Beware: Credit card fee is allegedly "non-refundable" even within 24 hours

TLDR: Flair claims their bogus credit card fee is non-refundable even if you cancel within 24 hours. If you try to get their support to give you the full refund you deserve by law, they ghost you. In my case I ultimately filed a chargeback and Chase reimbursed me without fuss.

I hurriedly booked a flight several months out on Flair Airlines, since I needed to travel on specific dates and they had the best price even after the nickel and diming for bags. When I had originally booked the flight I was surprised by the credit card fee tacked on at the last minute, but figured it was just a bit extra so begrudgingly went ahead.

I then realized after reading a few online reviews what a grave mistake I had made. Fortunately I changed my mind quickly, and it was a US-to-CA flight, so covered by the 24 hour cancellation policy, no worries right?

First the cancellation couldn't be processed online because the website system was "unavailable". I sent an email ticket just to make sure my intent to cancel within 24 hours had been documented. Tried again a few hours later and the cancellation went through. The cancellation system tries to get you to just take a flight credit, but fortunately I saw the "request refund" button and hit that. (I think this violates US DOT regulations, a cash refund is supposed to be the default option, not an opt-in.) The cost summary on the cancellation confirmation page was confusing, with several lines for mis-matching credit amounts, but when I reached out to them on chat support (and waited over an hour to talk to someone) they confirmed that I would get the refund on my credit card within a few days.

When the refund actually posted on my credit card, it was not the full amount. I calculated the difference and realized it was the same amount as the credit card fee that had been added on at the last minute. I talked to two different chat reps and had two email support threads trying to get them to issue the full refund. The email threads all got ghosted once I brought up the fact that US regulations require a full refund within 24 hours. One ever so slightly more helpful chat rep agreed to escalate the issue to a manager and promised that a manager would call me back within 24 hours, but I never got a call. They also gave me a link to a special form to fill out to claim the refund, which I did and also never got a response on.

Ultimately after waiting over a week without hearing any response from them, I did a chargeback with my credit card issuer (Chase) for the difference between what I paid and what they refunded, which was quickly approved (YMMV).

The disputed amount was small (only about $6), but I took the time to get the refund I was owed because of the principle of the matter. Most people might just give up over $6, but that adds up over thousands of cancellations. US DOT regulations clearly stipulate that if a carrier does not offer free price holds, they must offer a full refund if the flight is cancelled within 24 hours. Flair claims their credit card fee is exempt from this, but any other fees like checked bags, seat selection, etc. that are part of a reservation must be refunded, so why should this be any different?

At any rate, you can save yourself all this hassle by just never booking with Flair airlines in the first place, which is what I intend to do going forward!