Getting a refund after a technical glitch in an airline's app required me to buy a new flight

31.05.2024 - 14:29 / thepointsguy.com / Katie Genter

Europe has a wide variety of low-cost airlines that offer service on unique routes and fares that are significantly lower than full-service, legacy airlines. A few, such as Vueling, are even bookable through major airline loyalty programs, so you can redeem transferable points for flights on them. But, as TPG's senior points and miles writer Katie Genter learned this spring, Vueling can be difficult to deal with if anything goes wrong during your trip.

Here's what happened on a recent Vueling award flight Katie booked through Iberia, and how TPG's on-call ombudsman, Michelle Couch-Friedman, got a positive resolution for her.

After a work trip to New York City, Katie was set to fly to Milan and land on March 8 at 8:10 a.m. But after checking all the places she could use her Ikon ski pass in Europe, she decided to book an additional flight to Barcelona later that day. On Jan. 14, she redeemed 4,500 Iberia Avios plus $37.80 in taxes and fees to book a nonstop Vueling flight from Milan to Barcelona for March 8 at 2 p.m.

Katie usually prefers to include an overnight stay between different flight itineraries, but she figured having almost six hours between her two flights would be long enough. Plus, her Iberia award for Vueling included one carry-on bag, one checked bag and unlimited flight changes via Vueling's TimeFlex perk.

So, she assumed she'd still be covered even if her transatlantic flight was significantly delayed.

Related: Airlines you can book using Avios: How to maximize your points

As Katie's American Airlines flight left New York around 6:15 p.m. on March 7, she was annoyed to hear she'd be landing in Milan more than 90 minutes ahead of schedule since that meant less time to sleep on board. She wasn't looking forward to the estimated 6:30 a.m. arrival in Milan, but at least she'd have plenty of time to recheck her luggage before her Vueling flight.

However, once she was soundly asleep, she heard the dreaded announcement asking passengers with medical training to please ring their call button. Knowing she wouldn't be of help, she went back to sleep, but the announcements continued, with multiple requests for passengers to ring their call button if they had specific medicines in their carry-on bags. The flight was well on its way at this point, but that didn't matter; it was announced the flight would divert to Canada due to the medical needs of a passenger.

The flight landed in Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, at 1:30 a.m. local time, and several passengers deplaned. Everyone else, Katie included, then sat on the tarmac for more than two hours.

While on the ground in Goose Bay and not knowing when her flight would get back underway, Katie tried to change her Vueling reservation to any of