Direct Air in trouble d

[gretchenohar@hotmail]

Three of my children booked thru Direct Air for a flight to MCO in June/July. Unfortunately, 2 of them did so with a debit (rather than credit) card. Does anyone know if they will have any recourse?
TIA.

 

[minniemomof3]

I just received this email from Direct Air, I think it's the same as what they posted on their website. My flights are booked for July, so they must be sending it to everyone who booked with them.

Direct Air finds it necessary to suspend flight operation from Tuesday, March 13, 2012 until May 15, 2012. This decision was made to address operational matters. We are currently evaluating strategic alternatives for Direct Air.

Direct Air is committed to our passengers, employees, and the communities we serve.

Please check back to our website for more details.

Very Truly Yours,
Direct Air

 

[encinc]

I wonder how many people are stranded in Florida or Myrtle Beach at this point. Its March Break in Ontario, and I'm sure that there were many Canadians who booked flights from Niagara Falls to Florida and/or Myrtle Beach on Direct Air. I can only imagine how hard it will be to find availability to get home on another airline, never mind how much it will cost them. It will also be a hassle for people to get from BUF or wherever they end up flying into back to Niagara Falls where I'm sure their vehicles are parked.

UGH!!! What a pain. I feel for all involved!

 

[pigletto]

I wonder how many people are stranded in Florida or Myrtle Beach at this point. Its March Break in Ontario, and I'm sure that there were many Canadians who booked flights from Niagara Falls to Florida and/or Myrtle Beach on Direct Air. I can only imagine how hard it will be to find availability to get home on another airline, never mind how much it will cost them. It will also be a hassle for people to get from BUF or wherever they end up flying into back to Niagara Falls where I'm sure their vehicles are parked.

UGH!!! What a pain. I feel for all involved!

I know
Every time I start to get a little sad about the 1600 dollars I am out, I remind myself that at least I have 6 weeks to come up with a plan, and then plenty more time before the August trip.
In the grand scheme of things, I'm extremely lucky I'm not running around Florida trying to get my family home.
I feel awful for the families that are stuck right now. There were plenty of people posting over the last few months that they were using Direct Air for Spring Break.

 

[minniemomof3]

I have a flight in June. I called the Disney Visa claims department, and they said that they cannot do anything at this point. I have to either wait until they announce that they are not going to do flights in June or until the June date has passed, and I did not receive services paid for. Ugh. What a headache.

Amex told me to send in my dispute. It seems like we are getting different messages from CC companies. From reading other posts, some people are being told by their CC company they have filed for Chapter 11. It's so frustrating to play the wait and see game.

 

[pigletto]

Three of my children booked thru Direct Air for a flight to MCO in June/July. Unfortunately, 2 of them did so with a debit (rather than credit) card. Does anyone know if they will have any recourse?
TIA.

Your debit cards still have Visa/Mastercard logos don't they? Doesn't that give you some protection from those companies? It's worth a call to see. I don't know much about American debit cards. I'm sorry for your trouble.

 

[minniemomof3]

Deleted

 

[JoeCathyAngelina]

I have reservations for the week of April school vacation, 4/14-4/21. I just recieved this email from DirectAir:

Direct Air finds it necessary to suspend flight operation from Tuesday, March 13, 2012 until May 15, 2012. This decision was made to address operational matters. We are currently evaluating strategic alternatives for Direct Air.

Direct Air is committed to our passengers, employees, and the communities we serve.

Please check back here for more details.

Very Truly Yours,
Direct Air

Looks like I'm going to be talking to someone at Visa tomorrow.
Good luck all,
Joe

 

[gretchenohar@hotmail]

Your debit cards still have Visa/Mastercard logos don't they? Doesn't that give you some protection from those companies? It's worth a call to see. I don't know much about American debit cards. I'm sorry for your trouble.

You're right about that logo - thanks for bringing it up!

Good luck to all in making your plans work out. Please let us know how you're faring.....

 

[DebbieB]

If your flight hasn't been cancelled, I don't think you can get an easy refund. Chapter 11 is reorganization, not liquidation. American Airlines is in chapter 11 also.

 

[doconeill]

If your flight hasn't been cancelled, I don't think you can get an easy refund. Chapter 11 is reorganization, not liquidation. American Airlines is in chapter 11 also.

I also believe that's true. Until they cancel or otherwise fail to honor, you're stuck. People with end of May flights are in a tough spot - do you eat the cost and book other flights now, or try to get flights at the last minute and pay the extra?

 

[mousey]

Drove by the Niagara Falls airport today and the parking lots were filled with cars. I'm sure they belong to passengers who are in Myrtle Beach or Florida planning on coming home this week! Those last minute flights could cost these people a fortune!

 

[pigletto]

If your flight hasn't been cancelled, I don't think you can get an easy refund. Chapter 11 is reorganization, not liquidation. American Airlines is in chapter 11 also.

Yes, it remains to be seen. I have late April flights that have been cancelled so those should be straightforward. The late August flights we just booked last week are another story.
We're driving in April now. Luckily we had some extra days to do so. I"ll have to deal with the August flights as things progress.

