Please give me advise

[AussieDisneyLover]

Hi Guys,

Firstly I'm from Australia. I have booked $8000 of airfares through American Airlines and a 9 day stay at Disneyworld through Dreams Unlimited - all to commence 15th May 2008.

Unfortunately my dad has been diagnosed with Terminal cancer and I need to cancel the entire holiday and either get a refund or get credits and retake it in 2009. I do not have travel insurance.

Dealing with American Airlines in Australia is hell on earth, you get put through to an Indian call centre, they are giving me the serious run around. I am asking them for a compassionate cancellation and subsequent refund or at least credit so I can refly in 2009.

I've messaged Dreams Unlimited and asked the same thing but have not recevied a reply after 2 days, I assume they are asking Disney. My questions are:

1) what is your experience of American Airlines Compassionate policy and if I'm not getting anywhere here in AU, where would you recommend I escalate this with them?

2) whats your experience of cancellation or credit with Disney/ Dreams Unlimited?

Thanks in advance.
AusDisneyLover:

 

[Frankiesmom]

sorry for what you're going thru! I have no personal experience; just wanted to say how sorry I am that you are going thru this!

 

[danielmorgan03]

Aussie,

Fin power to ya. My AA experience has been that you will suffer the penalty that is in the ticket contract. Mine was 100 a ticket. They were not really helpful at all. Have you emailed corporate hq?

 

[dmslush]

I have had to cancel with dreams before, and they are extremely understanding. If you are having problems getting anythign from your agent, try emailing john@dreamsunlimitedtravel.com (I think that is the correct address!)

 

[nataliela]

AA is not easy to work with.
I fly out of New Orleans, and after Katrina Southwest stopped providing flights for a while-so that cancelled our flight. So we switched our flights to AA. They then cancel our flight and we are pushed back a day. We called numerous times to question why they cancelled the flight- no answer. Then we found out that Southwest's flights came back up, so we wanted to cancel AA and go back to SW, whose new flight was leaving on the original day we wanted to leave...No luck.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I have no idea about the airlines.

Disney's policy is you can cancel without penalty before 45-days out; I would assume Dreams Unlimited would be the same. Inside the 45-day mark, you lose the $200 deposit on a package, but get the rest back.

I'm so sorry you have to deal with this, on top of getting the terrible news about your dad.

 

[brergnat]

To echo, you should have no problem with Disney.

The airfare rules depend on what type of ticket you purchased. There is usually a $100 (USD) fee per ticket for ANY type of change, even just for them to issue a certificate that allows you to use the tickets within a year (which is what you will get).

Dealing with customer service for ANY company, from ANYwhere on the globe often means dealing with a call center in India. This is simply the way of the outsourcing that these businesses have taken on. I get that whenever I call customer service, period. There is not much you can do about that. That is simply where their customer service calls are being routed. You can certainly ask to speak to a manager, or supervisor, and find out exactly what you are entitled to, and how much it will cost.

Unfortunately, the airlines do not usually provide for a "compassionate" deal, that is the reason why Travel Insurance exists, so I'm sorry about that.

I am also sorry to hear about your father. My thoughts are with you and your family.

 

[jel0511]

I've never heard of a "compassionate policy" from AA. Compassion isn't in any airlines culture (except Southwest here in the states). You'll probably just have to outright cancel your airline reservation, and then you'll have 1 year from original travel date to use them I believe. You just use your original reservation code and call the airline telling them you want to use fund from a previously cancelled reservation. Your reservation will probably be subjected to a per ticket surchage if non-refundable. Here is the refund page of AA, and it looks like you can apply online for a refund...
https://www.refunds.aa.com/Help/help_s1.asp

 

[LoraJ]

I had to do the same thing when my FIL became very ill and was diagnosed with terminal cancer. We re-booked later on and were charged $100 per ticket plus a difference in the cost of the ticket. Hopefully you won't have to pay a difference.

So sorry for what you are going through.

 

[AussieDisneyLover]

Thankyou all for your excellent advise (and kind thoughts.)

Jel - thankyou in particular for the AA refund link. I'll give that a go.

I'll also get onto John from Dreams Unlimited if I dont hear back from Marla soon.

I'll let you know how I go with everything.

Chris (Aussie)