A US carrier must refund a fee it took for an extra it did not deliver — a paid seat, a checked bag, Wi-Fi, priority boarding — promptly and automatically, in the original form of payment. That is 14 CFR 260.4 and 260.10. There is no equivalent article in EU261, and this page says so plainly.
[Your full name]
[Your address]
[Email]
[Phone]
[Today's date]
[Airline name] — Customer Relations / Refunds
[Airline claims address or online claim form]
Re: Refund of a fee for a service not provided
Flight [Flight number]
Route [Departure airport] to [Final destination airport]
Date of flight [Flight date]
Booking reference [Booking reference]
Dear Sir or Madam,
I paid you a separate fee for [Paid service not provided] on flight
[Flight number] on [Flight date], booking reference
[Booking reference]. The service was not provided. The reason given to
me was [an aircraft change / an equipment failure / no reason at all].
For a flight covered by title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations,
section 260.4 requires a prompt and automatic refund of any fee
collected for an ancillary service that was not provided through no
fault of the consumer, and section 260.10 requires the refund to be
issued promptly in the original form of payment unless I agree to a
different form of equivalent value. I do not agree to a voucher or to
airline credit.
I claim the following, with the booking confirmation and the card
statement enclosed:
Fee paid for the service [Currency] [Amount]
Total [Currency] [Total]
Please refund [Currency] [Total] to the card ending
[Last 4 digits of card], transaction dated [Transaction date], or to
[Payment details] if that card is closed. I am asking for payment
within 14 days of the date of this letter.
Yours faithfully,
[Signature]
[Your full name]
How to use it
- Pull the fee off the booking confirmation, not the total price. Airlines refund line items, not impressions.
- Match it to the card statement line, and quote the last four digits and the date.
- Say what you got instead: a different seat, no bag carried, Wi-Fi that never worked.
- Refuse credit in the letter itself. It is much harder to unwind a voucher once accepted.
- Give 14 days, then escalate or ask your bank about a chargeback.
The EU has no article for extras. Regulation 261/2004 covers the ticket, the care and the fixed compensation, and Article 8(1)(a) reimburses the cost of the ticket only where the flight was cancelled, you were denied boarding, or you were delayed at least five hours and chose not to travel. A seat fee on a flight that operated is an ordinary contract claim under national consumer law, and the national enforcement body will usually say so.
Is there any EU rule for a paid seat I did not get?
Not in EU261. The regulation does not name ancillary services, so the claim is a contract claim: you paid for something the airline did not deliver, and you want the money back. That claim is real and small-claims courts hear it, but it runs on national consumer law rather than on Article 7. Where the whole flight was cancelled, Article 8(1)(a) covers the ticket cost and the extras bought with it.
Does it matter that I never asked for the refund?
Under 14 CFR 260.4 the refund is meant to be automatic where the service was unavailable to everyone who paid for it, and the obligation starts when the carrier knows about the failure. Where only some passengers were affected, the clock starts when you tell the operating carrier. So tell them in writing, keep the date, and the automatic duty becomes a dated one.
The airline offered a voucher for the fee. Do I have to take it?
No. Section 260.10 requires the refund in the original form of payment unless you agree to a different form of equivalent value, and agreement means a choice you actually made. Say in writing that you are refusing the credit, and do not spend it while you are asking for money.
If the airline does not answer, chase it once with the follow-up letter and then use the DOT refund letter for anything owed on the fare itself. A bag fee on a bag that arrived very late is a separate refund, described in US passenger rights. If the card is still open and the airline has gone silent, the chargeback letter explains the scheme route and its limits, and escalating to the regulator is free either way.