When most people hear the term "non-refundable," they give up and count their losses. But one Reddit user didn't throw in the towel and turned to a rather unlikely source for help— OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
What happened next unveiled the astonishing power of artificial intelligence.
For one of his trips, the Reddit user had booked a hotel and an international flight through Expedia, but without cancellation insurance. When a personal medical situation -- Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) -- forced him to cancel his tour, both the hotel and the airline refused to help. The user had a doctor’s note, but that didn’t matter. Expedia confirmed that his booking was non-refundable, and the hotel denied any refund, even on compassionate grounds.
Taking to Reddit, he shared his experience of seeking help from the AI chatbot and expressed his surprise at the outcome.
“I booked a hotel and flight through Expedia,” he shared in a now-viral Reddit post. “The hotel had a no-cancellation policy. The airline had a no-cancellation policy as well. I asked — and they both absolutely said no.”
“I asked ChatGPT to act as my lawyer and advocate for me,” he said. He said he explained to the AI his medical condition corroborated in writing by a doctor.
ChatGPT took the information and wrote a professional letter based on Expedia’s policies, along with those of the hotel and airline.
The AI-generated letter worked, albeit partly. The hotel agreed to issue a refund but the airline remained firm, claiming that refunds were only granted in cases of death or terminal illness.
Not ready to give up, the man turned to ChatGPT once again. He fed the airline’s response into the chatbot and asked it to draft a second, stronger letter. This time, the AI focused on the impact of mental health and highlighted how denying a refund could be seen as discrimination.
"ChatGPT described reasons why and how my medical condition can really affect the flight and that they were being biased based on a mental illness,” he said.
Soon after receiving the revised letter, the airline reversed its decision and granted him the refund.
“Without ChatGPT, I would’ve had to hire a paralegal,” he wrote. “Don’t take no for an answer… ChatGPT-4.0 saved me $2,500 (Rs 2,10,000).”