Airline refuses to refund family of three-year-old diagnosed with cancer – saying it’s ‘not an exceptional circumstance’

A FAMILY have told of their fury after an airline refused to refund them when their three-year-old was diagnosed with cancer - saying it was not an "exceptional circumstance".

Oscar Long, from Bury, Greater Manchester, was diagnosed with leukaemia at the start of July - just two weeks before he was due to go to Florida with nine members of his family.

But when grandmother Susan Long asked American Airlines to postpone the holiday - producing hospital letters stating the tot couldn't fly for three years - the company refused.

After the airline said it was against their policy to refund the flights, the rest of the group reluctantly went away while Oscar remained in the UK with his parents, Ben and Leanne.

Leanne, 32, told the : “We are really angry and upset.

“Oscar keeps saying: 'we are going to Florida', he still thinks he’s going. He loves Mickey Mouse, he was really looking forward to seeing him and Donald Duck.”

Since the refusal, grandmother Susan has spent two months battling to get a refund - but was told on August 27 that a cancer diagnosis was not considered an 'exceptional circumstance'.

This week, the family finally received a partial refund of £748.60 of the £1,270 cost of the missed flights.

An American Airlines spokeswoman told the Manchester Evening News that the refund was processed in July - with the airline keeping £300 in cancellation fees.

However, where the additional £221 went remains a mystery.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for The Flights Guru, who booked the family's holiday, confirmed they are working with the airline to get a full refund - and have offered a £200 voucher as a goodwill gesture.

Grandmother Susan explained: “First I asked for them to hold the flight but they said they could only hold for a year.

“When I asked for a refund they told me they only offered them to the next of kin if someone died and that leukaemia wasn’t an exceptional circumstance.

“I went absolutely ballistic, we then got passed from The Flights Guru, who we had booked with, to American Airlines and they just kept blaming each other.”

The family said fighting the companies has caused added stress at an extremely difficult time -  as brave Oscar stays in hospital for four days every fortnight to undergo gruelling chemotherapy.

Meanwhile, they added their holiday of a lifetime was left tainted by the devastating news - and they didn't even want to go.

His aunt, Kimberley Wallwork, said: “The day we were travelling Oscar was having a round of chemotherapy.

“We booked it as a whole family and we wanted to travel with the whole family, we didn’t want to go.”

Jason Smith, head of operations for Flights Guru said: “We feel that there should be a 100 per cent refund so we have tried chasing AA for a full refund but it’s not in their policy to do so, I’m still trying to get a full refund for three passengers.”

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