A woman is calling American Airlines “jerks” after a routine flight from Japan to Los Angeles turned into a financial nightmare. Katie (@wellnessby.katie), who is a military wife, says the months-long debacle has caused her emotional distress. Her viral story may have garnered the airline’s attention, but she says its response is anything but satisfactory.
What happened on this American Airlines flight?
In a series of viral videos, Katie shares how she booked flights with American Airlines to visit her husband, who is deployed in Japan. For her return flight, she decided to book the trip using the 60,000 miles she had saved up. She would have to pay 10% of a flight ticket for her lap infant, however. Katie had no issue with this and provided her credit card information so they could charge the $386 for her five-month-old.
Things took a turn when Katie noticed that not only had American Airlines charged her for her infant, but also for a flight from Okinawa to LAX. Now, Katie had two tickets: the one she booked with her miles and the one American wrongfully booked with her credit card.
Katie says she immediately got on the phone with American, where a representative told her that they were sorry and would refund the $3,674. It would allegedly take 5 to 7 business days for it to hit her account.
After the seven days, Katie says there was no refund. She called the airline back, and they assured her they were “looking into it.”
The day of the flight arrives
Katie is still waiting for her refund on the day of her flight. Upon checking in with Japan Airlines, she says they accidentally checked her in under the flight they had wrongfully booked. Katie attributes this mistake to a language barrier.
Katie called American as soon as she got home, and was purportedly told by a representative that “American Airlines is a really big company with a lot of customers, so we can’t get to everybody immediately” before hanging up on her. Eventually, after many failed attempts at following up, Katie says American told her they would not be refunding her because Japan Airlines had already billed them for Katie’s ticket.
TikTok ‘does its thing’
Katie begged TikTok viewers to blow up her video, which earned 1.3 million views, as she has nowhere else to turn to. In the comments, she revealed how she even contacted the U.S. Department of Transportation but received no help.
“AA told me that since JAL billed them for the flight, ‘their hands are tied’. Such a BS excuse. If they refunded me when they originally told me they would, this would never be an issue. What AA is doing is federally illegal,” she commented.
In a follow-up, Katie shares how she filed a dispute with Citibank, her credit card company. However, she was denied due to “not enough evidence.” She even emailed the CEO and COO of American Airlines, but received no response. If nothing else, Katie vows she’ll take the airline to small claims court, but prefers not to go that route.
@wellnessby.katie Still waiting for my $3,674.11 @American Airlines @American Airlines #americanairlinesfail #aadvantage #pointsandmiles #airlinerefusestorefund #traveltips #creditcarddispute #milesandpoints @Max Miles Points @The Points Guy @zacharyburrabel @Julia | CREDIT CARD POINTS ✈️ @Ginny | points + miles travel ♬ original sound – wellnessby.katie
In another video, Katie says her TikTok gained enough traction to capture American Airlines’ attention. The company agreed to refund her the $3,674, however, as of Wednesday, she was still waiting to receive the full amount.
The Mary Sue reached out to Katie via Instagram message and to American Airlines via email.
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