Naive airline question

[lonegirl]

I booked two weeks ago and fares were $290 round trip from IAH to MCO. We jumped on it, because they had been $390 for our Dec. trip. Now they are listed at $220. I just need to suck this up, huh? Continental does not care and will not do anything about this, right???

 

[dzorn]

I booked two weeks ago and fares were $290 round trip from IAH to MCO. We jumped on it, because they had been $390 for our Dec. trip. Now they are listed at $220. I just need to suck this up, huh? Continental does not care and will not do anything about this, right???

Correct.

Denise in MI

 

[jlewisinsyr]

I booked two weeks ago and fares were $290 round trip from IAH to MCO. We jumped on it, because they had been $390 for our Dec. trip. Now they are listed at $220. I just need to suck this up, huh? Continental does not care and will not do anything about this, right???

Continental will be happy to rebook you at the $220 rate for a change fee of $150 per ticket. That was what you agreed to when you purchased your fare.

 

[ironz]

Continental is a BUSINESS. Whether or not they 'care' is not part of the equation. You bought a non-refundable (I presume) ticket at a price you can live with (and less than your last trip, so look at the bright side)....as someone else posted, you are welcome to change it, but it will cost you $150 per ticket.

When you buy food at the grocer and the item goes on sale the next week, do you bring it back and expect the difference?

 

[lonegirl]

Did not mean to start any controversy here. Many companies do indeed price match if their price drops within a week or two if you can show receipt of what you spent and current price. (Best Buy, Target, Amazon, my local hardware store)
I was simply asking those of you who have much more travel experience than I do, thus the "naive" part of my topic.

 

[Jestocost]

Did not mean to start any controversy here. Many companies do indeed price match if their price drops within a week or two if you can show receipt of what you spent and current price. (Best Buy, Target, Amazon, my local hardware store)
I was simply asking those of you who have much more travel experience than I do, thus the "naive" part of my topic.

In the airline world, however, only Southwest allows you to take advantage of lower fares without a change fee when you booked a nonrefundable fare and even then they only give you credit that can be applied to a future flight, not an actual refund. Airline fares are completely different than consumer hard goods and when you purchase airfare you are agreeing to the terms of a long and complicated contract of carriage.

 

[GrnMtnMan]

In the airline world, however, only Southwest allows you to take advantage of lower fares without a change fee when you booked a nonrefundable fare and even then they only give you credit that can be applied to a future flight, not an actual refund.

JetBlue also will give you a credit. Main difference between it and southwest is you have to do it over the phone....there's no on-line system that will do it.

 

[Ed J]

Did not mean to start any controversy here. Many companies do indeed price match if their price drops within a week or two if you can show receipt of what you spent and current price. (Best Buy, Target, Amazon, my local hardware store)
I was simply asking those of you who have much more travel experience than I do, thus the "naive" part of my topic.

There are only angry people left in this forum, sad, but that's all that's left. The naive part just gets them licking their chops .


Best bet is don't look again after booking, if you don't you won't know and I prefer not to know . Or find a carrier that reimburses for fare drops.

 

[bumbershoot]

And Alaska! Why does everyone always forget Alaska? I suppose because it's so west-coast centric and the Dis is not, but still. It's who we're flying on Tuesday out to Orlando! They even have an awesome online form for an automatic credit.



But when you're booking the big guys, the United/Continental/American/etc (even Virgin America though they aren't big guys here), there are change fees. So it behooves you to not look again, if you don't thik you'll get a rate-lowering that's more than the change fee.

 

[lonegirl]

There are only angry people left in this forum, sad, but that's all that's left. The naive part just gets them licking their chops .


Best bet is don't look again after booking, if you don't you won't know and I prefer not to know . Or find a carrier that reimburses for fare drops.

Thank you for your kindness and I will stop looking. I had signed up for fare alerts and I wish they would stop coming now with better deals! UGH!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Did not mean to start any controversy here. Many companies do indeed price match if their price drops within a week or two if you can show receipt of what you spent and current price. (Best Buy, Target, Amazon, my local hardware store)

Not Amazon for most items.

I just need to suck this up, huh?

Yes. You can get information about changing tickets, fare adjustments , etc. on every airline's website. You should read the contract of carriage before buying tickets.

