[Matt_FLL]

Gromit is 100% correct... while they still should have explained, it was most likely due to the hurricane. Which means that it may take the full 7-10 days since the volume of refund requests are high. I hope you get it sooner.

[rgoldbaum]

I filed a complaint with the DOT about United's statement that it would take 7-10 days to consider a refund. I got a reply from the DOT in a matter of hours, citing the specific federal regulation that requires airlines to credit your account with a refund within 7 days. While I understand that there is a great deal of disruption in air travel from Sandy, granting a refund for a cancelled flight really should only take a few keystrokes from the customer service agent who acknowledges the flight was cancelled and that they couldn't put me on another flight that met my needs. I suspect there is a benefit to the airline to hold those funds as long as possible, therefore they manufacture an unnecessary waiting period.

[rgoldbaum]

Regarding Gromit's assertion that it should be obvious that safety considerations are the cause for my flight cancellation, there were no extreme weather conditions within 200 miles of Raleigh either yesterday or today, and the flight in question was a non-stop flight originating in Raleigh and flying non-stop to San Francisco. In North Carolina, we have hurricanes all the time, but jets still seem to fly. So it is not intuitively obvious why the flight was cancelled. It may have been that the plane was delayed by conditions elsewhere, but it may also have been, as an acquaintance connected with the local airport explained, that the airline requires a minimum number of passengers to make a profit on those long distance, coast to coast flights, and they will cancel the flights if they don't have sufficient passengers. In any event, my main complaint was the delay in refunding my money. I understand that, especially nowadays, you pay your money and take your chances that the plane will actually leave on time when you book a flight.