absoluy

Hi,

This is probably an extremely stupid question, but I have a non-refundable ticket in L/Q class for DUB-CDG-JFK that I'm not able to use on the dates that it's booked for - the ticket has the restrictions of "No change, no refund" so I suppose the answer is fairly obvious - is there any chance at all of being able to change the dates of the flights? I'm willing to pay any charges, but I really would prefer not to have to rebook a new ticket. And yes, I now realise I should have bought a refundable ticket (hindsight is great!).

I tried calling Air France, but it seems they don't open on Sundays. Any advice is appreciated!

brunos

AF tends to enforce their no-refund/no-change rules very strictly. The only excuse is death/medical illness of the pax or a close family member; and then the burden of proof lies on the pax.

absoluy

Thanks for the reply.

I thought that would be the case, even thought it probably makes more sense for them to let me pay them a few hundred euros more for the cheaper ticket on the flights I want to be on and sell my seat on the original flight rather than have me go with the cheapest airline for my new dates.

There's no real extenuating circumstances other than my work commitments have changed, so I guess there's no point worrying about it now if they're going to be strict about it!

Counsellor

Unless there's some extreme urgency and you must have the answer today, try calling tomorrow when Air France is open for business.

Sometimes the "nonrefundable/nonchangeable" restriction isn't as absolute as it may seem -- in some cases you can pay a fee of EUR 50 or so if you're only changing dates but not itinerary. It's worth checking.

absoluy

I'll definitely give them a call tomorrow - I've tried a few times over the past week but they've always been closed or I've been on hold without talking to an agent for ages. There's no extreme emergency, I'm just trying to get everything sorted out as soon as I can so that I can make bookings for hotels/domestic flights.

Thanks again for both of your responses!

albireo

You should be able to be reimbursed of the "taxes", which include mostly the fuel surcharge and on your itinerary amount to ~245 euros. I have done this many times with AF even on the lowest fare tickets, however beware of a recent thread here that mentionned that KLM now refuses to reimburse taxes. Maybe AF will follow suit.

dctorres

No, Air France is still doing this. I had to cancel a ticket and they offered me this option. You have to fax the request with your itinerary to Air France. The number in the US is +1 (954) 835-1307.

brunos

Is that a recent experience? I understand that most airlines have now moved to imposing a fee for refund of taxes that basically offsets any payments. Also note that they fuel surchage is probably not reimbursed. Someone told me that AF apllied the same policy since mid-2007, but I have no reliable source.

dctorres

Yes, about a week ago!

ilianik

I have managed to change the dates for the translantic L class on AF a couple of times; if i remember correctly, the fee is 200 euros right now. my status might have something to do with that - I tried changing a cheap ticket a couple years back when had no status and got the 'it's not possible, sir' response

absoluy

I just got off the phone with AF, they told me that it's not possible to change any aspect of the ticket, but that I could cancel the flight and be refunded the taxes - which come to just over €250 as albireo suggested. I can buy flights for the dates I want for about €50 less than I originall paid, so it comes out to be a €200 loss overall. I can work around the dates I have already booked (with much inconvenience) so I'm not sure if it's worth the €200 and the possibility of having to change them again if the situation changes. I'm just regretting not going with Delta in the begining now!

nomad1974

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I just wanted to know if this is still the case re AF refunds. Does this mean that the current deals (e.g. CDG-LHR-CDG for approx. €99 out of which only €8 is labelled as "fare") would basically be almost refundable?!

orbitmic

I just saw that old thread and am sorry i didn't before. I would have suggested that you could have probably upgraded the ticket to a more expensive (changeable) class (e.g. from L to V or T for instance), which might have then been changed. A bit cubbersome but not unheard of...

JOUY31

I have just cancelled this morning a ticket from CDG to NCE and back to ORY scheduled over the next week-end. The E fare (non-refundable, non modifiable - including non-upgradeable), booked on the AF web site was EUR 183. I called the Elite reservation line to cancel the ticket. The pleasant AF staff spontaneously checked whether I could upgrade the fare and postpone the flight, and then volunteered that I should be refunded the taxes, for something like EUR 89. I received an e-mail half an hour later stating that the amount would be recredited to my CC account, within a timeframe that varies according to each bank and type of CC account. Nicely and pleasantly done by the AF staff. Seamless and effortless from my perspective.^