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Comment by seesawtron | Hacker News Reader

I have a recent example of Bait and Switch strategy used by an airline service.

After the flights got cancelled, they sent an email notifying about cancellations due to covid restrictions. Then provided a link to click to claim refund. Turns out that as soon as you click it, you are provided with a voucher that lasts for a year. Now the airline claims that they are willing to provide either cash refund and vouchers but to get the cash, one is required to call the customer support. But since in my case (and very likely almost everyone) "when one is already issued a voucher, the whole refund process is considered completed."

That is a pure genius yet evil way to make you choose the option that suits them better.

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I can imagine how frustrated you are. I flew ~1,000 times and I've encountered about a dozen situations where I was really pissed off at some airline policy.

Two suggestions for you.

One: you might be, like me, a lucky one. Someone with an IT background, not too negatively affected by the Covid-19 crisis. Think about it for a second.

If my guess is wrong, apologies for assuming you fit that profile. Tell me more about how bad it is for you, if you'd like.

Two: you can deal with this issue by simply considering it "lost" money, and move on. Getting your real money back would be a pain in the ass. Right now, the Airline is still capable of giving you hours of rage and stress. Take away that power from them. End the issue in the fastest way possible.

It's a pity that these things happen. In a modern, just society, a company and its executives should be immediately punished for this kind of behavior.

Unfortunately I was not so lucky and am at the brink of losing my job. But yes I have long given up since I am the one who "applied" for refund via voucher by clicking. But definitely something that I didn't see coming, lesson learned.

Wouldn't this be a case for some customer protection agency? IANAL but I would doubt that merely clicking a link without knowing its target is sufficient for establishing a binding contract.

If you've already given up on trying to get the money back, maybe try to book a flight that is likely to be cancelled and hope to get properly refunded. It's a long shot but who knows

I think that "lucky" people as you call it are in best position to challenge these. They have time and resources and capabilities to complain and push.

Maybe these things happen because people just move on when it happens to them?

> Take away that power from them. End the issue in the fastest way possible.

So to avoid personal frustration, enable their dark patterns? I don't feel like seesawtron would be the one feeling empowered by giving up and letting them keep the money.

You can't stop these dark patterns by simply spending hours and hours trying to fight it alone.

You can try to be more alert next time; you can try to vote differently, if you believe that counts; and you can probably do a number of other things.

This is the catch 22. Stand up for the principle or just “pay up” to not have that stress. They know this too.

isn't that just lying?

"click here for a refund." -> Okay, i gave you 200 airline credits which we count as a "refund" so you're set.

Sure but I imagine they are not alone. Eg. IKEA does the same thing as I recall: "refund" as store credits.

Someone should create a website for class action lawsuits.

There are already quite a few sites which list existing class action suits and how to sign up for them. I'll check them sometimes and see something about false advertising for a granola bar I bought six months ago so I put in my info and then get a check for $0.87 in the mail a year later and have absolutely no idea why.

Would you mind naming the company?

Iberia airlines

Ryanair did the exact same thing.

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