Account holder: David Weingarten
Disputed charge from: Whole Earth Travel/Airhitch
Disputed charge amount: $366.00
Dear US Bank:
I have made a good faith effort to resolve a dispute with AirHitch (Whole Earth Travel, Inc.), in accordance with their policies and instructions, to no avail. I am now writing to you to dispute a charge on my credit card.
AirHitch is a space-available discount flight system. The idea is that you buy a voucher, which then allows you to catch a flight with one of the carriers with which AirHitch has a contract. In theory, if there are places available when the flight is ready to depart, then an AirHitch customer may take up an otherwise empty seat, using the voucher purchased from AirHitch. You are, however, only allowed to select a target "region," which can be as large as the whole of Europe. If your destination is Germany, for example, you cannot select Germany as a destination. You must select "Europe" as your target destination. If you wish to go to a specific destination, they claim that it is possible, by buying a ticket to Europe and then a seperate "intra-Europe" voucher. The catch, however, is that the intra-Europe vouchers are only good from one specific departure country to one specific destination country.
When I inquired about a trip to Spain, I said that I wanted to arrive in Spain on or before a specific date. As the AirHitch system seemed too risky to me, I filled out an information form for their other service, Target Flights -- a reserved-seat discount flight system -- which among other things requests information on other fares you have located using other systems. They responded by telling me that I could get to Spain for exactly $339 plus taxes, by taking a flight from Vancouver, B.C. to the United Kingdom, and then from the U.K. to Spain using an intra-Europe voucher. (I have included a printout of the email in which they make this promise.) They did not give me any information on the Target Flight system which I had requested, instead choosing to give me AirHitch information. They refused to tell me how many flights were available, telling me only that it would be "no problem," and that there were "lots of flights going from Vancouver." I purchased the vouchers.
When the vouchers arrived, they arrived with instructions, including a phone number to call for flight availability. Flight information is available for no more than one week in advance. All flights are rated on an A-F system, "A" meaning greater than 90% chance of boarding, "F" meaning less than 10% chance of boarding. This information is supposedly based on information given by the airlines. In my date range (you are required to set a date range within which you would like to travel), there was only one flight which seemed reasonable: a flight from Vancouver, B.C. to London, U.K., rated "A." There was then a flight from London to Barcelona, Spain the following day. There was absolutely no other reasonable way for me to arrive in Spain within the time I said I wanted to arrive. In addition, most of the other flights to the U.K. were rated "B" or lower.
I was a bit nervous about the idea of driving all the way to Vancouver from Portland, Oregon, where I live, but with an "A" rating, I figured it was worth the risk. My mother drove me to Vancouver and waited in the airport with me. I found the appropriate counter, but was told that they would have no information until moments before the flight left. I came back at the recommend time, and was told the flight was delayed an hour. I came back when they told me to, and was told that the flight was completely full. I asked when the next flight to London was: "Next week."
I attempted to call AirHitch, to get information on other available flights. There were no other available flights within several hundred miles within my date range. Finally, I decided to purchase a normal, reserved-seat ticket for a flight to Spain. When I explained my situation to the travel agent, including the name of the airline (a charter carrier) which I had attempted to board, he assured me that it was utterly impossible for AirHitch to give me accurate information regarding seat availability, and that for them to tell me that I had a greater than 90% chance of boarding was "a complete lie." He also assured me that absolutely everything was virtually booked solid, and that the likelihood of ANY flight having such vacancies was nearly zero. He was quite adamant about insisting that whatever AirHitch told me was a fraud.
AirHitch has several offices around the country. I purchased my vouchers through the San Francisco office, but the only office which handles refunds -- and the only number to call for flight information, which is automated, takes forever and is not toll-free -- is in New York. I called the San Francisco office to inquire what to do about getting a refund. I was told very clearly that it would be easy for me to get a refund, because I had attempted to board a flight, the flight was full, and -- the representative checked while she was talking to me -- there were no other flights in my date range which would get me to my destination. Before I bought my vouchers, AirHitch sent me information which, among other things, stated: "The Airhitch Guarantee: If, for any reason other than your own failure to follow instructions (or for reasons of 'force majeure') the AirHitch service cannot provide you with an available seat during the date range you give us, we will promptly refund all registration fees paid."
I followed the instructions for getting a refund, including returning the vouchers using insured mail -- a cost of roughly $35. A month later, when I had not received any word from AirHitch, I called to inquire about my refund. I was told by the New York office that I shouldn't even bother them until it had been at least six weeks. Now, a couple weeks later, I have received a letter from them refusing to refund my money. They claim that it is my responsibility to attempt to board each and every available flight, and that, because there was an "A" rated flight to Munich, Germany, I failed to uphold my side of the deal. I am certain that you can see the absurdity in their response. They gave me instructions to go to the UK and then to Spain, and sold me a voucher which would ONLY take me from the UK to Spain, and then refuse to give me a refund because I did not take a flight to Germany. My voucher from the UK to Spain is NOT interchangable for a flight from Germany to Spain. I would have had to find other transportation from Germany to the UK, and then use my voucher from the UK to Spain. Not only is this a ridiculous waste of time and money, but it is in direct contrast to AirHitch's promise that I could get from Vancouver, B.C. to Spain for $339 plus tax.
I realize that I am currently beyond the normal 60-day limit for contesting a charge on my visa. I believe, however, that this is part of the AirHitch scam: it takes so long to go through their normal procedures that by the time they've declined a refund, it's past the due date for contesting a charge. All things considered, I hope that US Bank will do its best to protect me as a client and will support me in denying this charge.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
David Weingarten
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 07:38:25 -0700
To: "David Weingarten" <davidw@aracnet.com>
From: Airhitch(r) Online Staff <airhitch@airhitch.org>
Subject: Re: PDX-->Madrid, Spain
Dear David,
At 04:41 PM 8/10/99 -0700, you wrote:
...<blahblahblah about a lot of trip changes and stuff>...
>Anyway, I would greatly appreciate your assistance in finding me the
>cheapest flight possible from Portland, Oregon to Madrid, Spain any time
>before the 21st of August. Like I said, I can go after that, but I'd rather
>not. I can go as far as the Seattle airport, but I am not going to LAX;
>that would negate the savings of Airhitch/Target Flights.
You don't know whether it would or not, you haven't studied the economics carefully enough yet; however, if you can get to Vancouver, you can get to Spain from there for $339 plus tax. How does that sound? You won't need (and can't get, at this price) a confirmed seat. But you'll get there anyway...by doing a double-Airhitch(r), once from Vancouver to the UK, once from the UK down to Spain (Barcelona or Madrid). If this is of interest, let us know and we'll explain it. Or, maybe you don't need it further explained, just go back to the website and sign yourself up for Airhitching from the PacNW to Europe, AND ALSO for one Airhitch(r) IntraEurope hop.
>As far as "lowest price found so far," all the travel agents are closed at
>this hour. I called them just before they closed, and they told me they'd
>call consolidators and get back to me tomorrow. I wanted to get this in to
>you as soon as possible, though. The only price quote, therefore, is from
>Travelocity.com.
You don't want to spend EVEN CLOSE to this absurd figure to get from the PacNW to Spain -- as you can see, it can be done for OVER A THOUSAND LESS.
[NOTE: Please paste relevant previous correspondence, including the above text, into any reply you may elect to send us, to establish context and continuity.]
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