At what $ point do you request a credit or refund

[KGK]

At what $ point do you call your airline/hotel etc to request a credit or refund if the price has dropped.

For example, SWA has dropped the price on our flight home. I can rebook and save $20 (total for 4 tickets). At $5 per ticket, I'm OK with not rebooking. (much rather spend my time on disboards).

For an upcoming business trip USAir has dropped $14 (just me). Again, not ready to go thru rebooking hassle.

Just curioius: When do you rebook? How much do you want to save before starting the rebooking process?

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

At what $ point do you call your airline/hotel etc to request a credit or refund if the price has dropped.

For example, SWA has dropped the price on our flight home. I can rebook and save $20 (total for 4 tickets). At $5 per ticket, I'm OK with not rebooking. (much rather spend my time on disboards).

For an upcoming business trip USAir has dropped $14 (just me). Again, not ready to go thru rebooking hassle.

Just curioius: When do you rebook? How much do you want to save before starting the rebooking process?

You need to check your airline's policies. Changing a US Airway's ticket is going to cost you a change ticket fee for domestic travel of $200!

As far as hotels, you need to book a room for the new lower price, then cancel your old reservation. Why wait; the price could increase again at any time.

 

[KGK]

You need to check your airline's policies. Changing a US Airway's ticket is going to cost you a change ticket fee for domestic travel of $200!

As far as hotels, you need to book a room for the new lower price, then cancel your old reservation. Why wait; the price could increase again at any time.

So I guess saving that $14 isn't such a good idea.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

So I guess saving that $14 isn't such a good idea.

Probably not,

 

[KGK]

From US Air:
Lower fare guarantee

When a new lower fare becomes available after a ticket has been purchased, customers are entitled to a lower fare guarantee refund within the following guidelines. We will deduct a change fee and apply residual funds in the form of a US voucher. Additional rules and restrictions may apply. Call reservations for a lower fare guarantee.
•The lower fare is available for the exact itinerary previously purchased.
•No portion of the reservation has been flown.
•Lower fare guarantee refunds are not available for online ticket exchanges. Certain promotional fares may be excluded


?? maybe they do refund? I wasn't going to ask for it but.... I'll get back to you.

 

[CPT Tripss]

From US Air:
Lower fare guarantee

When a new lower fare becomes available after a ticket has been purchased, customers are entitled to a lower fare guarantee refund within the following guidelines. We will deduct a change fee and apply residual funds in the form of a US voucher. Additional rules and restrictions may apply. Call reservations for a lower fare guarantee.
•The lower fare is available for the exact itinerary previously purchased.
•No portion of the reservation has been flown.
•Lower fare guarantee refunds are not available for online ticket exchanges. Certain promotional fares may be excluded


?? maybe they do refund? I wasn't going to ask for it but.... I'll get back to you.

$100 change fee minus $14 fare decrease . . . You owe them $86. Just saying

 

[sam_gordon]

SW won't charge a change fee, but they'll issue credit to the name on the ticket (NOT the person who bought the tickets). The credit must be used within 1 year from BOOKING. Personally, I wouldn't bother for $5 each.

 

[LisaS]

SW won't charge a change fee, but they'll issue credit to the name on the ticket (NOT the person who bought the tickets). The credit must be used within 1 year from BOOKING. Personally, I wouldn't bother for $5 each.

And if you used some travel funds to purchase the ticket, your expiry date will be even earlier since it will take on the expiration date of the oldest funds used to purchase the ticket.

There is also anecdotal evidence that your EBCI purchase date gets adjusted to the date you reprice your flight, causing you to be further back in the boarding line. Or maybe it happens because your new fare is in a lower fare bucket. Either way, you have to decide if the savings is worth ending up further back in the boarding line.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

$100 change fee minus $14 fare decrease . . . You owe them $86. Just saying

The change fee is $200, not $100.

OP, sure, you can get a credit, not a refund, less the $200 fee.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Yes the US air will issue a travel voucher for the $14. Once you pay the $200 change fee.


SWA it will be free to get the refund but as PP stated if you use the $5 on a future ticket the funds on the new ticket will take on the expiration date of the $5.

Example if you bought your tickets on say Aug 1, 2013 Then on Sept 10 the price went down $5 and you get the credit for $5. Then you must use that $5 and complete your trip by Aug 1 2014 (funds expire one year from original purchase dates) - so your return flight must be before Aug 1, 2014. Unless you book 2 one way tickets and use the $5 on the outbound flight and it must take place before Aug 1, 2014. Then buy the return flight as a separate ticket other wise you must complete your trip by Aug 1, 2014 if you use the $5 for a round trip.

Keep in mind when using the $5 to purchase your next flight, the funds on that ticket now have the expiration date that the $5.00 credit had - in this example the original purchase date I used was Aug 1, 2013.

