Erome

Hey all,

So I've got about $700 on a flight that I had to cancel. The entire ticket was $780 something or other.

I know the most common and usual method of using this again is to book a new flight, give them that 6 digit reference and my 780 - change fee will be credited towards that flight. However if I am correct, if the new flight is $500, the excess is lost correct?

Another question, can this be used for anything else? Upgrade fare on an existing flight?

Is this recoup-able in cash if I buy a latitude ticket, then just refund it, or is there some barrier due to original form of payment stuff?

Thank you!

alc

Correct, the excess will be a lost. For applying the credit, you can also buy the new ticket (especially you have a promo code) online and then send in a refund request after you completed your trip.

I don't think you can. But you can try applying the credits for an existing flight, after they complete. I don't think this has the "Booked after the credits was issue" limitation - I am not 100% sure. You can also try to submit a refund and see what you get.

SparseFlyer

Can you really claim the refund after the fact? How do they charge you the change fee when rebooking your flight?

Considering AC doesn't hold accounts with credits, and only do ticket exchanges, rebooking into a latitude fare will likely keep the original amount as nonrefundable (if it wasn't), and the difference refundable (discussed and confirmed on FT too). IIRC, this is also why you forfeit the difference. You are exchanging tickets, and fare rules say you forfeit any balance on exchanges.

OP, if I was you, I'd shop online for what I want and call in to do tue exchange. Better than chasing things you may or may not be eligible for after the fact.

Oh, and if it's an economy ticket and you're exchanging to a J/O ticket, change fee is waived. Same if you go from O to J. Never had an issue having that applied (which is also in the fare rules).

canadiancow

No, you will not be able to get a refund.

alc

I have the same question as you do until I did one earlier this year. I was SE back in Jan/Feb and the trip was in Feb, hence I even send an email to customer relation asking exactly what I need to do and they respond with a more-less step-by-step instruction. And yes, they did take the change fee away. I didn't ask for a full explanation on the calculation as it was a OPM trip

My mistake on the Lat ticket comment. I misread OP is asking if OP orginal ticket was a Lat fare ticket. I had edited my org respond to remove that section.

SparseFlyer

That's very interesting. Because AFAIK, you can't use the value of a ticket to pay for change fees (eg, $500 ticket with $200 change fee exchanged for a $300 ticket at no cost).

Is there a website note saying you can do this?
​​​​​​

alc

The Change Fee is on the old / cancelled ticket. i.e. you are make a change from the old ticket for the new ticket that you had completed.

I learn you can applied toward another completed ticket actually a few years ago when I almost have the same situation. I never did cancel the ticket back then, but the situation came up last Dec when my trip got cancel the day before with no new confirm date. Hence, it had remained as a credit. When the new date got confirm, UA ticket was cheaper, hence, I purchase it via UA. For my credits, I just applied it toward another trip that was more expensive (base fare), so it was not even the same destination.

Here is the link to request the refund and select the 1st option:

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...-services.html

SparseFlyer

Sorry, I am not 100% sure I am understanding here.

What you are saying is that you can cancel an AC ticket, and then book any other AC ticket, and just email customer relations and request them to refund the credit card you used to book the new ticket for the value of the old ticket minus the change fee?

alc

I email them asking for what steps/procedure I need to follow and the respond was the link that I provide on my last respond, select the 1st option. In it, there is a comment box and you type out the detail. What I provided was the original ticket info (PNR, routing, flight numbers, ticket number -- just to be safe) and then the ticket info (same PNR, routing, flight numbers, ticket number) that I had completed/travelled already. They refund whatever amount that I am entitle to.

YYT82

Thank you very much for this explanation.

alc

I found the email respond that I rec'd, here it is:

Hope this help.

Erome

Thanks all, very interesting approaches!

Here's a twist to it.

The credit I have is $700 leftover from a personal use.

I have a flight coming up with work - the policy is to fly cheapest fare.

Anyone know if there is a way to purchase the fare (tango class tickets) - that amount shows up on my company credit card as $500 for example.
After this- call in, and apply my $700 credit to up the fare to latitude or Flex, without affecting how it shows up on my company credit card?

My company has this horribly inflexible concept for this, despite the fact that 0 sum loss to the company, if it doesn't match how the expense program is designed, we get in all sorts of .......

Thanks in advance!