Chargebacks911 COO and Co-Founder Monica Eaton was quoted in a recent article shared by the Seattle Times regarding expiring pandemic travel credits. The article discussed whether keeping or using them is the wisest course of action.
The Seattle Times is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. The Seattle Times has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the Pacific Northwest region.
According to the piece, travel companies parceled out travel vouchers “like crazy” during the pandemic. Some travel companies offered only vouchers in place of refunds, even when the law required them to.
Because of this, many airline customers are unsure what to do with their pandemic travel miles, now that they are soon to expire. It turns out there are several ways to use them or be refunded before the points expire… and chargebacks are just one of them.
“The pandemic triggered a tsunami of payment disputes,” Monica says. “Almost immediately, credit card chargebacks jumped by 25 percent. Suddenly, it became far more commonplace for consumers to actively—and sometimes wrongfully—dispute their credit card payments and demand a full refund from their bank.”
Monica went on to elaborate that a sudden surge of chargebacks could increase fares and rates as travel companies struggle to compensate for their losses. For now, the time limit means using a chargeback to recover money or negotiate a credit extension isn’t an effective strategy.
