I don't know if the fact it was bought via a travel agent changes things either. I bought a ticket via a web site travel agent who told me up front that the ticket carried a $250 cancellation fee. When I looked up the ticket on the Northwest site it stated non-refundable. When I wanted to cancel the ticket I had to go through the travel agent to get a refund as Northwest (delta -- this was in Dec.) was telling me the ticket was non-refundable.