LCY8737

Hi all... I've had a recent refund for a ticket that was changed prior to cancellation. So the total ticket cost was the initial ticket cost + change fee + fare difference. BA subsequently cancelled the flight and I asked for a refund. The refund turned out to be the initial ticket cost + fare difference, BA are refusing to refund the change fee.

Given that BA cancelled the flight I feel they should also refund the change fee, but before I start kicking up a fuss I thought I'd check with the wisdom of FT. Am I right, or is there a sub clause in the fine print that says change fees are not refundable?

KARFA

That is correct. The change fee from a previous voluntary change is not refunded.

LCY8737

Thanks KARFA! Feels wrong, but given your experience I'm not going to waste my breath arguing with BA...

KARFA

I can appreciate why you may think it should be refunded. It has been asked a few times over the last few weeks and I was trying to find a post to link to just for reference but I gave up after a minute! Anyway unfortunately it is correct.

jerry a. laska

A couple of other posts (there are more):
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32291670-post1604.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32291671-post1605.html

corporate-wage-slave

Indeed there are others, here is me spinning this dial:
BA May schedule - when do you think changes will be announced?

and further dialogue from there. In essence you pay a Change Fee to alter a booking today to something else, it is spent at that point and if subsequent changes happen you cannot have refund otherwise those who bought flexible tickets would have no incentive so to do.

mikeyfly

The makes sense especially on reward tickets; you could change several times for £35 a pop, but you’ll only get the original amount back if the flight is cancelled

NickB

I am not sure how this follows in relation to a flight later cancelled by the airline. The fee you pay is to be put on a flight that actually operates. If BA later cancels that flight, then there is something to be said for them refunding all that you paid to be on this flight, viz. the original price + the change fee that you had to pay to book this flight. Article 8 of Reg 261/2004 speaks of the "full cost of the ticket at the price at which it was bought" and the change fee is arguably part of the cost involved in buying the ticket. Correct me if I am wrong but I do not believe that the issue has been tested before the ECJ and it may well be that the Court's understanding of "full cost" in such a context may well include a refund of the change fee.

corporate-wage-slave

I am not aware of a CJEU case either, and you may well be right that they would take the change fee as part of the ticket cost and thus owed to the customer on cancellation. But equally I can see a logic which says the change fee was for a service, which was provided in full at the point of the change and fully discharged when the ticket was re-issued, given the original booking wasn't fully flexible and costed accordingly. You won't get BA budging on this, and I can't see CEDR being flexible either, in the absence of a clear CJEU ruling. MCOL? Who knows. So unless the OP is minded to go to Strasbourg on this, I doubt this will go very much further.

LCY8737

I'm afraid that I will not be the one to be referenced in legal precedent for generations to come.

£100 written off. I shall engage in revenge drinking and have an extra bottle of something very expensive next time I pass through the CCR. Assuming things will ever go back to normal.

Often1

It makes sense. The change fee was not part of the "full cost of the ticket." Rather, it was a fee which was paid for a service which was fully rendered. The full cost of the ticket would seem to include the base ticket plus any ancillary fees such as for seat assignments and the like.

NickB

Well, notwithstanding the boundless creativity of some legal minds, I think that it would take a lot to turn this into a question of egregious violation of fundamental human rights so let us keep it a few miles short of SXB and stop in LUX instead .
Wise decision,imo.

nufnuf77

Notwhitstanding the service wasnt provided as the flight that she changed to got cancelled. had she known it would be cancelled the OP would not have made this change

Geordie405

The service was provided. The fact that the flight was subsequently cancelled is a totally separate issue. The change fee was levied as a charge for changing the ticket. It seems from the OP's original post that a fare difference was also collected. I am sure the OP wouldn't have made the change had she known that her flight would be cancelled, but the benefit of hindsight probably wasn't available at the time she was contemplating the change

golfmad

I disagree with you on that one. Suppose you paid a shipping charge for a 5 day delivery and then a day later paid extra for expedited delivery in 24 hours. Then the delivery is canceled. Would you expect a refund for the original shipping charge or the original charge plus the extra you paid for expedited delivery?