Travel Troubleshooter: I lost 74,000 Chase points trying to book a flight

Q: I recently tried to use my Chase points to book an airline ticket on Aeromexico. After seeing and confirming the availability of an award flight on its partner airline, Virgin Atlantic, I made two transfers of 37,000 Chase points to Virgin Atlantic to book the flight.

When I went to click “purchase,” I received an error message and could not complete the booking.

I called Virgin, which said Aeromexico had not released the flight to them, and there was no button they could push to book the flight, despite it being advertised in multiple locations, including their website.

I tried to get the points refunded, but Chase now says it can’t return the points to my account. Can you help me?

A: Chase is right — and wrong. Yes, the points only go one way. But there are times when rules like that shouldn’t apply.

For the uninitiated, here’s how these transfers work: You earn points by making purchases on your credit card. Then you transfer those points to the airline loyalty program. And as I’ve already mentioned a few times, once you push the button on those transfers, there’s no going back.

Chase points transfers are almost always irreversible, but the actual rules are a little confusing. You have to refer to the Chase terms and conditions and also to your airline and partner airline to figure out your rights. As I reviewed the correspondence between you, Chase and Virgin Atlantic, it appears both had policies that made the points only go one way, and it looks like both your credit card company and airline were sticking to their terms.

It’s really difficult to read your interactions with Chase and Virgin Atlantic. You calmly explained that there was an error, most likely made by the third party, Aeromexico. But neither company would help you fix the problem — you had spent 74,000 Virgin Atlantic points but received nothing in return.

Really, it shouldn’t be this complicated. If a flight is listed as available on a website, then it should be available. If Chase or Virgin Atlantic want to create a highly complex rewards program involving multiple airlines — and if you want to participate in it — that’s fine. As long as it works as promised. But it did not work as promised for you.

My best advice for avoiding this kind of problem is to avoid using a complicated rewards program. Buy your ticket instead. Remember, the only real winners are the credit card companies and airlines.

An appeal to a higher level might have helped you get a faster resolution. I list the names, numbers and email addresses of the customer service executives at Chase and Virgin Atlantic on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org.

I contacted Chase on your behalf. It refunded your points.

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers. Contact him at chris@elliott.org or elliottadvocacy.org/help.