 

[DOPEYLUVER]

I wonder how many people are stranded in Florida or Myrtle Beach at this point. Its March Break in Ontario, and I'm sure that there were many Canadians who booked flights from Niagara Falls to Florida and/or Myrtle Beach on Direct Air. I can only imagine how hard it will be to find availability to get home on another airline, never mind how much it will cost them. It will also be a hassle for people to get from BUF or wherever they end up flying into back to Niagara Falls where I'm sure their vehicles are parked.

UGH!!! What a pain. I feel for all involved!

I was booked on Direct out of Worcester for March 25, returning on April 5. I actually did pretty well with Southwest tickets.

The local news was reporting that the Holy Cross baseball and softball teams on in Florida right now booked to return on Direct.

 

[minniemomof3]

I sucked it up and booked another flight with Airtran (going down) and Southwest (coming back) as the flights are still reasonably priced right now.

I can't see this having a good ending and I don't want to wait to only find out the flights have doubled. My husband won't drive, which would mean we would have to cancel the trip.

Hopefully, I'll get a refund for my Direct Air flights or charge back from the CC company.

 

[Geoff_M]

Amex told me to send in my dispute. It seems like we are getting different messages from CC companies. From reading other posts, some people are being told by their CC company they have filed for Chapter 11.

I've scanned the business news, and there's no mention of a Chapter 11 petition being filed as of yet, though there's no much doubt one is being prepared.

 

[Maliki2]

Ugh. I found out about this today. I have the 21st-28th scheduled in July for three of us. This is my sons 6th b-day and we have reservations on his birthday at Chef Mickeys. I promised him that he would eat dinner with Mickey on his birthday!!! grrr

Anyway i called Chase Disney. This is what I was told. They have not closed or filed bankruptcy yet. I can not get a refund because my flight didn't leave between now and May 15th. I can get a refund when they A) officially close down B) Don't honor my flight date on July 22nd. Alot of furgin good thats going to do me!

So I plan on leaving the 20th by car if I have no other choice and driving straight through and back. Lovely drive from Northern Vermont (10 mins from Canada) to Orlando and back!

 

[Cottager]

I wonder how many people are stranded in Florida or Myrtle Beach at this point. Its March Break in Ontario, and I'm sure that there were many Canadians who booked flights from Niagara Falls to Florida and/or Myrtle Beach on Direct Air. I can only imagine how hard it will be to find availability to get home on another airline, never mind how much it will cost them. It will also be a hassle for people to get from BUF or wherever they end up flying into back to Niagara Falls where I'm sure their vehicles are parked.

UGH!!! What a pain. I feel for all involved!

Argh...just spent the last couple of hours trying to find alternate flights to get my family back from Florida. Fortunately, they were dropped off at the Niagara Falls airport so no car to pick up and they had the flexibility to fly back directly to Toronto. Allegiant sold out into Niagara Falls quickly so there's going to be some happy cabbies driving from the Buffalo airport to Niagara Falls airport this weekend I'm sure. Not a great way to end the March Break.

We went through the same problem back in 2005 here in Canada when Jetsgo went under. Fortunately back then, we booked online directly with the airline with our credit card and took advantage of the Visa E-Promise which protects online purchases that aren't fulfilled. I'm sure we'll be able to do the same thing this time so I'm not worried about getting my money back for the return flight. http://www.visa.ca/en/personal/securewithvisa/epromise.jsp

 

[MAH4546]

This is what I was hinting at, but I didn't write it correctly
I'll give it another day or 2 see what else comes out before I start looking for my refund back.

You're right about that logo - thanks for bringing it up!

Good luck to all in making your plans work out. Please let us know how you're faring.....

Unfortunately, the logo is irrelevant. It's a debit card, and it doesn't have the same protection as a credit card. All the logo means is that the card can be used at terminals accepting that particular card brand.

 

[goofy4tink]

This is posted on their website:

Direct Air finds it necessary to suspend flight operation from Tuesday, March 13, 2012 until May 15, 2012. This decision was made to address operational matters. We are currently evaluating strategic alternatives for Direct Air.

Direct Air is committed to our passengers, employees, and the communities we serve.

Passengers holding reservations for Direct Air flights departing between Tuesday, March 13, 2012 and Tuesday, May 15, 2012 are directed to contact their credit card company to arrange for a refund.

Please check back here for more details.

Very Truly Yours,
Direct Air

Same one I got yesterday as well.

I had heard this earlier today. It sounds like they are in the process of filing for Ch. 11, but it appears that some suppliers are already holding them in default. Not sure what that means in terms of the bankruptcy.

But in my mind it seems likely that they'll survive it. I wouldn't put any money on May 15th.

It will be a long time before I book a flight out of Worcester...not a good track record with the airlines that have operated there.

Can I say how glad I am that it's happening now, and not last year??? We would have been packing up the car. And everyone asked me why I left 2 days early and cut our trip short by two days...just in case there was a DirectAir issue. So...we flew down on a Thursday, prior to our cruise, and planned on visiting my ds in Tampa after our cruise and WDW stay of 2 nights. That way, if there were to be an issue with flights, we could easily just drive down and back..with little impact on the big parts of our vacation.
I just can't imagine how those already in Florida are dealing with this, as well as those poor families flying out of Worcester over April vacation.

It bears repeating.....we get what we pay for. If we constantly book the very cheapest airfare we can find, then sooner or later, the airlines will go under. We get spoiled by really low airfares, then, if fares rise, we don't fly. Makes it hard to stay in business.