Thank you for contacting Aegean Airlines.

Kindly be informed that J/booking class is a discounted Business class ticket and not an upgrade.

However, for flights operated as of May 27th 2013, J/class has 100% factor accrual. Thus, in your case, correctly 5180 miles were credited.

We are more than happy to assist you in any other further detail you may need.

Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to you.

Please be advised that the cancellation fee is 100.00 Euros; however, as per Turkish Airlines' terms and conditions, the YR fuel surcharge is non-refundable. So you will receive a full refund minus the 100.00 Euro cancellation fee and the £243.80 YR tax per passenger.

With regards to the above booking reference, I am pleased to advise you that your refund has been processed and credited to your debit card.

The amount of the refund is £417.20 and should appear in your account within 2-15 working days. (Please note that refund times are dependant on the card issuer and are outside our control).

The above value has taken into account the following:
Cancellation Charge (As per fare rules set by airline) -£85.00 per ticket + Yr Taxes
Opodo Administration Fee (Taken at the time of cancellation) Nil as Opodo extra booking
Refund Applied £417.20

Per my request earlier this week, please confirm the line of the airline's fare rules which says that the "YR fuel surcharge" component (£243.80 per ticket) is a nonrefundable part of the cancellation charge.

I am currently looking at a copy of the TK contract of carriage and the JN1BX fare rules and this claim is not documented in either of those places.

These tickets are refundable tickets on a refundable fare where the reservation was cancelled prior to departure.

When I have previously cancelled & refunded refundable tickets purchased directly from TK, they have also refunded the YR fuel surcharge — so I am a little worried that it appears that my travel agent is making things up. This makes me sad, as I am usually very happy with Opodo's customer service.

Although we appreciate that when you have made a booking directly with Turkish Airlines the YR tax is refundable, however as shown in your terms and conditions you agreed to at the time of purchase you agreed to the following.

TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE IN CASE OF NO-SHOW.
NOTE -
NOT PERMITTED EVEN FOR MEDICAL REASON
FOR NON REFUNDABLE TICKETS THE -YR- SURCHARGE
WILL NOT BE REFUNDED.

Therefore, as you agreed to this within our terms and conditions at the time of booking, and that this is an agreement between Opodo and Turkish Airlines, the refund that has been processed will stand.

Thank you for writing back. You seem to have quoted lines from the fare rules which say that for nonrefundable tickets, the YR surcharge is nonrefundable.

However, this ticket is a refundable ticket. Additionally, the reservation it was attached to was cancelled prior to departure. These fare rules do not apply because this is not a nonrefundable ticket.

Do you have any additional documentation to support the claim that the YR surcharge for this refundable ticket should not be refunded? If you cannot document this charge, please let me know.

Further to your email in regards to your booking (excised), the ticket is refundable however as per Turkish Airline's fare rules YQ and YR taxes are both non refundable

The YQ and YR taxes are non refundable on both refundable and non refundable fares.

I am sorry for any inconvenience caused to you.

Thank you for writing back. I'm sorry to keep writing back here but I am not sure that my question has been answered. Just to recap the history here, the Opodo record locator is (excised); the ticket numbers for this trip are 235(snipped) and 235(snipped). This is a refundable round-trip fare WAW-KUL on a JN1BX fare basis; the trip was cancelled prior to departure.

Can you please answer the following question?:
**Can you please confirm which line of TK's fare rules says that the YR surcharge component of this JN1BX fare is nonrefundable?**

Here is why I think that my question has not yet been answered.
(1) On 6 October, I asked Opodo to confirm the line of TK's fare rules which says that the "YR fuel surcharge" component of this JN1BX fare is nonrefundable.

(2) On 9 October, Opodo wrote back saying that they are referring to the following lines of the JN1BX fare rules:
==
FOR NON REFUNDABLE TICKETS THE -YR- SURCHARGE
WILL NOT BE REFUNDED.
==

(3) On 9 October I wrote back asking for clarification because these rules are clearly not applicable (this is not a non-refundable ticket). I asked for Opodo to document your claim that TK YR surcharges are nonrefundable; or, alternately, to confirm that they are unable to document this charge.

(4) Today you have written back saying that "per Turkish Airline's fare rules YQ and YR taxes are both non refundable".

I'm so, so sorry to have to keep circling back here, but you will appreciate that it can be frustrating when people seem to ignore your question. I will reiterate my question from 6 October.

**Can you please confirm which line of TK's fare rules says that the YR surcharge component of this JN1BX fare is nonrefundable?**

If you are unable to document this charge, please let me know.

I have checked the booking and can see the reservation has been cancelled and a refund has been applied for. Although the terms and conditions may not state that for refundable fares YQ YR surcharges are non refundable our notes here from the refunds department state that the fuel surcharge (YQ/YR) is always NON REFUNDABLE for Turkish Airlines. So even for refundable fares we will not be able to refund this as the airline do not permit this to be refunded.

Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience caused and please note we will not be able to authorise a refund of the taxes you are enquiring about as the airline will not allow this.

Should you require any further assistance then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Hello,
Thank you for writing back. I believe that you have not answered my question.

You write that
==
Although the terms and conditions may not state that for refundable fares YQ YR surcharges are non refundable our notes here from the refunds department state that the fuel surcharge (YQ/YR) is always NON REFUNDABLE for Turkish Airlines. So even for refundable fares we will not be able to refund this as the airline do not permit this to be refunded.
==

I have asked you to provide documentation either from TK's contract of carriage or their fare rules which says that YR surcharges are nonrefundable. I think that my question is not answered.

