Cancelling flight
Apr 11, 2019, 6:37 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Orange County, California, USA
Programs: VS Life Time Gold, BA Gold, IHG Diamond Elite
Posts: 228
Cancelling flight
I have seats booked next month which I got on sale for $50 each. I am 75K and wife has not status.
We cannot now travel and need to cancel them. It looks like if I cancel my ticket without a fee but the wife's $50 ticket costs $125 to cancel!
Is there anyway of cancelling her ticket without paying anything, of course loosing the fare?
We cannot now travel and need to cancel them. It looks like if I cancel my ticket without a fee but the wife's $50 ticket costs $125 to cancel!
Is there anyway of cancelling her ticket without paying anything, of course loosing the fare?
Apr 11, 2019, 7:13 am
#2
Formerly known as stellertony
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: MEX
Programs: UA Gold, DL Gold, NEXUS, APEC
Posts: 1,146
If you go through the cancellation flow on the website, it will give you several options including ‘cancel the flight now and pay $125 change fee later if you want to use the credit within the next year’. That will cancel the reservation, and obviously you’re under no obligation to later pay $125 to get a $50 Alaska credit.
(The Twitter or phone teams should be able to do that easily as well if you run into any issues)
(The Twitter or phone teams should be able to do that easily as well if you run into any issues)
Apr 11, 2019, 7:58 am
#4
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Between SFO and STS
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold, United Serf, Delta Gold
Posts: 731
I have called AS in a similar situation while traveling with family members. I explained to them that I wanted to cancel my ticket and if they wanted to sell the seat, potentially for more money, they can cancel the other tickets for no charge. The CS agent extended the "one time courtesy" and cancelled for free.
Apr 11, 2019, 8:01 am
#5
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,420
Apr 11, 2019, 10:45 am
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,380
Apr 11, 2019, 10:56 am
#10
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
Unless AS agrees to either refund the value or to permit it to be rebooked without a fee, there is no reason to cancel. If the flight is involuntarily cancelled or substantially delayed, you are then due a full refund to your original form of payment. While this may not be important for $50, as a general matter, it's worth remembering .
Apr 11, 2019, 12:06 pm
#11
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: Alaska Airlines
Posts: 658
If you go through the cancellation flow on the website, it will give you several options including ‘cancel the flight now and pay $125 change fee later if you want to use the credit within the next year’. That will cancel the reservation, and obviously you’re under no obligation to later pay $125 to get a $50 Alaska credit.
Heck... if it were someone I knew I'd probably tell them to check-in out of spite just to hold the seat longer - they paid for it.
I realize that the change-fee is really just a punishment to stop speculative bookings & cancellations... but how hard would it be to officially toss your average non-elite customer one freebie a year? Still stops people from 'gaming' the system.
Apr 11, 2019, 12:19 pm
#12
Join Date: May 2013
Location: SEA
Programs: AS MVP Gold 100K
Posts: 2,029
I don't think this fee is there to keep people from making speculative bookings, I think its there simply as a source of ancillary revenue.
Apr 11, 2019, 4:00 pm
#13
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Orange County, California, USA
Programs: VS Life Time Gold, BA Gold, IHG Diamond Elite
Posts: 228
Alaska are fantastic!!! Just called, said we could not travel and would like to cancel. Thanks for being 75K let me sort this out for you. I now have 2 x $50 vouchers in my wallet 
Apr 11, 2019, 4:43 pm
#15
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263
Wouldn't pulling a no-show just be easier in this case? The only one who benefits from this is AS who gets to re-sell the seat and hold your $50 hostage for $125 fee.
Heck... if it were someone I knew I'd probably tell them to check-in out of spite just to hold the seat longer - they paid for it.
[...]
Heck... if it were someone I knew I'd probably tell them to check-in out of spite just to hold the seat longer - they paid for it.
[...]
James in Capetown