That darn NWA!!!!

[Sherrilatte]

We are able to extend our vacation three extra days--and we would like to spent those days at the Swan.

How do I convince NWA not to charge me $100 penalty per ticket for a family of three, since I'll be paying a higher difference. ($150 extra!).

I checked the seating for those days and it is hardly anyone on the plane! The airline penalty is preventing us from staying longer...

Any advice or help on my dilemma?

 

[zulaya]

Unfortunately, to get the cheaper prices of those non-refundable tickets, you are over a barrel. I have never heard of them waiving this fee because you decided to stay later.

This situation, where you decide to stay more days after you buy the tickets, is a reason to buy a refundable ticket. Gives you more flexibility, but you pay for having that flexibility.

I think that any other airline, barring SWA, would charge you some sort of change fee.

I know...sucks rocks.

 

[lsteadman]

I would definitely like to try that. I want to leave earlier so if it works for you, please post.

 

[Brian Noble]

You can pretty much forget getting the fee waived. Instead, look for a one-way flight on a discount carrier (or even a round trip on another legacy carrier); that may well be cheaper than changing your return flight. Then, just throw your return on NWA away (and your return on the new tickets, if they are round-trip.)

(Note: only play this game on the *return* legs of round trips, never the *outbound* legs. As soon as you miss any flight in a single itinerary, the airline will typically cancel the whole thing.)

As has been mentioned, fully-refundable (but very expensive!) tickets avoid this problem, as do flights on southwest. You can also change a spirit itinerary without fees, as long as you are more than 30 days away from your flight.

 

[weregoingtodw]

I have to say, Northwest absolutely STINKS in my opinion. My husband - who was on military orders - had to change his ticket, and even though his ticket was coded M (for military - means they can be changed without penalty), we had to argue forever to get his flights changed to correspond with his amended orders. When they finally did, they changed him to departing from an airport over 500 miles away from us. It took some pretty significant hassling on our part to get his tickets fixed. This was definitely NOT the way we wanted to spend our precious time together, arguing with the airlines. We had to make three tickets to the airline counter (45 min away) to get the problem resolved.

We had some other problems with them as well, to the point where our base's Family Support Center actually contacted Northwest on our behalf to ensure that no more military families would be faced with the problems we did. We ended up getting a form email apology - no letter, no phone call, and certainly no credits toward our ticket, vouchers or anything like that. Since this was a ticket from the Korea to the east coast and then returning to Korea, you can imagine that it cost us a significant amount.

All that to say... sorry, I don't think you'll have any success changing your tickets.

 

[Sherrilatte]

Northwest will not be getting anymore business from me. With most airlines teetering on bankruptcy, you would think they would be more accomodating to their customers, especially if there is no cost involved.

 

[zulaya]

I am sorry you are upset, but really, most other airlines would do the same thing. I only know that SWA would change you and according to another poster on this thread, Spirit.

It sucks, and while I have my own issues with NWA sometimes, it's ALL the other airlines, not just them.