NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – A new airline, which recently announced Charleston as a hub city, ran into some problems at the Charleston International Airport over the weekend.
A Dorchester County man said not only was his flight canceled but he was only issued a partial refund on his tickets.
Rick Carson and his family were set to fly out to Tampa, Florida on Breeze Airways Friday evening and return home to Charleston Monday night. But that flight was canceled, preventing the trip.
“Friday morning around 10:15 I got an email… that said they were apologizing for the delay with flight MX 101,” said Carson, frustrated by the experience.
The flight was further delayed to after midnight, then to almost 1 a.m. He said officials told him regulations required the crew to get more rest. Carson arrived at the airport around 10 p.m.
“We found out when we got there – we were walking through the terminal toward the Breeze counter – and we ran into 14 or 15 other people who said, ‘are you going to Breeze?’ We said yes, ‘you’re not flying tonight.’ I said what?”
He went on to say, “The lady was there, she said she was third-party. She said she did not work for Breeze, but Breeze had her making contact with everybody and she explained to us that there was a problem. The email didn’t explain things like it should have, and they were going to refund our tickets.”
Carson said he was not happy the flight was canceled, but he was at least glad they were going to get a refund. Then he got an email about the refund.
“We are going to refund your ticket for last Friday night. However, your ticket for Monday, you can still fly on it. So, I don’t know how they expect us to all get to Tampa,” he said.
He said they were told they would only get a refund for the canceled flight Friday night, but they could only get flight credit for the return flight Monday back to Charleston.
So, he contacted News 2, which in turn contacted Breeze Airways. The company said the email was automated and that they investigated it and realized the passengers should have been given a full refund for the tickets.
They sent a statement saying in part:
“Breeze has fully refunded these passengers’ bookings and will honor the same fare should they wish to rebook. In addition, we have given them additional Breeze points for their trouble as our gift.”
Breeze Airways sent Carson an apology by email Monday afternoon, and he is now satisfied with how they handled the problem.
