl flight because I could not get through to Expedia despite many hours of holding on, on the phone. When I contacted ElAl, which was still open at that point, they told me to contact Expedia; they [ElAl] would do nothing for me. Recently I was able to get through to Expedia. Expedia told me that they were unable to anything, because ElAl was closed. Can’t anyone take responsibility? Dan, can we get legislation that regulates entities like Expedia, so we can hold them accountable, just like the airlines that they are the agent for?
Thank you.
I had the same issue with Amex.
I had purchased four tickets for around March 15th.
l try to cancel 2 hours before the flight but
El al said I have to be in touch with the issuer I.E.AMEX
Was on hold with Amex for hours before my flight departed and could not cancel or do anything . after each 45 minutes amex would automatically hang up.
The flight ended up departing (although I’m not sure how as I could not find any information about the flight until after the flight had departed.)
In the end I called AMEX 2 weeks later and filed a dispute saying that I had canceled the flight and had not gotten my refund.
I was immediately given an interim credit on my account
A week later the dispute was closed and finalized.
So I don’t know about Expedia but AMEX is certainly coming through with these flights.
Citicard gave me a temporary refund, they then charged me back.
Try getting through to orbitz and they may be able to connect you to someone from Expedia. It’s the same company. I had an orbitz ticket and when they needed to refund it they had to connect me internally to Expedia. (Not an Ella ticket)
Dan,
I bought a round ticket for my daughter coming home from seminary, she was supposed to return to Israel April 20, elal canceled the flight. I paid for the ticket $1400 Worth in Chase Sapphire points, chase is willing to reimburse me $344 for the second leg of the trip, is that fair?
yes
I have close to $10K in cancelled flights with ElAl. This is not a way to earn customer loyalty, and certainly not a way to treat loyal customers. I filled out the form and got the message they will refund me when refunds are processed. This is meaningless. It means they will refund us when their offices are open again. Nothing changed, it’s just a way to get the DOT off their back.
I used chase points and still waiting for refund.. chase trace waiting for waiver to refund my points and elal do not respond
Try calling again today?
Worthless.. They figured out the scam many other airlines are doing. “We are processing your refund, but processing times are longer because of high volume”
Using “ABCDEF” as booking code, I got the message “Your flight ticket cancellation request was successful. The refund will be made when the request is processed”
HMMM….
My 2nd portion of my El Al ticket was not canceled by El Al, therefore I am not entitled to any refund. Since El Al is not flying, what are my options….
My ticket was booked in October 2019. I canceled the return portion in March. At that point they said the ticket was valid for 1 year from the booking date (or maybe the first flight which were a day apart). Since they are not flying now, do I get an extension to book it later, can I get a refund- since I want to fly next week and they are not operating?
Thanks for your time and knowledge, you have been a great source of help through these trying times..between the airlines and the rules, purchasing hard to find items and still all those great deals.
Chazak V’Amutz, Hatzlacha and stay safe.
I bought a ticket through Priceline the flight in both directions was cancelled. Elal’s refund says it is only if the ticket was purchased through them, however, when I spoke with Priceline they said that they cannot issue a refund as that is part of their deal with the airline. How should I proceed?
dispute the charge
My ElAl flight was cancelled. Couldn’t talk to anybody at either Priceline or Elal. I disputed the charge with Chase. But now after a month the charge nicely came back up as re-bill ElAl. I called to chase to dispute to which they replied that since ElAl has a ‘policy’ to issue a credit they will not reverse the charge. When I tried reasoning that it is contrary to DOT regulations they told me that they can’t dispute based on a legal interpretation. I said fine – forget the DOT regs, I paid for a service that wasn’t provided – transferred to supervisor. Said my whole shpiel again. She tried convincing me that there is nothing to do and I need to talk to the airline. I said I’m recording you that Chase states that despite me not getting the service I paid for you will not back me and reverse the charge. NOW finally the supervisor tells me that I need to do a written dispute and add any ‘additional’ information’ that wasn’t on the original dispute and they will review it.
So here we are. Let see how this goes.
My flight is May 30th, right after Shavuos. I emailed El Al a few days ago but haven’t gotten a response. I plan on going anyway as soon as I’m able to. Am I better off getting a refund now or postponing the flight?
I finally called chase today to dispute my elal ticket. I waited over 2 months for my travel agent to take care of it. Chase said they would take care of it.
this is a very stupid form, because it doesn’t help for people who booked thru a travel agent!! i am still waiting for a refund, i have filed 2 complaints with elal, another with chase travel (bec i used half points), and another with DOT, and have not received anything!
