1st-air.net

Here is what I am sending my credit card company:

I would like to dispute a charge placed on my account on January 25, 2007 by 1st-Air.net for $2673.67. . I never signed the credit card authorization form to charge my account and I have not received any tickets. The will not answer my calls, answer my emails, etc. Here is the ugly saga.

I am an adventure traveler and wished to go to the Congo this year, so I booked business class tickets for JFK to Kinshasa, DRC. for departure on June 8 and returning on June 30 with SN Brussels. When I purchased the tickets I entered on the screen the number for my Citibank Mastercard, but I also had to fax a credit card authorization form with my signature and a copy of the credit card. When I filled out the form, I indicated that I wanted my American Express card charged. That is what I entered on the form, signed, and faxed to 1st-Air. About 1 month after I booked the flight, a charge showed up on my Citibank Mastercard for $2673.67 by a company I did not recognize. The bill came on a Saturday and I immediately closed the account with Citibank and opened a new one. Citibank said I could file a complaint against the company. On Monday I did call the number on my bill and it was a company affiliated with 1st-air.net. What they charged was not the amount of the ticket…they charged the obscure amount of $2673.67. I spoke with John Schwartz who told me not to worry, that everything would get squared away, that I would leave on June 9. So I did not dispute the charge at this point. But, I did not have a good feeling with them. What I did then decided was to take Hewa Bora Airlines from Brussels to Kinshasa. I had 1st-air cancel the Brussels to Kinshasa portion, but keep the JFK to Brussels portion and leave on June 8, return on July 1. They did so willingly, but SN Brussels did not have the reservation for June 8…only June 9. They said they were sold out for June 9. If I left on June 9 I would miss my flight on Hewa Bora. I kept on writing Sheronda Wilson and John Schwartz……just to have them say they were working on it. The reservation was not made correctly with SN Brussels, and I was never ticketed. SN Brussels questioned why it was taking so long for the agent pay. I said I didn’t know. I also went on mytripsandmore.com website. It indicated there that I was to leave on June 9, not June 8. So they sold me a ticket for a date that had no availability.

Well, then I am still ticketless at the end of March. I had my Hewa Bora ticket..but no ticket from JFK to Brussels. But all sorts of problems arose in the Congo again, so I decided that because of the warfare this may not be the place to go this year. So I decided to go to the Kalash area of Pakistan. (I enjoy visiting tribal people) I emailed John Schwartz from 1st-air.net and spoke with him also. He said that I could change the tickets to Islamabad..with a $250 penalty (even though the tickets had never been issued). So I requested that I take Etihad from JFK to Islamabad and return. They first indicated departure on Kuwaiti Air and return by Etihad. But I said no, I want to take Etihad both ways. 1st-Air.net never made my departing reservation on Etihad. I had a return reservation….but no departing reservation. So I got in contact with them repeatedly about this. They would not take my calls, answer my emails, etc.. So I got frustrated and booked the reservation myself…and asked them for a refund of $2673.67-$250.00 (what I lost with the SN Brussels flight). But now I have no tickets from 1st-Air (only the tickets I booked myself), receive no calls or emails regarding the refunding of my money, and only terse emails from Sheronda Wilson skirting the issuance of a refund.

I have tried emailing and calling Robert Laney the president of 1st-Air. But I do not hear from him. I am not asking for anything more than the money that is rightfully mine. I do not want to cause trouble for 1st-air, but I also would like my money back.

Comment On This

We had already responded to this on May 7th. We ask that you please post our response. In summary, the customer neglects to mention that because of the constant changes 1stAir was trying to waived a penalty and fare increase for her to travel roundtrip between New York and Brussels. In the end, she opted to make other arrangemets and was refunded. In addition, she continues to use 1stAir and has placed requests for travel as recent as May 08

Comment On This

This summary is not complete or correct. A trip to Africa was changed three times by the customer and ended up becoming a straight New York Belgium round trip. Based on the EXTREME changes requested by the customer, our priority is to accomodate the changes with minimal expense to the traveler. As the lowest booking inventory was not available for the changes the customer requested, we attempted to clear it with the carrier which is a process that takes time. The carrier must first analyze how many full fare seats it believes it can sell on its own prior to agreeing to open additional inventory buckets.

What is not updated is that the customer

A) Received a full refund less an admin penalty

B) She continues to consider 1stAir for international travel including for travel as recent as May, 2008

Comment On This

Thank God for this website, I have my suspisions confirmed, I was thinking, if Singapore Airlines (SIA) does NOT even give a single cent of discount to their own Amex Platinum credit card holders, how in the world could 1st Air offer everyone $1000s-off per business class ticket on SIA from LA to Singapore!