Air India — Refund not issued for denial of service

Address:	Mumbai, India
Website:	www.airindia.in/bid-upgrade/Bid-Upgrade.html

I purchased an Air India economy class ticket from Chicago to Delhi( round trip). While going from Chicago, I travelled in economy class, but for return journey, I applied for upgrade to Business and it was applied with the airline directly. The airline accepted the request, approved it and sent a congratulatory email stating that I will have the opportunity to travel in Business. A seat also got assigned when I did web check-in. They charged my credit card on March 13, 2022 for INR 71, 410 translated to USD 934.44 for approving the upgrade request.

When I reached the IGI airport T-3 on March 16, 2022 for flight to Chicago for which the e-ticket number is (098) [protected], I was told that it will have to be downgraded to economy due to some issue with some seats in the aircraft. I didn't notice any issue and my seat was occupied when I entered the aircraft. I was assured that I will get my money back as it was an airline decision to downgrade.

Now, after I returned to Chicago and trying to connect with Customer care so that they can take the refund request and have it processed, I am getting templated responses over and over again with no clear path to resolution. I followed all the steps they said starting from sharing the documents over email to filling feedback request, but there is no acknowledgement on their part to issue a refund despite the airline denying the service. Since it is a case of service denial on part of the airline, I should be refunded the amount they charged for the upgrade. There have been a lot of back and forth emails with the customer care and a lot of phone calls, but no luck. No clarity at all. I was asked to fill feedback request multiple times even after I filled it already and have to remind them that I already filled. Sometimes they say to channelize refund request through the travel agency knowing fully that the airline directly accepted the upgrade request and approved it without mandating the involvement of travel agency. And every time I seek an update on where the request stands, it appears the clock gets reset with same templated responses like investigation will be done or fill the feedback form. It's been over a week hearing the same templated responses. I understand that refund process takes time, but here there is no transparency in what is being done. The customer care, when approached, shows the picture as-if nothing has been done at all on my request. Every time I approach them, it appears we are back to square one. Deeply disappointed to see what is happening. It is an open and shut case and it's frankly no brainer that denial of service on part of any service provider should result in refund being issued to the customer.

Please help so that this can be closed.