Has anyone gotten a refund of a difference on airfare?

[ppony]

I was wondering if anyone has gotten a refund in the difference between what you booked airfare at and what it might have dropped to? And if so, how do you get that? Do you just call and do only certain airlines do it or do all of them?

 

[rflorek]

JetBlue will give you a credit to your True Blue account good for up to a year for the difference in airfare for the same exact flight if the price drops & there are enough seats available for your entire party at the discounted price (if everyone is on the same reservation/confrimation number). You just have to call to request it. They do not give you an actual refund to your credit crad.

 

[NancyIL]

Most airlines (except apparently Southwest and Jet Blue) will charge you a change fee ranging from $75/ticket (AirTran) to $150/ticket (American) to rebook at a lower fare, and then you get a credit and not a refund of the price difference. You'd need a REALLY big price drop to make it worth your while.

 

[francie57]

Delta also has a $150 fee for a change. You would need to have a drop well over that to make it worthwhile.

 

[ppony]

Thanks guys! It dropped $50 per ticket so not enough to bother. With 4 tickets if there had been no fees or minimal it would ahve been a nice savings. No worries! I'm happy to support my local small airline anyway and it's already paid so I won't miss the $. Much.

 

[kaytieeldr]

And, just for general information - the only way an airline would provide an actual refund is if the passenger purchased a refundable fare.

 

[ppony]

I just remember years ago, people would say that it was offered and all you had to do was ask. I didn't pay much attention back then. I never traveled. Must have been a LONG time ago.

 

[goofy4tink]

I just remember years ago, people would say that it was offered and all you had to do was ask. I didn't pay much attention back then. I never traveled. Must have been a LONG time ago.

That was pretty much Jetblue's policy. But, look at it from their viewpoint. People booked the flights they wanted, and then hoped and prayed the fare went down. As soon as it went down, they got on the phone and called JB...who in turn, allowed them to get the entire difference in a JB credit, to be used on future flights. I was able to make several flights with only a small oop cost simply because I had so many credits in my account.
I'm sure it got to the point that JB was losing money on the whole process...people booking at $139 and then wanting refunds each time the fare dropped, which it did in order to entice others to book a flight.
I have no problem with any airline asking for a change fee. Just last week, I decided to stay at WDW a week longer in Dec. I had booked my return flight, on a Friday, at $94. Well, I figured I would be eating that $94 when booking a flight for the following Friday. But, it was 'only' an addtl $100. But, when I changed my itinerary, online, it cost me only $50!! The fare was exactly the same, so no difference there. Just paid the change fee of $50 and got exactly what I wanted.
Fares going down is the chance we take when we book early rather than later. The airlines don't charge us if the fares go up....I always wonder why they feel they need to credit us when the fares go down. I guess it's good business for them to do that....up to a point anyway.

 

[vgrandy]

I have gotten a credit of $160 from Jetblue for my family of 4 for our upcoming trip. On my last phone call I said that i would now have to take another trip. The customer service rep said "we know what we are doing." The $160 will cover one of our tickets but we may end up paying for another 3 tickets to use up that credit. Win-win in my book.

 

[donaldtutter]

I have gotten a credit of $160 from Jetblue for my family of 4 for our upcoming trip. On my last phone call I said that i would now have to take another trip. The customer service rep said "we know what we are doing." The $160 will cover one of our tickets but we may end up paying for another 3 tickets to use up that credit. Win-win in my book.

This is exactly why they do it.

 

[Resseda]

I have a trip coming in September, flying Jet Blue, and have been able to get prices credited twice. In fact, I ended up with 3 separate reservations for 4 people, and the credits from the first 3 paid for most of the 4th ticket. Then today, I called and between the 4 tickets, wound up with another $135 credit.

I try to go down once a year, so, as a PP said, I pretty much just paid for most of my tickets.

Ress

 

[Resseda]

dbl post

 

[scard192]

Same here on Jet Blue, I got an $88 credit to my True Blue account when fares when down a bit on our 4 tickets.

 

[ppony]

That was pretty much Jetblue's policy. But, look at it from their viewpoint. People booked the flights they wanted, and then hoped and prayed the fare went down. As soon as it went down, they got on the phone and called JB...who in turn, allowed them to get the entire difference in a JB credit, to be used on future flights. I was able to make several flights with only a small oop cost simply because I had so many credits in my account.
I'm sure it got to the point that JB was losing money on the whole process...people booking at $139 and then wanting refunds each time the fare dropped, which it did in order to entice others to book a flight.
I have no problem with any airline asking for a change fee. Just last week, I decided to stay at WDW a week longer in Dec. I had booked my return flight, on a Friday, at $94. Well, I figured I would be eating that $94 when booking a flight for the following Friday. But, it was 'only' an addtl $100. But, when I changed my itinerary, online, it cost me only $50!! The fare was exactly the same, so no difference there. Just paid the change fee of $50 and got exactly what I wanted.
Fares going down is the chance we take when we book early rather than later. The airlines don't charge us if the fares go up....I always wonder why they feel they need to credit us when the fares go down. I guess it's good business for them to do that....up to a point anyway.

Thanks for your thoughts. I am a small business owner myself and can perfectly understand all the ins and outs of such a offering. I am very happy w/ the fare we have and knew it could go down from where it was but below $200 each for a RT to Orlando is what the fares were every 10 years ago. I can't cimplain and am not doing so. I feel for the airlines and their struggles. It just deosn't mean I don't have to be looking after my own bottom line as well.

 

[Looking4themouse]

I'm sure most of you already know this, but just in case, one of the travel sites ie; expedia, hotwire, priceline, I don't really recall one will refund the difference in your ticked amount if the price goes down.