LOT airlines flex ticket cancellation lifehack. Will it work?
Aug 7, 2019, 6:54 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 3
LOT airlines flex ticket cancellation lifehack. Will it work?
I was originally looking to buy one way ticket SZZ (poland) -> LAX january 2020, so I could come back home after the christmas break.The price was about $750. However when you select "round trip" and choose a random date in the future as your return suddenly the first flight, very same flight SZZ - LAX is only $450 and the return flight could be as low as $350 for some dates. So going one way is nearly the same price as going both ways. Its also possible to select different type of fare for depart and return. So its possible to buy a FLEX ticket for just the return portion of the round trip. Now my plan is to book roundtrip, get on the departing flight as planned and then sometime in the future cancel the FLEX return and get my money back. Will this work? That way I will pay only $450 to come back home instead of the original $750. Its me and my wife travelling so it would be about $600 of savings in total. Can anybody confirm this?
Aug 8, 2019, 8:15 am
#2
Join Date: Dec 2009
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Many things could go wrong with this plan. Firstly, some airlines operate that the most restrictive fare's rules apply to the whole ticket. Secondly, LOT may reprice your ticket as a one way meaning you get little back (taxes excluded). Thirdly, what's the change fee if you did this? Many times it eats up most of any difference.
Aug 8, 2019, 8:40 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 3
Many things could go wrong with this plan. Firstly, some airlines operate that the most restrictive fare's rules apply to the whole ticket. Secondly, LOT may reprice your ticket as a one way meaning you get little back (taxes excluded). Thirdly, what's the change fee if you did this? Many times it eats up most of any difference.
Aug 8, 2019, 2:13 pm
#4
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: LEJ BRU
Posts: 1,156
You can get the money for your inbound portion back but before they will reprice the outbound part as a oneway ticket and THAT will not only eat all the savings you‘ve made on the cancellation but quite a bit more.
Your CC company won‘t help you because you‘ve agreed to that very rules when buying the ticket.
This question has been ask here over and over and over but as of today not a single claim of success has been reported yet.
Your CC company won‘t help you because you‘ve agreed to that very rules when buying the ticket.
This question has been ask here over and over and over but as of today not a single claim of success has been reported yet.
Aug 8, 2019, 2:28 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 3
You can get the money for your inbound portion back but before they will reprice the outbound part as a oneway ticket and THAT will not only eat all the savings you‘ve made on the cancellation but quite a bit more.
Your CC company won‘t help you because you‘ve agreed to that very rules when buying the ticket.
This question has been ask here over and over and over but as of today not a single claim of success has been reported yet.
Your CC company won‘t help you because you‘ve agreed to that very rules when buying the ticket.
This question has been ask here over and over and over but as of today not a single claim of success has been reported yet.
Aug 8, 2019, 2:37 pm
#6
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Almost all plane tickets become invalid after a year, and normally any such credits remaining from a previous ticket must also be used within a year.
You might be able to *guess* a cheap date at which you could use the return portion of your RT and try to change it later (probably paying a change fee) to a date that's better for you, with the idea of just throwing it away if it can't be changed to something you can use.
However, if your trip is starting in Poland, you should be aware that many exEurope fares (including even discounted business class fares) require that the ticket be flown exactly as written or it loses all value, so be very careful that you're interpreting fare rules correctly.
FLEX might not mean fully flexible with no fees just like refundable is not the same as fully refundable without a fee.
You might be able to *guess* a cheap date at which you could use the return portion of your RT and try to change it later (probably paying a change fee) to a date that's better for you, with the idea of just throwing it away if it can't be changed to something you can use.
However, if your trip is starting in Poland, you should be aware that many exEurope fares (including even discounted business class fares) require that the ticket be flown exactly as written or it loses all value, so be very careful that you're interpreting fare rules correctly.
FLEX might not mean fully flexible with no fees just like refundable is not the same as fully refundable without a fee.
Aug 8, 2019, 3:06 pm
#7
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: LEJ BRU
Posts: 1,156
If the ticket does not carry time restrictions (many cheaper tariffs do eg 60 or 90 days) the return is valid 365 days from departure. So you might be able to rebook within this 365 days but the fare rules are setting the limits. That can be: no change possible, involving a change fee, this and an upfare to the availible fare bucket, applying the most restrictive rules within the ticket for all of the ticket .... and so on. I wouldn‘t do it by myself, use a good TA for something like that.
Aug 16, 2019, 11:08 am
#8
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Welcome to Flyertalk @polishPaul.
Please follow the redirect as we relocate your query.
~beckoa, co-moderator Information Desk
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~beckoa, co-moderator Information Desk