 

[mikehn]

This wont help, but Im sure airfare will drop even further in the coming weeks and months.

 

[bumbershoot]

There are only angry people left in this forum, sad, but that's all that's left.

What a strange statement.

While I would agree that some of the answers aren't quite right (saying that businesses don't let you take advantage of price drops, so airlines don't/shouldn't, when many businesses and airlines do), I'm not sure it's sweet to say that the only people left on the Transportation board are angry.

 

[Alesia]

There are only angry people left in this forum, sad, but that's all that's left. The naive part just gets them licking their chops .

That's a really unfair thing to say. I find the people on the transportation board to be among the nicest on the disboards. Don't confuse honesty with anger. No one here has been rude to the OP.

 

[goofy4tink]

There are only angry people left in this forum, sad, but that's all that's left. The naive part just gets them licking their chops .


Best bet is don't look again after booking, if you don't you won't know and I prefer not to know . Or find a carrier that reimburses for fare drops.

Nope, not true. Honest and straightforward? Yes. Angry? No. No one here has been rude or angry. Curt maybe. But, when the subject is this important, we tend to be straightforward and as honest as possible so as to not give out any incorrect info. Not a lot of pixiedust flying up people's noses here...just the facts.

That's a really unfair thing to say. I find the people on the transportation board to be among the nicest on the disboards. Don't confuse honesty with anger. No one here has been rude to the OP.

Thanks for the kind words and support.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

You know how there's always that one relative that can't help or control what he or she says... but you still have to invite him or her anyway?

 

[leebee]

Perhaps laws change by state, but here in Maine, if you buy an item at full price this week and it goes on sale any time over the following 14 days, you can bring your receipt back and they will refund you the difference; you don't even need to bring back the original item, just the receipt. I don't know if this is state consumer law or just good customer relations, but we've done it in a variety of stores: Best Buy, Sears, the grocery store, Home Depot, Target, WalMart, etc. They call it a price adjustment.

FYI: Both JetBlue and AirTran gave me price adjustments on non-refundable airfare. JetBlue always does it. With AirTran, I purchased tickets and they had an airfare sale the very next morning. I missed the sale price by mere hours! I called and asked them and they told me that as long as the exact same fare code (can't remember what the real name is, but it had to be same class, flights, dates, etc.) was available, they'd credit the difference to an AirTran account as I'd called within 12 hours of booking. I ended up with $100 credit with AirTran towards a trip within 12 months. Never hurts to ask!

 

[goofy4tink]

Perhaps laws change by state, but here in Maine, if you buy an item at full price this week and it goes on sale any time over the following 14 days, you can bring your receipt back and they will refund you the difference; you don't even need to bring back the original item, just the receipt. I don't know if this is state consumer law or just good customer relations, but we've done it in a variety of stores: Best Buy, Sears, the grocery store, Home Depot, Target, WalMart, etc. They call it a price adjustment.

FYI: Both JetBlue and AirTran gave me price adjustments on non-refundable airfare. JetBlue always does it. With AirTran, I purchased tickets and they had an airfare sale the very next morning. I missed the sale price by mere hours! I called and asked them and they told me that as long as the exact same fare code (can't remember what the real name is, but it had to be same class, flights, dates, etc.) was available, they'd credit the difference to an AirTran account as I'd called within 12 hours of booking. I ended up with $100 credit with AirTran towards a trip within 12 months. Never hurts to ask!

You are correct...it never hurts to ask. And I'm sure that if more people found it an option, everyone here would really like to hear about it.

BUT....more often than not, a refund or credit is not going to happen..especially after much more than a day goes by. But, again....doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[goofy4tink]

You know how there's always that one relative that can't help or control what he or she says... but you still have to invite him or her anyway?

Every family get-together...yep, every single one.

 

[Ed J]

Nope, not true. Honest and straightforward? Yes. Angry? No. No one here has been rude or angry. Curt maybe. But, when the subject is this important, we tend to be straightforward and as honest as possible so as to not give out any incorrect info. Not a lot of pixiedust flying up people's noses here...just .

Yelling at a self admitted naive traveler is strait forward or "curt"?

I find it rude, at least that is how I was raised. IMO it just goes to show how thick of a skin is needed in this forum, sad .........really.