I have, additionally, told you that when I have bought refundable tickets directly from TK in the past and have refunded them, TK has refunded the YR fuel surcharge component of the fare. It seems to me therefore that my travel agency is making up a rule, which doesn't make any sense. Could it be possible that perhaps your refunds department has left an erroneous note about this fare?

If you are unable to answer my question, please confirm that you are unable to document this charge.

For voluntary refunds, for unused tickets, if exists the ‘Before Departure’ rule of the fare note, for partly used tickets , if exists ‘After Deaprture’ rule of the fare note is applied. After calculations the refundable base fare is corrected in the ‘Base Fare for Refund’ box (system copies the total base fare to that box automatically) , if within this amount a penalty is deducted, that amount at the same time is written to ‘Penalty Amount’ box by ticking the penalty type. After filling the ‘ Taxes available for Refund’ section and selecting the form of payment of the original ticket ‘Refund’ button is clicked to complete the transaction. For non- refundable tickets , ‘0’ zero value is entered to ‘Base Fare for Refund’ box, YR tax is not refunded, only the taxes which are not used are entered. ‘DU’ charge is not refunded for voluntary cases. For involuntary refunds, the amount is calculated according to involuntary refund rules, for DU refund of the Involuntary refunds, updated ‘Service Charge Circular’ must be checked

Thank you for your recent email.

As per the terms and conditions on your ticket it does advise the following:

CANCELLATIONS

TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE IN CASE OF NO-SHOW.
NOTE -
NOT PERMITTED EVEN FOR MEDICAL REASON
FOR NON REFUNDABLE TICKETS THE -YR- SURCHARGE
WILL NOT BE REFUNDED.


I can advise this would have been advised to you at the time of reservation and you can check on your confirmation email by opening the terms and conditions and this information will be stated on there.

Once again thank you for contacting Opodo and we hope that we can be of service to you soon.

Hello,
Thank you for writing back. Can you please confirm that you are unable to document your decision to keep the YR surcharge when refunding this refundable ticket which was cancelled prior to departure? Just to recap, this is Opodo reservation (excised) for two passengers, ticket numbers (excised) and (excised), fare basis JN1BX. I have asked you to explain why, when refunding this ticket, you have not refunded the YR fuel surcharge that was paid as part of this ticket, and I have asked you to tell me if you are unable to document this charge.

In your most recent reply from 22 October, you have quoted lines from the fare rules (JN1BX) of this ticket which say that for nonrefundable tickets, the YR surcharge is nonrefundable; and which also say that if a passenger is a no-show (does not cancel reservation prior to departure), then the ticket is non-refundable.

However, this ticket is a refundable ticket. Additionally, the reservation it was attached to was cancelled prior to departure. These fare rules do not apply because this is not a nonrefundable ticket.

I need to ask again — do you have any additional documentation to support the claim that the YR surcharge for this refundable ticket should not be refunded? If not, please tell me that you are unable to document this charge.

Thank you,

Initial 9-minute conversation:
ME: "I can't find any documentation that the £243.80 YR surcharge is nonrefundable. Could you please help me document that?"

PHONE AGENT: "I'm just going to quickly check this for you… via Turkish Airlines, that's TK. … On this booking, even though it's a refundable ticket, the YQ and YR tax is nonrefundable. … I'm just going to check whether that's mentioned in the terms and conditions. Give me one moment to check the terms & conditions. [… pause … ]Give me one moment, I'm just checking the fare rules for you. [ … pause … ] It is a rule from the airline which we have to follow. But it is not mentioned in the terms and conditions."

ME: "I, too, was unable to find that charge mentioned in the airline's fare rules. Can you tell me whether that's in their contract of carriage?"

PHONE AGENT: "You could certainly read their contract of carriage."

ME: "I have, and I was unable to find this charge mentioned there."

PHONE AGENT: "Well, I'm looking at our tax refund sheet which we get from our tax department. Even though the ticket is refundable, the YQ and YR are nonrefundable."

ME: "So was this advised at time of purchase?"

PHONE AGENT: "It would have been mentioned."

ME: "Where is this written down?"

PHONE AGENT: "It's on our tax sheet. It would have been mentioned that certain taxes are nonrefundable. The majority of airlines make their YQ and YR nonrefundable at all times."

ME: "That is strange because that has not been my experience booking and canceling directly with TK in the past. Is there a supervisor or someone in your tax department who can confirm that this is true?"

PHONE AGENT: "I can certainly find a supervisor."

On hold for 9 more minutes.

PHONE AGENT: "I've just spoken to our tax refund team. They're going to get in touch with Turkish Airlines and get this rectified, because as far as we know that's not refundable — even on a refundable ticket, YQ/YR is nonrefundable, according to the airline. My manager in the tax department will call TK. I can give you a call back on Thursday. My colleague in the tax team will check in… as far we've got the information from TK, this tax is nonrefundable. If they come back and say it is nonrefundable, we will stand by that decision as in their terms and conditions."

ME: "The terms and conditions which aren't written down anywhere?"

PHONE AGENT: "We will call you back on Thursday. I am leaving work in half an hour and do not work tomorrow, but I will get back to you on Thursday."