SAS EuroBonus - Adopting - Need advice on nonrefundable ticket

--Whine warning-- but curious if any advice out there from the pros!

We are adopting a little girl from Russia, and had a court date of Sept 28th. I purchased 2 SAS business class tickets through travelocity for 3k each and an infant ticket for $640. This was already a huge stretch on our budget, but I thought we could use the extra comfort as new parents on a long return trip to San Antonio Texas. I did purchase trip insurance through travelocity. (The insurance pretty much only covers medical)

Well, you probably can guess where this is going. They changed our court date to Oct 12th. I called SAS and the total cost for "changing" the dates was $2500/per ticket (fare change plus penalty). I really can't afford another 5k at this point... I would like to just use the credit and get a coach ticket at this point, but I read their rules and it says these type of tickets value can only be applied to a ticket of same or higher value plus $300 penalty.

I haven't really argued any with the airline or travelocity, because I figured I would wait till Monday so someone might be available with the pay scale to help. However, I was wondering if any more experienced travelers had any ideas about this situation...

Your thoughts would be appreciated!

You can always try to reason with SAS, but they are having a difficult time financially as it is.

Another alternative is that you find yourself the ditiest and worst little taco stand in town, and with an acute food poisoning the night before your trip, I doubt any doctor would send you on a 15 hour trip to Russia if you are not feeling well. (I am sure you read between the lines here) Full refund through your insurance and buy a new ticket a few days before departure.

If you have a habit of eating in slightly unsanitary establishments you might want to be careful about calling sas and pleading your case too much as someone might make some notes in your PNR

Aeroflot is having a lot of offers these days because of the financial crisis, and it is actually a rather good airline. They fly out of LAX and NYC.

PS, Remember you might need new Visa's as well

Have a good trip

Thanks for the input.
After spending over 2 hours on the phone with travelocity I got them changed for $1000, plus a $600 dollar refund for the infant ticket and free infant ticket reissue.. Don't ask me?? The airline industry is whacky!
I couldn't get them to get me out of the India call center. Very frustrating. So I started looking up their corporate sites (as if I were an investor). Found out that they are in Texas. I told "Bob" that if we didn't get this resolved to my satisfaction I was driving to their office in Southlake. Suddenly "Bob" was able to help me.....

Welcome to FT.

Good for you. Even if a 1000 USD still is a lot of money. Do hang around as this is a great forum and you´ll get to learn a lot. Do you already collect miles? Situations like yours are what miles are for. If you need flexibility, then award tickets are your best choice usually. Otherwise awards are not often worth the miles.

Welcome to FT!

I can understand your frustration, in my opinion airlines don’t do enough to win our hearts back, this article gives some good reflections:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/traveltips/09/23/travel.industry.tactics/index.html

Good luck with your new family member and have a safe trip!

Good to hear. Enjoy your trip to Russia, I always like going there:)