America West FlightFund (Discontinued Program) - options for unused ticket??

hello,

last month, i bought a $300 ticket on america west. i did not take the outbound flight. when i called the reservations line, they said i need to pay a $100 penalty (as expected) in order to have the $300 applied to a future flight. they also said that this amount can be transferable to either a parent, spouse, or child. furthermore, if my new flight is less than $300, i forfeit any residual. my questions:

1. any way to avoid paying the $100 fee?
2. anyone know of a way to issue the new ticket to someone other than those listed above?
3. any way to get any residual in the amount of a second voucher?
4. can i book 2+ tickets (whether both in my name, or in my name and a companion) with the original $300?
5. can i book on codeshares? i.e., hawaiian air, british air

i hope this isn't too much of a bombardment. whenever i call, someone always gives me a different answer.

thank you all for your help!
happy flying!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by cabrits:
hello,

last month, i bought a $300 ticket on america west. i did not take the outbound flight. when i called the reservations line, they said i need to pay a $100 penalty (as expected) in order to have the $300 applied to a future flight. they also said that this amount can be transferable to either a parent, spouse, or child. furthermore, if my new flight is less than $300, i forfeit any residual. my questions:

1. any way to avoid paying the $100 fee?
2. anyone know of a way to issue the new ticket to someone other than those listed above?
3. any way to get any residual in the amount of a second voucher?
4. can i book 2+ tickets (whether both in my name, or in my name and a companion) with the original $300?
5. can i book on codeshares? i.e., hawaiian air, british air

i hope this isn't too much of a bombardment. whenever i call, someone always gives me a different answer.

thank you all for your help!
happy flying!</font>

No on all counts. And America West is among the more flexible -- if you can believe that.

As for transferring the ticket to another family member, that is news to me. This is either new or, at best, a little known possibility with HP. Non-refundable tickets not being transferred are pretty much an industry standard now. I've never been successful having the amount applied to a ticket for anyone other than the person named on the original ticket.

I know the new ticket must be an HP ticket -- not good for code shares. I've tried this myself. And, unfortunately, the new ticket must be a single ticket and you forfeit any residual amount that isn't applied to a new one.

Don't forget you have one year from the date the original ticket was purchased in order to complete travel on a new ticket. It's not one year from your original flight dates.