Couldn't use return portion of ticket due to illness
 

On a trip to Ethiopia, my husband had to be hospitalized in Addis Ababa and then air-ambulanced to Nairobi. We returned from Nairobi on Delta as the insurance company said they could not get a flight from Nairobi to LAX using the original ticket. Can we apply the unused portion of our original ticket on a new ticket to Ethiopia? When would we have to book the new flights and how long do we have to travel on the reissued tickets? We flew business class and I was told we could get a waiver for the change fees due to medical reasons. Is this correct?

Uncertian - can you provide any more details as to the ticket? Ideally what airline issued the ticket or the first three numbers of the eticket number (e.g. 016, 006, etc.).

Hope you guys made it back okay and welcome to Flyertalk! :)

Hope things are better

Who issued the original ticket? If UA, call them and deal with them. UA will refund change fees after the trip if you can provide documentation of the illiness

I'm assuming you have a United Airlines ticket (starts with 016). You should be able to use your ticket to go anywhere within a year from when the tickets were purchased. The process is that you pay the change fee when you rebook on the new flights, and then submit a refund request for the change fee with your documentation.

If your husband is not medically able to fly for the full year, you should be able to get a refund on the unused amount left on the ticket.

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con...ds/refund.aspx -> Click the "Refund Policy" tab -> click "Refund request for nonrefundable tickets — unplanned event" section

Has anyone had any experience dealing with OTAs and United's bereavement policy? We booked through an OTA but also lost someone in our family recently but United isn't able to help us. The OTA says they will refund us after they submit the refund request to United and it gets approved.

First, I am sorry to hear that you are dealing with this.

If you plan on travelling on United within the next year, the easiest thing to do is (1) cancel your flight now, before it departs, (2) in the future (within one year), use the remaining funds and pay a change fee (3) request a refund of the change fee through the link below.

It should also be possible to get a full refund, if you aren't sure you will use United funds within the next year. Still make sure you cancel the flight before to takes off (if that is soon). Normally I'd say request a refund request from your OTA but if they say try United first, you can use the link below to submit a refund request. Don't do it over the phone. If United comes back and says "refund is due from your OTA", then you have something to go back to your OTA with.

I would review the policies and make sure the family member qualifies under United's definition of "immediate family", etc. Also note you will need a death certificate:

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/customer/refund

Click "Refund Policies" then "Refund request for nonrefundable tickets — unplanned event"

Best of luck!

Thanks a lot for your help! I reached out to United about this issue and they said I have to send my OTA the death certificate and then they will forward it to United in order to get a refund. But the OTA hasn't done so yet and it's been a week since I sent it to them. Or at least when I asked United's refund team they said they never received any documents pertaining to my reservation. Plus United says they have no control over this ticket so they can't directly refund me (even though the charge on my CC is directly to United, is this normal?). Kind of losing hope here... Does anyone know if there are any options I can pursue or can I dispute the charge? My fault for booking through an OTA. :(

Condolences on the passing of a family member but this is not a disputable situation.

As the previous poster asked, do you have plans to travel in the next year? This is the easiest way to get you this resolved.

If you want a refund to original payment, that has to be done by the OTA (even if the OTA charged to UA account) and based on the OTA policies (not UAs).

Note -- the taking of multiple weeks is not uncommon -- IME, it can take UA 2 to 3 weeks on these types of refunds, so you may just need to give the OTA a bit more time.

Thank you both for your help. I definitely would be fine with credit. Do you happen to know if I would be able to get credit back if I cancel on their website since I booked through an OTA?

Without reading the T&Cs for the OTA, would only be guessing. The guess is mostly likely. You could ask UA to "take-over" the ticket, there is a fee for that (not sure what that fee is presently $25-$50) -- or just ask UA to cancel, I suspect once cancelled, UA will be able to rebook the ticket - but again I have no experience to based this on.

I would still get the OTA another week or two to come thru.

My father had plans to visit me in a couple weeks but had to have an operation and is therefore going to cancel his ticket. I understand how he'll be able to get a waiver on the change fee once he re-tickets his flight by uploading a note from his doctor. I believe the waiver would also extend to any traveling companions, in this case his girlfriend. However, my dad had bought his girlfriend a ticket in J (she has a bad back and can't tolerate economy for the 5+ hour EWR-SFO flight) and his ticket is in Y. As such, I believe their tickets are on separate reservations. Do traveling companions have to be on the same reservation in order to get the fee waiver?

My father did pay for both tickets and used his Chase UA Explorer card, so maybe the card's travel insurance will work if UA can't extend the waiver to her?

Were they Y and J fares? If so you can just refund the ticket as those are fully refundable fares. However, as most people don't book Y and J fares, if the ticket is non-refundable, you need to actually cancel the flight, then upload a note from the Doctor stating travel is not recommended on this site https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/customer/refund

I did this a few weeks ago and after getting the note from the doctor it took maybe a week to get the refund.

For his girlfriend, I don't know the circumstances of their relationship but domestic partners are included in the definition of family members (I have a family member that has had the same "live in girlfriend" for 20 years but in most states would be considered domestic partners or common law married). So if she would qualify as that I just explain to his doctor you booked separate tickets and if she could get a separate letter.

No.

They have been together about 15 years, but maintain separate residences, so no common-law status. The UA terms specifically mention "traveling companion" but I'm not sure that applies if the companion is on a separate reservation. I don't think the doctor would write a letter for her as she is not his patient, but I suppose she could upload my dad's doctor letter and state she was traveling with him (proof being he paid for the ticket) and see what happens.

I don't see why being on separate reservations would make a difference, other than that you should state clearly in the refund request that they were travelling together.

My brother and I recently made plans to visit our grandfather who was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer. We bought tickets for travel 4 weeks out and then he died 1 week after the diagnosis.

United was excellent about cancelling/refunding my brother's ticket and waived the change fee on mine so I could go to the funeral (which happened 5 days after he passed away).

The whole process was simple via a telephone call. It was really nice that United didn't make either of us jump through hoops.