canadiancow

Standard is not Basic. Standard can be cancelled/changed.

That's not how it works. You "cancel" it, and then you can rebook flights up to a year in the future, at which point, you receive the value of the old ticket, minus the change fee.

You definitely don't want to just no-show the flight. You want to cancel it so you can reuse the value. However, there are things that can happen that will let you get a full refund before then.

fin 645

No, they are quite different.

Economy basic is "No flight changes, no cancellations" and "No refund after 24 hours, no credit for future travel".

Economy standard is one step up from economy basic. Standard is "Change or cancel your flight for a fee" and "No refund after 24 hours, get a credit for future travel".

My SO and I have one of each coming up on same flights and when I phoned to have PNRs linked, agent was very concerned and said she would never recommend a basic fare. I did it because there was only one basic fare left.

FlyerTalker70

Correct, Basic Economy is referred to as Economy Basic, whereas normal economy will be called something else like Economy Standard, Comfort, etc. Whether you'll get any value from cancelling/changing the ticket really depends on what the changes fees are, which amongst other things is determined by things like routing. You'll need to dig in to the ticket to really see whether it makes sense to follow up on this, sometimes it will, other times you won't gain anything with a cancel. All that being said, at the end of the day, if you get a travel advisory or a schedule change to the ticket, that ticket generally becomes refundable (even if it's Basic Economy).

Of course she wouldn't she works for the airline! I wonder if she would recommend Signature Service over a Standard fare

In all seriousness, for all the warning labels and tactics the airlines have done to make Basic Economy unattractive, it's not that bad.

Safe Travels,

James

Santander

It's "not that bad" if you know you will not need to make changes to the flight or are booking fares so cheap that it's no big deal to throw them away. Even for leisure travel, the number of times where I have that level of certainty are virtually non-existent, unless it's literally the night before the flight, at which point there's usually only M+ fares available. Maybe okay on Rapidair-type routes if you book an evening flight and give yourself flexibility to standby for an earlier flight. (I think you can standby for an earlier Rapidair flight on a Basic fare, but I haven't tried it)

rickg523

The warning labels and tactics to make BE seem unattractive as well as the very real service limitations are simply ways "not to punish the poor, but to scare the rich" into paying for a higher class of travel.

tcook052

For the posters wanting to debate the larger pros and cons of Basic Economy, please do so in this thread on that topic but as this thread is about OP cancelling this ticket please try to focus the discussion to that matter.

tcook052
Ac forum mod.

trooper

You book these restricted tickets with your eyes wide open..but then suggest you want to "spite" the airline for the fact those tickets cannot be refunded.... even though you KNEW that "full well" going in.....

Seriously?

FlyerTalker70

Agree with you here. What part of non-refundable doesn't the OP understand? No airline these days is going to offer you a refundable fare for the lowest priced ticket unless you're booking at the last minute and all that's available are Y and J fares! Whenever you buy a discount ticket like this you always have to go in assuming you won't change/cancel your flight (even on Economy Standard). If you travel enough times and book when you're 100% certain at the time, chances are you'll be ahead of most other travellers who either book too late or make speculative bookings that don't pan out.

With that being said, OP maybe should have looked into more flexible travel products for their needs. For instance, a flight pass would have allowed OP to defer his booking decision for weeks perhaps even hours before departure. In my previous life, one of my responsibilities was travel manager for my organization and used that benefit countless times. In one instance, I booked an employee's flight back to YYZ (from SFO) 2 hours before the flight was scheduled to book online. Sometimes, the flight pass can also be the cheapest option for booking flights as well. For instance, last year AC had a flight pass that allowed you to book 4 one-ways across Canada/US Northeast for $587.60 CAD all-in. These tickets could only be booked for travel from Friday to Sunday and you had to book at least 2 weeks in advance (still better lead time than had I booked through an OTA). I ended up using it on the following flights: 2 x YXU > EWR, YXU > YSJ, YSJ > EWR. I challenge anyone to find a fare with any airline where those one-way tickets are less than $587 CAD! Aeroplan, would be the other travel product to use, and depending on route may even provide you with last minute booking options as well. In addition, the cancellation fees on Aeroplan tickets aren't too bad.

I myself make use of multiple travel products, in addition to the non-refundable Basic Economy ticket I purchase to build in the flexibility I need. Perhaps OP can use this as a learning lesson to think beyond the fare presented to them.

Safe Travels,

James

Sopwith

Just keep in mind that the year starts when you bought the ticket, as I mentioned above. (I got burned that way on an AE ticket once.)

Sopwith

canadiancow

The former... you're adding useful information to a comment I made. I thought it was worthy of a like.

Sopwith