John Sheldon and his wife of Montville were excited to take their first ever trip to Ireland.
“It was my wife’s dream to go to Ireland,” said John Sheldon.
But that dream was crushed when Sheldon said he injured himself playing indoor soccer.
“I tore my Achilles tendon at the end of May 2017. So, I wasn’t going to be able to travel the entire summer with the injury and recovery and stuff like that,” Sheldon said.
Sheldon said he bought the $1449.84 airline tickets in January 2017 to travel in June of that same year.
“I had surgery on June 7th, a couple weeks later for the stitches to come out. I was in a walking boot six to eight weeks after that,” he said.
Even though the tickets were non-refundable, Aer Lingus gave him an option to reschedule the trip, according to Sheldon.
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“I said no, I wouldn’t be able to. I would just like to cancel them outright. They refunded me the airport taxes and such like that,” said Sheldon.
Sheldon said he then filed a claim with his credit card company which offered travel insurance, as part of his benefits. The insurance says it will reimburse Sheldon if he has a loss that prevents him from travelling on or before the departure date and results in a cancellation. But the credit company denied the claim, indicating that Sheldon needed a letter from Aer Lingus verifying his travel credits. Despite contacting Aer Lingus in both January and March, he said he never heard back from the airline.
“And then my wife and I, were like, well, we see you on tv all the time. So maybe, we’re going to reach out to you and ask for some help,” said Sheldon.
NBC Connecticut Responds reached out to both the credit card company and Aer Lingus. A credit card spokesperson told us:
“Our trip cancellation team has been communicating with the customer, and was waiting for more information from him.”
An Aer Lingus spokesperson sent Responds this statement:
“Mr Sheldon had purchased a non-refundable ticket with Aer Lingus and was unable to travel for medical reasons. Aer Lingus Guest Relations had offered to keep his booking open for up to one year allowing him to rebook at a later date, which is outside of the ticket terms and conditions. Mr Sheldon chose to cancel his booking and received a refund of the airport taxes paid. Mr Sheldon then requested a letter confirming his cancelled flights which unfortunately he did not receive due to an administrative error. We sincerely apologize to Mr Sheldon and as a gesture of goodwill will refund the total remaining fare.”
As a result of our involvment, Sheldon received a $1449.84 from the airlines.
“I was thrilled and then I was amazed at how quickly it happened,” said Sheldon. “You guys are great. You guys are wonderful.”