Air Tahiti won't allow cancellations even though travel is banned

[diversmith]

...or ask for a voucher for future travel?

I would have to pay the full ticket price and then wait to see what happens. Not going to take that chance.

I didn't buy insurance because with the high cost of the insurance, it wouldn't benefit me to save the 500.00 in cancellations fees.

Even with the government banning travel thru the end of the month, they weren't cancelling the flights. Costco said their hands were tied with their agreement they have with the airline. Total crap all around!!

 

[drbill]

Did you pay with a credit card? You may have protection there.

 

[kelemvor]

Did you pay with a credit card? You may have protection there.

That's always my answer to a problem like this. I pay for things with my (mastercard) debit card. On the occasions I have a problem that isn't resolved to my satisfaction, I fill out the one page chargeback form and the bank takes the issue up on my behalf.

 

[letterboy]

We called AMEX for our tickets, and within 10 minutes they were talking charging back to the airline.

Since then I have heard of CC companies not being as quick to perform a charge back. . . .

I have no examples at hand.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Considering the government is the main shareholder By far and they only have 4 planes....I don’t think I’d be that worried about bankruptcy in the next couple of months to be honest. Do you have a specific reason why you think they will go bankrupt or is it more of a ‘the world is screwed, all airlines may go bankrupt’ kind of concern?

 

[wnissen]

Airlines that book tickets for travel in the US are subject to U.S. Department of Transportation regulations. Many of them have been caught falling short of their requirements, but I bet you can get your money back since the flight is cancelled at this point. At the worst your bank/credit card company would be able to. If a brief, polite email doesn't do the trick, have a look at the forums on elliott.org. That's a consumer advocacy site that specializes in travel. They have executive contacts and instructions for using them, and if all else fails you can ask the head person, Christopher Elliott, to advocate directly with the airline. He's a Washington Post columnist and a well-known advocate, so he almost always gets results when companies drag their feet at doing the right thing.

 

[JasmineNeedsGills]

This is late but just to ally fears. Regarding the possibility of Air Tahiti Nui going bankrupt, I wouldn't worry unduly about this, as they are 90% owned by the French Polynesian regional government and is run as an essential service. Also, to avoid confusion there are two distinct airlines. Air Tahiti Nui is the long haul airline that links French Polynesia to the French mainland (traditionally with a stop in LA, though believe at present they are running non-stop from Papeete all the way to Paris with weight restrictions) and to international destinations. Air Tahiti (without the "nui") is a mostly separate affair that provides inter-island hopper flights solely within French Polynesia. Both are state owned however. Note that FrenchBee also flies from the US to French Polynesia (stopping in San Francisco as part of it's own Paris to Papeete service). They are a private company are so are much less likely to be rescued.