Is there any update to this? We have a similar situation. we booked with Chase points and money for a flight in early July
HI Dan , Thanks for all your advice
IF I had a RT flight from israel in april , and used 1 leg , but the return leg last week was cancelled . What are my options? as in past , they told me since one way fares are $1800 , which was more than my RT fare , i’m not eligible for refund? ELAL is the only airline that trys that.
So, has anyone gotten any money back from El Al, anyway anyhow?
i have an elal ticket on june 11.i am not an isreali citizen.i want to know if isreals borders are not open for non isreali citizens by then and my flight is flying if i am qualified for a refund
They are not flying in June.
I just checked their website and it had departing flights to and from TLV today, so how could it be that they’re not flying in June? And if they’re not flying in June, wouldn’t I get a refund on my ticket for a flight that was supposed to be June 24?
No form found on the link page
Was it removed?
I am working with a travel agent who booked my tickets on El Al, and I also filled out the DOT form. I got an email the other day from El Al (presumably) wanting a form filled out with bank account information for a refund. They said they are bypassing the travel agent due to Coronavirus. The travel agent said he has never seen the form before and that he was still working on the refund. Has anyone else gotten this email? I’m worried about sending bank account information over unsecured email, but it looks legitimate. I thought about emptying a secondary checking account and using that account number.
Call the West Coast office. They got to me right away and handled it. 323-852-1252
Hello EK – Thank you for the West Coast number – did you actually get a refund or is it still pending? I was told that they would send my information to the accounting department but of course she didn’t know how long a refund would take because of Covid -19, (it is 3 months since I cancelled) so I am wondering if anything actually happens. Again thanks for the number. LS
It looks like the link to the form has disappeared from the website. Does anyone have a link?
They cancelled my flight in March still nothing.
Did yo file a DoT complaint?
Had flight to Israel on ELAL, July 1, booked through chase travel with points. After seeing all ELAL flights cancelled thru 7/31, called chase travel yesterday but since ELAL had not updated the reservation, they couldn’t do anything yet. Emailed ELAL through the contact form (not the refund form) and filed USDOT complaint. Got a response from ELAL a few hours later saying I need to go through Chase (since it’s like a travel agent). Called chase travel today, got a different person, she saw the cancellation notice on ELAL site and immediately refunded all the points. Relief! Thanks for all the advice re waiting for the airline to cancel!
i booked a flight through Chase Ultimate Rewards for a June 25 flight with Elal. Paid over $4k in cash plus some points. Elal cancelled the flight and chase sent them an email requesting a refund. I also filled out the cancellation form on Elal’s website and filed a complaint through DOT. Spoke to someone in the Elal west coast office yesterday and they said that chase didn’t send the email requesting the refund the right way and they need to do it again. called chase and they said it could take a week for their back office to draft up the new email and send it out to Elal. After that could take 8-10 weeks to process the refund. Chase also told me that if i file a credit card dispute, that even if Elal did approve the refund Chase would not refund it to me because i opened a dispute. The DOT complaint i filed was a few weeks ago and DOT hasn’t gotten back to me either. I feel stuck in the middle of unfair practices by both chase and Elal that continue to drag out with no clear end in sight. Any suggestions what else i can do here?
ordered round trip ticket a year ago. my c card company CHASE sided with El Al eventhough El AL cancelled on me and reversed the refund. should I fill the form?
El El cancelled our flight in March. Since then I have been trying to contact them regarding a refund but am getting a runaround. Recently they posted a refund request form on their website but when I entered our tickets numbers and flight information, I got a message that “our tickets were already refunded”! Which have never happened! I tried contacting them via email, social media, their web site – with no response. My credit card company sent me back to the merchant. It dead ends every time I trying and is beyond frustrating.
They cancelled the flight, not me! Any suggestions?
My son had an open-ended El Al Ticket. NY to TLV leaving 9/9/2019. Was not able to use EL AL to return by the 9/9/20 expiration date because El Al was not flying. Travel Agency has been unhelpful. What do I do to get a refund? – Would think that I should be able to get at least 1/2 of the purchase price back!
Used Gate 1 for flight to Israel in May, 2020.
Canceled due to Covid
Waiting for refund from Gate 1( call every month)
Tried to get upgrades refunded that were purchased directly from El Al ( seats)
I have nothing!
Should I contact my credit card?