Refund value of return ticket?
 

Tried searching for this but couldn't find anything on point:

Booked IAD-BRU-IAD in C both ways for $8,xxx.xx. Flew IAD-BRU. I'm now unexpectedly in AMS. I'd like to fly home from AMS and not take the train down to BRU. So, I called UA's Netherlands number (routed to the ICC), and was told it would be ~$700 in fare difference to switch my return from BRU to AMS. No complaints about that part -- I get going from a round trip to an open jaw will have fare consequences.

I next asked how much I'd be refunded if I cancelled the return leg (BA's got a great one way deal from AMS). I was thinking a refund would be something like 40-50% of $8xxx. To my surprise, the ICC said the refund value of my BRU-IAD C ticket is under $700+taxes. How can that be? The outbound leg is valued at over $8,000, and the return leg at less than 10% of that? Is this normal for the return legs of high dollar full fare tickets? Should I call the U.S. 1P desk and have them sort it out?

Definitely call somebody else until you get a better answer !!

If you can post your linear fare construction (on receipt, everything between the letters "fc" and the word "end", I could give you my opinion. For example, if any component of the ticket is non-refundable, or any fare component requires round trip travel, any unused portion's value is pretty much zero.

I've only got an e-receipt, and I can't seem to find the linear fare construction through the website. For what it's worth, the trip has three segments (one on the outbound (already flown), two on the return (the bit I'd consider refunding). The first ex-BRU segment is a codeshare, changing planes to UA metal for the over-water leg home.

On the e-receipt the fare code for each leg is CR2E. At the bottom in the ticket purchase summary, it says "Penalty: -REFUNDABLE-"
I don't see fc or end anywhere on it.

Was it a special corporate fare?

Call UA in the States and ask them to have their intl. fare desk double check this. It's speculation without the exact routing and faring, but it's entirely possible that the first CSR was correct and equally possible that they got it wrong. Let us know what happens.

Incidentally - you should be able to cut & paste the linear fare construction by bringing up your e-invoice.

10000:1 says the "R" (2nd letter of fare basis) is for "roundtrip", implying that as a 1 way ticket, there is no residual fare left over. It requires roundtrip travel, or at the least, an open jaw. Most likely you can exchange the return leg for a much cheaper return, and would be entitled to the fare difference.

That fare doesn't currently exist, so to find the rules, I would need to know both ticketing date, and outbound travel date.

It doesn't work that way.;)

Partial refund for all refundable fares are calculated as:

Refund = Fare Paid - Fare for Flown Segment(s) - Fee

If your fare requires round trip travel, the fare for one way may be substantially higher than 50%, sometimes more than double. Yes, sometimes one way fare is higher than round trip. Your refund value may even come out negative. :( What you need to do is to find out what the lowest one way fare for your class was at time of your purchase.

why not just buy a AMS-BRU ticket?

that's the easiest thing to do

It doesn't matter as he has already flown on it (outbound leg that required RT travel.) Had the OP not flown on it (pre-departure,) then he could recaclualte and exchange (based on current prices, not lowest possible at time of original ticketing,) but one cannot go back in time and do so. The outbound was flown, the ticket was used, under the rule that a roundtip was required. The rules don't give a "hindight" ability to go back in time and reprice (although I have seen the rate desk do such a thing in the past for errors.)

He can only exchange the return for another a) return to point of origin from the original destination, b) an open jaw from the original destination to some other point in the US, or c) an open jaw from another point near the original destination to the origin city in the US. (b and c would have to comply with the rules of the original outbound roundtrip ticket, which I can't pull without the ticketing and outbound date.)

If one could "go back in time" and reprice what would have been cheapest, then noone would ever buy full fares (if they knew of this option) and would all buy the most discounted tickets, and if they needed to make a change they would use the "go back in time and find out what would have been the cheapest way to do what I currently want" method.

There are no "mulligans" in fare rules in terms of retroactive pricing.

I see your point, however, most discounted RT fares are less than OW fares.@:-) For example, let's say you purchase a discounted Z RT fare. Since there is no one way Z fare available, the lowest OW may be C fare which is likely close to or even higher than Z RT fare. The difference is even more pronounced if you purchase RT S fare since OW Y fare is far higher.

What is the correct way to calculate partial refund for RT ticket which was flown OW?:confused:

It is is known as a "throwaway segment". It has no value, except as an exchange for another return to complete the round trip requirement of the 1st segment. Almost like a "hidden city" segment, there is no value to the unflown part of a ticket that was purchased with the rule that both parts must be utilized. This is prohibited by fare rule under the CoC. http://content.united.com/ual/asset/COC18May11final.pdf (page 14) "2) THE PURCHASE AND USE OF ROUND-TRIP TICKETS FOR THE PURPOSE OF ONE-WAY TRAVEL ONLY, KNOWN AS “THROWAWAY TICKETING” IS PROHIBITED BY
UA."
For an example, lets say a 1way is $1000, and a rt is $1700. Well, I would be a fool to buy the 1 way if I could buy the RT at a per segment discount and then return the unused part. The difference is more extreme on say a domestic rt segment "excursion" deeply discounted fare where the RT ticket may be less than 1/2 the 1 way. Deeply discounted rt maybe $178, one way is $400.

UA (and most airlines) prohibit "throwaway coupons" they sure as heck aren't going to refund the segment to furthur motivate someone to do it.

The only time you're going to get a refund on a RT like that is when there is a cancellation or major delay, and you request not to get rebooked (i.e., you're making your own arrangements).

In those cases, they'll run it through refunds for the prorated amount.

Other than that, as fastair pointed out, it's not gonna happen. The best you can hope for is a date change with change fee, or maybe a like-market change in a similar region like your AMS/BRU scenario. Since the AMS return could likely have been paired with your original outbound, they can calculate the fare difference + change fee and allow that sort of change.

I always have great respect for the insight of fastair and you. :) However, I have requested and received partial refund for refundable tickets. I only got like 20% back and was told that:

Refund = Fare Paid - Fare for Flown Segment(s) - Fee

My understanding was that it was refared as one way with excess credit refunded. One way fare was about 80% of round trip in my case.

I would love to know if this is correct or if there is a difference formula.:confused: Note: it was an international close-to-full fare ticket.

Why do a throwaway segment when one way fare is lower than round trip? :confused:

In this example, refund of partial used round trip is $1700 -$1000 - fee. You are no better off than buying one way in the first place.