Okay, my flight for tomorrow evening has been canceled, on account of vanguard crumpling into nonexistence and filing chapter 11. The cheapest/best option currently available to me appears to be grabbing the train on monday from pittsburgh to emeryville ($159.30). I would get in on wednesday afternoon. I am pissed yet resigned. The ‘reduced rates on fares’ that I get by going through their suggested alternates require $100 trips to philly or chicago, and end up costing about twice as much as I originally paid, and more than twice as much as I would pay for rail travel.
For those of you with appropriate legal knowledge, is there anyway I can get my payment back, or does chapter 11 screw me out of that as well? Can I cancel ye ol credit card payment?
Hitchhiking is starting to look appealing. =)
Which inspired a neat, yet totally impractical idea. EHitchHiking. It’d work something like this: Hitch a ride from pittsburgh friend (perhaps my little sister) to columbus, where we would go dancing at Axis, and
Reasons I’m pissed: Now I have to go pack more. suck.
Delaying the housing hunt, so that I may possibly be doing it on my own.
Making it so that I can’t see charlie off to portland.
Generally fucking with my life.
Delaying the in-person job hunt plan.
You’d have unlikely gotten to see Charlie off to Portland anyway, as due to a family emergency he’s had to fly up there today and won’t be back till Thursday evening, at which time he needs to finish packing to leave friday morning…it’s doubtful if even I’ll be able to see him for more than an hour or two and I live with him
You could file a proof of claim in Vanguard’s bankruptcy case. Today’s article in the KC Star mentioned:
E-mail: ch11@flyvanguard.com
Write:
Vanguard Airlines
533 Mexico City Ave.
Kansas City, MO 64153
I suspect Vanguard is collecting info through those two mechanisms and will report the claims themselves. However, you could also do it yourself by using the form linked above. You’d need to file it with whatever bankruptcy court Vanguard’s case is pending in (probably the one in KCMO). (I don’t think there is a filing fee.) Copies would also need to be mailed to the Trustee in Bankruptcy and Vanguard’s bankruptcy attorney.
You should note, however, your claim would be what is termed an “unsecured” claim, meaning that it is a debt owed by Vanguard that isn’t secured by some form of collateral. (E.g., A home mortgage or car loan is a secured debt, credit cards are unsecured debts.) The claims of unsecured creditors are paid after certain administrative expenses (fees to the trustee in bankruptcy and Vanguard’s bankruptcy attorney) and all of the secured creditors are paid. Certain types of unsecured debts (such as the amounts owed to their employees in wages) are given priority status and are paid before general unsecured claims.
Chances are, most (if not all) of the funds obtained by liquidating Vanguard’s assets will go to the secured creditors and the priority unsecured claims. As a result, it’s probably pretty unlikely that much (if any) money will be paid to the general unsecured creditors (such as yourself). So, while you have the option of filing a claim with the bankruptcy court, I doubt that you’d ever see any sort of payment on it. Time-and-trouble-wise, It might make more sense to contact Vanguard through the mechanisms indicated in the KC Star article.
You might also give a shot to see if you can get the charges reversed with your credit card company. Somehow, I doubt that the credit card company will do so (since they’d be left holding the bag because they can’t get the money out of Vanguard either), but it’d be worth a try.
I admit being a bit bummed that I won’t get to visit with you tomorrow night because of all of this. OTOH, my disappointment is pretty damn minor compared to the hassle you’ve got to be dealing with. Hope you get everything sorted out.
Definitely try to get money back from your credit card company. That’s what credit cards are for. Don’t make mention of your move or change in job status just yet, though, (Feel free to call back 5 minutes later to do that 😉 as you want them to be worried about losing a customer. Many credit cards will take the hit (knowing damned well that they’re out) to keep customers.
Look at the back of your most recent statement. Credit card companies usually list the situations under which they’ll absolve you of liability. For example, one of my cards says:
“If you have a problem with the quality of goods or services that you purchased with a credit card, and you have tried in good faith to correct the problem with the merchant, you may not have to pay the remaining amount due on the goods or services. You have this protection only when the purchase price was more than $50 and the purchase was made in your home state or within 100 miles of your mailing address. If we own or operate the merchant, or if we mailed you the advertisement for the property or services, all purchase are covered regardless of amount or location of purchase.”
However, my suggestion would be to deal with your loss and remember that you get what you pay for, Stephen. Fly a real airline next time. 🙂 You could practically see the warning signs looming in the skies, no pun intended. Denied federal loans? Mmmmmm hmmm, this airline was practically dead when you booked your tickets.
also…
…in the event that you booked your ticket online with your credit card, you may have a better chance of recouping your money. Some credit card issuers are more lenient with online purchases. Good luck my friend, and I’m sorry to hear that you got caught up in this crap.
For what it’s worth, I found the train ride back from SF to Toronto to be quite relaxing. Particularly if you spring for a compartment. Since you will be having vegan meals, you can be assured that your food will be prepared to-order. It’s also nice to be able to take a shower during your journey.
If you purchased you tix w/ a credit card, check w/ your credit card company to see if you’ll still have to pay for it. And if you do, then see if they have travel insurance. Some credit cards like AMEX automatically use travel insurance similar to insurance on rental cars. I gotta tell you when I was in a similar situation, my credit card company screwed me and made me pay the bill. So no promises but you can try. Good luck, again. 🙂
Another airline option…
… probably not a good one, though. Looks like Delta will let you fly standby for a $100 “administrative fee”, but you can only do it on the same day the ticket was originally issued for. Details here.
Tonight’s news broadcast indicated that US Air and Midwest Express were offering discounts, but I didn’t see anything on their respective web pages. You might want to try calling them.
Credit cards are good
Disputing the charge is easy and should work just fine. If you had used a check or cash…THEN you’d be screwed.
LoL!
That’s assuming my car would make it to Indianapolis…hahah…
Coolio idea tho! =D
If the purchase was on a credit card and in the last 60 days, you can easily dispute it. Just write a letter to the bank include credit card number, merchant name, transaction number. Tell them that the services you bought were never delivered.
Every disputed claim I have filed has been removed from my credit card (even one that should not have been!)
That was. ::thwacks him for not checking::
If you end up coming through KC after all, let us know.