Father Covered His Daughter’s Entire Scholarship Flight So He Refused To Hand Over The Airline’s Refund Check When The Trip Was Cancelled
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Nothing tests a family’s definition of fairness quite like a surprise refund landing in the wrong hands.
One dad paid $1,500 out of pocket so his teenage daughter could take a scholarship trip overseas, only for her return flight to get canceled, stranding her at LAX for 22 hours without support.
After months of back-and-forth with the airline, a full refund finally came through, and that’s when the real disagreement started.
He figured the money was simply his since he footed the bill originally. She figured differently, given everything she went through to earn it back.
Keep reading — Reddit had some strong opinions on this one.
AITA for not giving my daughter compensation for a flight I paid for
So I’m a dad. And my daughter, who is 16, got a scholarship to go to another country for a month over the summer.
It was a great scholarship, paid for all the housing, food, etc. However, the flight had to come out of pocket. I ended up paying for the whole thing, which was $1,500.
But unfortunately, the return home was a little bumpy.
Everything went smoothly, however, on the trip back is where her connecting flight got cancelled and she was stuck in LAX airport for about 22 hours. The whole situation was pretty bad, as she wasn’t given any of the accommodations she was supposed to. It was a mess.
So he worked hard to try to make things right for his daughter, only to run headfirst into a big misunderstanding over the finances.
Now, months later, after sending in lots of emails, the airline gave a full refund for the flight. I told my daughter I got the money back, and she reacted like she was getting all of it.
Which I explained to her that I paid for the flight, so I would be keeping the money they refunded.
She did argue back and forth with me for a while, but she eventually just gave it up.
So AITA?? Because right now I’m on the fence about whether I’m making the right choice.
Sounds like this father and daughter need to get back on the same page.
What did Reddit have to say?
This user takes the daughter’s side.
This commenter argues that if it was her inconvenience, it should be her who gets the refund.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a group trip that sours when additional guests are added without agreement.
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This redditor explains the daughter’s line of thinking.
He paid the bill, sure, but the daughter paid with 22 hours of sitting in an airport with nothing to eat and nowhere to go. Redditors argued that distinction matters more than the receipt does.
Refunds exist to compensate whoever actually got screwed over, and in this case that wasn’t him.
He never lost sleep in a terminal or went hungry waiting on a canceled connection.
He may have funded the trip, but his daughter earned the refund payout.
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