Where is my refund?

I sent this email to Justfly - 5 email address I found online - 4/5 were returned as undeliverable…

I am writing for two reasons. First, inform you of the traumatic experience I was put through by booking with Justfly.com and secondly, to handle my refund.

I initially booked a multi city flight with Justfly from PDX to LHR to CPT in February 2020, to travel in May 2020 My mom (in South Africa) had passed away at the end of 2018 and her estate had been finalized so I needed to physically go to sort through her possessions. This trip was abruptly cancelled due to Covid and I was offered a future travel credit. I would’ve preferred a refund at that time due to the uncer*****y the pandemic had raised but I accepted as I knew I ultimately needed to go back to South Africa to go through my mothers belongings. Fast forward to September 2021 when, finally, the world seems somewhat more stable and borders are reopening for travel. I rebooked my flight for 8 April 2022. The booking process went smoothly and I made all the travel arrangements, car hire, accommodation, unpaid time off work, transit visa through the UK and, as I’m sure you know, many other details which allow this trip to happen. I packed my bags, said goodbye to my family and headed to the airport with 2 x 50lb bags, 2 x 20lb bags and my 4 year old son. I was very excited at this point as this trip came with family and friend reunions which were long overdue. My first flight was with British Airways, operated by American Airlines, when I get to the check in counter I am told they cannot find my ticket. I urgently search for my emails from justfly, show them confirmation, they inform me that they only have tickets issued for my connecting flight from Dallas to LHR. I then attempt to call Justfly to clarify what is going on, fast forward 2.5hrs, I finally get through to a customer service representative who proceeds to tell me there is nothing they can do as it is past check in and my whole trip is cancelled. The service rep searches flights and “books” me on the same flight for the following day. Due to transport complications and the fact that American Airlines does not show a ticket for the next day I proceed to spend 5 hours in the check in area of PDX checking with American Airlines every hour to see if my tickets have been issued. Eventually their counter closes for the evening and their service rep takes my phone number to update me later in the evening should my tickets come through. I eventually get home, in a state, with a tired, hungry 4 year old and stay up all night checking on my booking. At 2:48am I receive an email from Justfly saying my booking requested urgent attention, I immediately get on my phone calling the number on the email. I eventually get through 1h20mins later and am told the airline is requesting a penalty for flight change of $275. I merged the call with a call to British Airways and it was confirmed that these fees have been waived since February 2020 and nothing is owed. I am told that the tickets will be issued in the next 1-2hrs, it is now almost 6am. I wait until 9:30am before trying to call Justfly again as my tickets are still not issued at this point. I wait on hold for a further 48m before getting an answer, I am told that the gentleman that morning had not prioritized my ticketing and that he would take care of it. I once again waited. The flight out of PDX was at this point delayed and only departing at 3pm. I called again at 11am and was basically put on and off hold for 3h30mins before I was told that British Airways had cancelled my flight ( OF COURSE THEY DID, MY TICKET HADNT BEEN ISSUED IE NOT PAID FOR BY JUSTFLY, AND THE CHECK IN FOR THAT FLIGHT HAD CLOSED).

I asked the customer service to rebook me and they found a flight for the following day, now 10 April, 2 days later than my original departure, for what the service rep informed me was a small additional fee of $7000!!! This is 3 times the amount of my original ticket and I should not be liable for a cent since my flight was not booked in the first place, I was not late to the airport, I did not miss a flight, I did not cancel or change my booking, I am not liable for any of the errors that took place. I obviously cannot afford this either and requested that I receive a full refund so that I can, on my own, book a new flight directly with the carrier at a later date. I was informed that I could only be offered a future travel credit, well, we all know how that turned out last time. At this point I did not know what to do as I cannot just lose my $2800 and I am not going to rebook for an additional $7k so I apparently have a future travel credit in process.

So, that said, I now demand a full refund. At this point I feel that I am also due compensation for loss and damages due to this entire experience but I will accept my full refund. Following legal advice, If I do not receive a response within 7days I will make a formal complaint with the DoT and if I do not receive a FULL REFUND within 14 days of this letter I will be taking further action with my attorney.

I have attached screenshots of my flights, confirmation and phone calls. I am happy to share the audio recordings of my phone calls with your service centre as well if necessary.