South LA woman loses thousands after canceled flight at LAX causes her to miss her cruise
Britney Webb says after her canceled flight, she missed her cruise. Now she cannot get back thousands she spent on cruise tickets.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (KABC) -- Spring break is upon us and with summer around the corner, families are booking vacations.
For South Los Angeles resident Britney Webb, she says she was saving up to go on the Royal Caribbean Odyssey of the Seas cruise with her family for spring break.
Webb says her April 9 Delta flight was delayed multiple times and then canceled. She says another flight available was also canceled. She said their family was stuck at Los Angeles International Airport without a way to get to the Florida to catch their cruise.
While she says the airline is paying her back and giving her a voucher, her cruise refund is a different story.
"Due to the fact that we don't have travelers' insurance, no. They're not going to give us a refund. They said, 'What we will refund you is the gratuity and taxes,' and that's basically $800," said Webb.
Webb says they had a group of four people and cruise tickets were more than $1,000 dollars per person. She says she was disappointed to hear she would only be receiving around $800.
Madhu Unnikrishnan, editor of Airline Weekly, says there is a lot of demand for travel right now and there are also staff shortages. He says booking early is a good option. He says if you're thinking of buying travelers insurance, make sure you know what you're buying.
"Policies vary from company to company and some issues may not be covered if it's some flight delays, maintenance issues, may not be covered by travel insurance and then you're not getting the benefit of spending that money," said Unnikrishnan.
Unnikrishnan also says when it comes to booking flights through third party websites or directly through airline websites, read the fine print.
"Most of the airlines are allowing changes and cancellations without fees if you book directly through them and if you don't buy a basic economy ticket," said Unnikrishnan.
For Webb, she says she's not giving up just yet on her cruise ticket refund.
"I've been stressed since I got off the plane and they told me we weren't going anywhere.
I've been stressed calling this place, that place, trying to get a hold to see who's going to pay me my money back for this cruise," said Webb.
ABC7 reached out to Royal Caribbean for a comment, but has not yet heard back.
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