Refundable ticket and refund
 

I have purchased a refundable ticket on continental.com. If I decide I wanted to cancel it and receive a full refund, would clicking on Cancel do the trick? There's no refund link at the top of the page (it doesn't show up anymore). Or, would I have to cancel it online and then call the elite desk to issue me the refund? I read a lot of horror stories in the forum and wanted to know the fastest way of getting the refund.
Thank you.

Yes - press Cancel. Did this the other day and it worked like a charm. They indicated my payment would be credited back to the original form of payment.

Editing - I assumed you meant w/in the 24 hour period which is what I did. I would *assume* you could cancel the refundable ticket at any time....

No, actually, right now I am past the 24 hour period. I would think for the refundable ticket, cancelling after the 24 hour period should not matter. I was just wondering if anyone has done this recently; buy a refundable ticket online, cancel after let's say 10 days, and get the refund back to the original payment method.

Ah well then that is a good question. I am obviously no help then but I am sure one of the knowedgeable folks around here will be able to chime in.

If you cancel a fully refundable ticket after the 24 hour from purchase mark you should still see a refund to the method of purchase (if a credit card) within a day or so. I've only done this with an agent on the phone, not via the web site.

Yes, clicking on Cancel will cancel the flight. If the fare is refundable, CO.com will now ask you if you want to retain the funds for a future flight or refund the amount to your original method of payment.

This is actually a new feature. Used to be it would just refund the money but more recently the option to retain the funds for a future flight was implemented. Now if only CO.O.L will keep track of funds from canceled non-refundable itineraries.....still waiting for this feature CO Insider :).

Alright. Since noone has recent experience with that, I will report back with my experience. I will be most likely cancelling the ticket on Monday. Hopefully, everything works out smoothly and I will get the refund automatically. I will keep you guys posted.
Thanks for the input.

Then again, someone does has experience...we just happened to both reply at the same time!
Thanks, kingalien.

Allow on average 3-4 days for the refund to post. The longest it took for a refund to post in my experience was about 10 days, likely a combination of CO and credit card timing. I've never had to call to follow up on a refund request.

are you not able to view past reservations under manage reservations secton?

Yes you can but you're not able to reuse the funds from canceled tickets to purchase a new ticket online. You still have to call it in.