djibouti

I'm looking at some of this business fares west coast to Europe. I found one SJC-AMS that is labeled as "Refundable" so I follow it through to the payment page. In the T&C I read:

So it's "refundable" for $300? That seems rather misleading. I guess what they mean is they actually refund the remainder to your form of payment rather than a voucher? Strangely I wasn't able to find similar threads on this although I bet it's been discussed before...

Doc Savage

Glad you read the fine print....

djibouti

Am I being unreasonable in my assumption that "refundable" should mean freely refundable?

Dave Noble

No ; fully refundable would imply that there is no cancellation penalty

Indeed , it means that after the cancellation penalty is applied , the remaining amount is refunded to the original form of payment

Not all non-refundable fares provide vouchers; in many markets , non refundable means that if the booking is cancelled, the entire anmount is forfeit

PHL

It's kind of like when you buy products/goods from a store (online or in person) and they will refund your money if you change your mind, but not before deducting a 15% restocking fee.

andover

Yep, really costs a lot for putting that seat back into the "bucket."
How much is a nano second in 'puter time?

MSPeconomist

Increasingly airlines are using language in a way that refundable tends to mean refundable for some fee, as distinct from fully refundable. IIRC this was not always how the word refundable was generally used in the context of airline tickets in the past.

satman40

Airline are getting tired if passengers abusing the system.

Same thing happens in retail with returns,

I have seen hunters buying guns, only to return them after the season.

Women do this with clothes and purses.

We live in a gifted society, no one wants to pay the price, but they like to play the game.

Lot of people do not want to put their money where their mouth is.

Often1

This started with the European carriers and then xEurope. Now, it's pretty common to have:

1. Fully refundable to original form of payment at anytime.
2. #1 but with time of cancellation restrictions.
3. #1 but with fee.
4. Non-refundable, but credit + fee (typical discounted fare in the USA)
5. Non-refundable (DL's E fares)

irishguy28

Within each cabin, there are various fares on offer, each with different degrees of flexibility and with different restrictions.

If you want a fully-refundable fare (and, as you have seen, not all refundable fares are fully refundable), then you should buy a ticket with fewer restrictions. This, however, will cost more than the ticket you are currently considering - perhaps even more than $300 more!

justhere

That's got absolutely nothing to do with why there is a $300 fee.

Superguy

Different fares with different rules.

When I used to fly UA, they made the distinction between flexible and refundable tickets. Both were refundable, but the flexible tickets had a change/cancellation fee in the event of changes or refunds initiated by the traveler. This usually ran about $400-500, but they were also priced in between a nonrefundable fare and a fully refundable fare. I bought a lot of these for international as my company would only pay for a Y/B fare, and I upfared out of my own pocket into them so I could fly business instead. I just assumed the risk for the fees in the event of a cancellation or change.

US's website isn't as straightforward as UA's on this, so it's good you read the fare rules. If you want a fully refundable fare and the website won't give you one, you may have to call in and ask for one. I'd expect the price to be a bit higher though.

dsquared37

Ah, beacuse the airlines are operating above the line and in society's best interest?


The goods were used.....



If the goods were used then it shouldn't occur.....

How is cancelling a seat prior to departure (on a refundable ticket) equitable with your above examples? Let me give you a hint.... there's no relation.

dml105

Because that seat wasn't available to sell to another passenger until it was cancelled.

The extreme example shows the principle: I buy a ticket on 10/20/2014 to fly on 6/1/2015. On 5/30/2015, I cancel the ticket. During the 7 months I held the ticket, the airline couldn't sell that seat (or at least bore extra risk of overbooking), and now there is very little time (1 day) to find someone to replace me on that flight.

Often1

This is a for-profit company. Equity has nothing to do with it. OP chose to purchase a discounted ticket which carries a change fee. He could have purchased a more expensive ticket which carried no such fee and is fully refundable. But, he did not.

DL legitmately protects its more expensive brand. Why would I pay $X for a fully refundable ticket if I could get the same thing for less?

The loss for DL is inventory spoilage. The increased risk that by tying up the seat, DL won't be able to sell it when it comes up empty or that DL has to sell it cheap.