InTheAirGuy

But that's not really clear with the T&C of the Latitude fare I was presented with, is it?

canadiancow

You bought a round trip Latitude fare.

You can cancel the round trip, no problem.

If you want to change to a one way, you must pay the fare difference. There shouldn't be a change fee because it's Latitude.

eigenvector

Perhaps not in the verbiage presented on the booking page which seems to price it out on a one-way basis, but if, as you're saying, a one-way is more expensive than the entire round-trip, it's definitely pricing a fare component that can only be used on a round-trip. That would be in the detailed fare rules which you accept on the booking page, even though they are very difficult for the average person to read and understand. I'm not trying to justify it, just to explain it.

Sopwith

This thread reminds me of the old joke:

If Airlines Sold Paint

by David Tait

Customer: Hi. How much is your paint?

Clerk: Well sir, that depends on a lot of things.

Customer: Can’t you give me an approximate price?

Clerk: Our lowest price is our introductory special at $12 a gallon. After that we have dozens of different prices up to $199.

Customer: What's the difference in the quality of the paint?

Clerk: Oh, there’s no difference. It's all exactly the same stuff.

Customer: Well, in that case I'll take your $12 paint.

Clerk: Well actually the $12 variety is only available on our website. If you want to buy it here at the store you’ll be charged an additional $20 Customer Convenience Fee

Customer: So if I go home and get it off the website, its only $12?

Clerk: That’s correct sir - plus a Credit Card Usage Fee of $6 and then there’s standard Shipping and Handling of $15.

Customer: What? So in other words buying online would cost me almost exactly the same as what I’d have to pay here in the store?

Clerk: I suppose so, but if you buy it here you get to use it immediately. Online purchases take ten business days to get to you - unless you pay the optional $25 Express My Paint Fee.

Customer: You've got to be kidding me!

Clerk: Well no sir, but it’s academic anyway as right now the $12 paint is completely sold out in both places.

Customer: That’s BS. I’m looking at shelves full of the stuff!

Clerk: Ah, but that doesn't mean it’s available for sale. We sell only a certain number of introductory priced cans on any given day. Oops, look at that! It just became available again - at $17.50.

Customer: C’mon! You mean to say it went up while I’m standing here?!

Clerk: ‘Fraid so. Inventory control changes our prices all the time. I strongly recommend you purchase your paint as soon as possible as it could go up again. How many gallons do you want?

Customer: Well, maybe three gallons. No, make that four, I don’t want to run out. I assume I can return anything I don’t open?

Clerk: Certainly sir. The $12 paint is non-refundable, but if you return it within 48 hours you will be entitled to a $5 credit towards the future purchase of another gallon of the same color at the same or higher price.

Customer: That’s crazy. In that case I’ll just give any unopened cans to my brother as he’s planning to repaint his home soon.

Clerk: Sorry sir, no-can-do! Our terms and CANditions – that’s a little in-house joke – prohibit paint transfer. It is strictly for the use of the original purchaser.

Customer: But wait a minute, I hadn’t spotted those "Paint Sale - $9.99* a Can" signs over there? That sounds like a much better deal.

Clerk: Ah yes, that's from our low cost paint division. The asterisk denotes that the cans are actually half-gallons and the price is based on a minimum purchase of two. There is also an additional Environmental Fee of $5 per can, a non-refundable Can Deposit of $3.50, a Paint Facility Charge of $5 and if you want more than one color, the second has a $25 surcharge and the third is $50 extra.

Customer: This is utterly ridiculous. To hell with this! I'll buy what I need somewhere else!

Clerk: Well sir, you may be able to buy paint for some rooms from another store, but you won't be able to find paint for your connecting hall and stairway anywhere but here. And I should also point out that if you want Uni-Directional paint it is priced at $249 a gallon.

Customer: I thought your most expensive paint was $199!

Clerk: That's only if you paint non-stop all the way around the room and back to the point at which you started. Stairways and hallways are considered one-way exceptions to the rule.

Customer: So, if I buy the $199 paint and use it in my hallway what are you going to do about it - send some goons in to paint over it?

Clerk: Wow, I believe you're getting it now sir. But no, please, that would be plain silly. We'll simply charge you a Direction Adjustment Fee plus the difference to $249 on your next purchase.

Customer: Next purchase? No way! I’m out ‘a here

Clerk: At Skyhigh Paints we never forget you have a choice, so thanks for shopping with us. Have a nice day!

24left

AWESOME! Thanks for this Sopwith

Stranger

All of the above is true for overseas tickets.

But normally NA ones are sold as the sum of two one way fares. So there should not be a real fare difference. GST yes.

Or has that changed back again recently?

uni3052

I just booked a trip to SJU through Amex Plat travel desk (to take advantage of the travel credit I have). I told the agent to select Latitude fare, as there are some changes I need to cancel the booking. The agent booked the flights in fare B and just before making the payment she mentioned the conditions of the ticket To my (and hers to) surprise, the Latitude fare is not refundable. I went ahead and booked and now if I look at my booking in the AC website, I see this:

I thought that Latitude fare allows you be reimbursed, see:

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...to-the-us.html

however the text in my reservation says tickets are non-refundable? Any ideas why the discrepancy?

YYT82

Certain B fares are indeed non-refundable. Can you please share your origin and fare basis code?

uni3052

It will be YUL-SJU round trip. Ticket booked in B fare.

Stranger

If the web site says that Latitude is refundable, then it got to be... In other words, when there is a discrepancy between two pieces of information from AC, I can always argue that the one most favorable to me ought to win. There was a time when they had relatively cheap fares FRA-Canada in booking codes that would eventually become latitude and were supposed not to be refundable, but some places they were still mentioned as refundable. I always got them to reimpbusrse when needed, "as an exception especially for you."

24left

No, @YYT82 means the Fare Basis code like this. It should be on your confirmation, or you need to get it from Amex.

Eg. here BOYLT

uni3052

I don't have the basis code. I will call Amex to verify, but I did call Air Canada to request the upgrade (I was unable to do it on the website) and it was cleared right away. I also asked the agent about the Latitude fare and she told me that Latitude tickets are fully refundable. Which matches what the website says in the link above. She thinks that probably there's an error in the website. She tried to look it up herself, but now the information is temporarily unavailable

To make things more confusing, the message in the reservation is not clear:
Even if a ticket is non-refundable, it seems you may ask for a refund assessment.

yyznomad

Punch in the eTicket number into the saudia website and you'll get the fare basis.

D582

Can you elaborate on what this travel credit is? Is it from a previously cancelled ticket that was non-refundable?

ecc

Amex platinum (for consumers) comes with a yearly travel credit (iirc it's C$200) if you book viar their TA.
This isn't a feature of the small business amex platinum, which I have (and is accounted for in the fee, C$699 vs C$499 respectively).
I assume this is what OP means