Success: My DOT Complaint Against Brussels Airlines Yields Results

A few months ago, I wrote a review of our economy flight from JFK to Belgium on Brussels Airlines. In it I’ve mentioned the frustration of paying for assigned seats only to have it all fall apart right before the flight. Not to mention, I had to spend a good bit of time on the phone trying to sort out the issue.

Naturally, when all was said and done I felt like I would be justified to request a refund from Brussels Airlines. The amount of money ($125 total) wasn’t huge, but that’s enough to buy a week’s worth of groceries for my family. I had to at least try, so I’ve reached out to Brussels Airlines first and politely warned them  that if I don’t get a response within two weeks, I would file a DOT complaint. I should also note that at that point it was too late to file a chargeback on my credit card, as that would have been my first step.

Crickets from Brussels Airlines customer service (as expected).

Alright, alright, alright. Imagine Matthew McConaughey saying it with an Eastern European accent. I’m a woman of my word, so off to DOT website I went. I then used this link to file a complaint. Here is an excerpt as to what airline issues may qualify:

“Please use this form to file a complaint or comment about service you received or requested from an airline or ticket agent that does not relate to airline safety or security. This may include, but is not limited to, topics such as flight delays and cancellations, overbooking, disability, tarmac delays, baggage, discrimination, refunds, ticketing practices, family seating, frequent flyer programs, charter flights, privacy and air ambulance service.”

It only took me a total of five minutes to fill out the form and attach documentation. A nice thing about a DOT complaint is that airlines are required to respond within six weeks. It doesn’t mean that they will offer  any compensation or refund in the end, but at least they can’t just brush it off like they did with my initial email.

About five weeks later I got a message from Brussels Airlines telling me that my refund was approved and processed. Sure enough, I got  $125 credited to my card just a few days later.

Final thoughts

Some may say that it’s too much trouble just to get $125 back, but I strongly disagree. I look at it as essentially making $125 (tax free) in exchange for maybe ten minutes of work. That’s  pretty spectacular return, if you ask me. Others may say that I got our award seats for “free”, so it’s obnoxious to pick a fight over $125. As I’ve said many times before, mileage tickets are anything but free. In case of Lifemiles quite literally, as we paid actual $ for a good chunk of them.

But even if I got all of my miles via flexible points transfer, they still wouldn’t be free. In most cases, you can cash out flexible rewards at 1 cent apiece or close to it. Besides, Brussels Airlines got  actual cash for these tickets  from Lifemiles program. Either way, I don’t feel like I should give airlines a pass just because we are flying on miles. And neither should you.