For example if you use the $5 credit to buy a $200 roundtrip ticket on May 15, 2014 for a trip that will occur on July 4, 2014 the credit of $5 plus $195 you had to pay out of pocket to purchase the July ticket means all of the funds will expire on Aug 1.2014 . If you have to cancel or change your travel dates you can only use your $200 for a trip that will end by Aug 1, 2014 - or you can pay $100 per ticket to extend the expiration date for 6 months.

 

[loveswdw]

There is also anecdotal evidence that your EBCI purchase date gets adjusted to the date you reprice your flight, causing you to be further back in the boarding line. Or maybe it happens because your new fare is in a lower fare bucket. Either way, you have to decide if the savings is worth ending up further back in the boarding line.

I thought EBCI was non refundable? I just cancelled tickets last week and it told me that I'd lose my EBCI fees. Wasn't too happy as there were 4 of us.

Or is it only non refundable if you cancel your flight and take the credit vs rebooking for a lower fare?

 

[robinb]

At what $ point do you call your airline/hotel etc to request a credit or refund if the price has dropped.

For example, SWA has dropped the price on our flight home. I can rebook and save $20 (total for 4 tickets). At $5 per ticket, I'm OK with not rebooking. (much rather spend my time on disboards).

For an upcoming business trip USAir has dropped $14 (just me). Again, not ready to go thru rebooking hassle.

Just curioius: When do you rebook? How much do you want to save before starting the rebooking process?

Me? I would rebook in both those instances as long as I could get the same or better flights.

 

[sam_gordon]

Me? I would rebook in both those instances as long as I could get the same or better flights.

Really? You'd pay $200 in order to get a $14 credit (US Air)?

And I can see the $5 credit in SW MAYBE being worth it, IF I flew a lot and could actually use it.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Really? You'd pay $200 in order to get a $14 credit (US Air)?

And I can see the $5 credit in SW MAYBE being worth it, IF I flew a lot and could actually use it.

I have a feeling that poster didn't read the whole thread.

 

[robinb]

I have a feeling that poster didn't read the whole thread.

i thought that both southwest and us air didn't have a change fee. Once a change fee is in play it makes virtually no sense to change your flights for a difference in price since it will almost never be larger than the change fee.

 

[LisaS]

I thought EBCI was non refundable? I just cancelled tickets last week and it told me that I'd lose my EBCI fees. Wasn't too happy as there were 4 of us.

Or is it only non refundable if you cancel your flight and take the credit vs rebooking for a lower fare?

You are correct, EBCI is non-refundable. If you cancel a flight, you lose the funds used to purchase EBCI.

Provided you use the "change flight" option (rather than cancelling and rebooking) to take advantage of a fare drop, your confirmation number stays the same and since EBCI is tied to the confirmation number, you will still have EBCI on your repriced flight.

With EBCI, boarding positions are assigned based on the fare class and the date/time of purchase. A few of us here have received an unusually high boarding number when we have repriced a flight. In one case, two couples purchased tickets plus EBCI the same day. One couple repriced their tickets weeks/months later when the fare dropped, the other couple did not. When EBCI boarding assignments were made, the couple who did not reprice their tickets had much better boarding positions. That lead to speculation that changing a reservation causes the EBCI purchase date to change, putting you further back in the queue.

 

[TamaraQT]

You are correct, EBCI is non-refundable. If you cancel a flight, you lose the funds used to purchase EBCI.

Provided you use the "change flight" option (rather than cancelling and rebooking) to take advantage of a fare drop, your confirmation number stays the same and since EBCI is tied to the confirmation number, you will still have EBCI on your repriced flight.

With EBCI, boarding positions are assigned based on the fare class and the date/time of purchase. A few of us here have received an unusually high boarding number when we have repriced a flight. In one case, two couples purchased tickets plus EBCI the same day. One couple repriced their tickets weeks/months later when the fare dropped, the other couple did not. When EBCI boarding assignments were made, the couple who did not reprice their tickets had much better boarding positions. That lead to speculation that changing a reservation causes the EBCI purchase date to change, putting you further back in the queue.

Thanks for the Info...I always wondered how EBCI was effected when I re-priced my flight. I don't recall ever cancelling, just rebooked. I always had A boarding positions, except for 1 time I got a B boarding position. I am starting to think the B boarding position was during the time I rebooked the fare, which would make sense.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

i thought that both southwest and us air didn't have a change fee. Once a change fee is in play it makes virtually no sense to change your flights for a difference in price since it will almost never be larger than the change fee.

As already posted, US Airways has a domestic change ticket fee of $200.00:

http://www.usairways.com/en-US/traveltools/specialneeds/ticketingpolicies/default.html

(Yes, I know this thread was bumped from months ago, but thought the link might be useful).