Would like to get my own money back

[brekin67]

It annoys me when the price goes down on an airline ticket and the seat holder gets the "applied funds." I pay for my grandchildren and my daughter's babysitter to fly with us, but when Southwest reduces airfare they get the credit and not me. I wish the funds were credited to the person booking the trip, but I am sure there is a good reason why they are not.

 

[goofy4tink]

I tend to agree. My dd, 20, has about $250 in her JB travel bank. I pay for her fares, but when the fare goes down, she gets the credit! So, now, it goes to waste since she doesn't travel very often. I wish it would go back to the person who booked it. Or at least make it transferable.

 

[Lewisc]

People who pay for others tickets have made the same comments regarding frequent flyer benefits.

Some aspects of flight, refund on a refundable fare for example, go to the person (or company) who pays for the tickets.

Most others go to person who is putting their butt in the seat. The person flying generally gets frequent flyer benefits, gets to pay for any extras (such as luggage) and gets any credit from fare reductions. Airlines vary on policy.

Airlines credit fare reductions knowing some credits will expire, unused. Some passengers will use those credits as motivation to make an additional trip. Some will use them as motivation to use that airline for their next trip, even if another airline has a better schedule or fare.

Assume the person paying gets credit. You have a friend who flies Southwest on a regular basis? Have your friend book your tickets. You'll get a cash refund, maybe less something to your friend. You don't have such a friend. Maybe have an "ebay friend" make your reservations. The credits wind up being used by someone who was already going to be taking that flight. Southwest might as well just offer passengers a cash refund for the fare difference.

You want to restrict it to family members. Too complicated. Would Southwest want to extend that perk to their "A listers"? Your family members get an (indirect) cash credit if their fare goes down.

We book non-transferable tickets. Since the ticket isn't transferable any credits from fare reductions aren't transferable.

I agree it "would be nice" but I don't see any reason why an airline would do such a thing. Most airlines don't even give you a credit. Current change fees frequently wipe out any credit.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

A few points - no airline tickets are transferable. Once you book a ticket in someone's name, only that person can use the ticket.

Most airlines charge a change ticket fee for reticketing, which averages $200 for a domestic ticket, so if there's a price drop, it's usually not cost effective to reticket.

The person who actually flies always gets the FF miles, not the person who paid for the ticket.

OP, if it bothers you so much that your grandchildren and their babysitter get the funds when you reticket after a price drop, why bother reticketing? Or why can't you use their funds when you buy new tickets for them or have them buy you tickets from their account?

 

[brekin67]

A few points - no airline tickets are transferable. Once you book a ticket in someone's name, only that person can use the ticket.

Most airlines charge a change ticket fee for reticketing, which averages $200 for a domestic ticket, so if there's a price drop, it's usually not cost effective to reticket.

The person who actually flies always gets the FF miles, not the person who paid for the ticket.

OP, if it bothers you so much that your grandchildren and their babysitter get the funds when you reticket after a price drop, why bother reticketing? Or why can't you use their funds when you buy new tickets for them or have them buy you tickets from their account?

It doesn't "bother me so much." It is not specific to my grandchildren or the babysitter. When we travel we are prepared to pay for the expense of our invited guests, whoever they may be. I reticket on the off chance that we travel together again within the year of the original ticket purchase, which has never occurred. I understand that tickets are not transferable, I understand that the seat holder gets the frequent flyer miles, etc. We fly SWA so the guest can apply the funds for future travel with no charge, but my grandchildren are very young (under 5) and only get the opportunity to fly when they are with me on vacation. We usually purchase the tickets in June for a December trip. We would have to travel again for a 2nd vacation by the following June which is not feasible for us. I know I can extend the applied funds for a fee. I would not be as annoyed if they ever used the funds, but they are not able to, so the applied funds expire instead of me being able to use them on my next trip without them.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

OP, most of my points were directed towards another poster.

I see why you find it annoying that you can't get the travel funds deposited to you rather than the ticket holders, but that's just the way the airline industry works.

 

[Donna M]

I wish the refund would go back to the credit card it was charged to. That really makes the most sense to me.

It's kind of like college tuition; I pay the bill with my CC, but my daughter would get any returned funds.

 

[Candlelady]

I tend to agree. My dd, 20, has about $250 in her JB travel bank. I pay for her fares, but when the fare goes down, she gets the credit! So, now, it goes to waste since she doesn't travel very often. I wish it would go back to the person who booked it. Or at least make it transferable.

JB now has TrueBlue Family Pooling so those points don't go to waste. I haven't looked into for our family as it's only DH and I at the moment.
https://trueblue.jetblue.com/web/trueblue/how-it-works-family-pooling

Candlelady

 

[kaytieeldr]

JB now has TrueBlue Family Pooling so those points don't go to waste. I haven't looked into for our family as it's only DH and I at the moment.
https://trueblue.jetblue.com/web/trueblue/how-it-works-family-pooling

Candlelady

Ggoofy4tink doesn't even need this.

Just book your ticket through your daughter's account.

 

[DebbieB]

It happened to me about 10 years ago on USAirways, my then 10 year old niece couldn't go last minute. I got stuck with her ticket. The part that killed me is her seat was filled by someone else, at least we should have been able to use the extra seat to spread out.

 

[Pooh2]

We just got a $550 credit on Jetblue. My hubby booked the tickets, I called to get the credit, she asked if we wanted it all under one account or to each seat holder. I did not check the credit yet but requested the whole credit go under my hubby's account so we can book seats together when we use the credit.

 

[SamSam]

Op, I understand what you're saying. A few years ago SW did allow the purchaser to use the credits, I hated when that changed because most of the time those credits didn't get used (after the change). Good for SW, bad for those of us that pay for everyone's flights.

 

[NotUrsula]

The simple SWA solution for getting your value back when folks whose tickets you buy are unreliable is to purchase others' tickets on points only, not with cash. Buy the points if you have to.

When you purchase flights with points and the seat is going to go unused, the points revert to the PURCHASER's account, not the passenger's, unless they happen to be the same person.

Certain relatives of mine are absolutely terrible about being enthusiastic about travel until it is time to pack, then bailing at the last minute for one reason or another. If I buy their tickets on points, I can re-bank the points for my own later use, and my relative can reimburse me with cash for my trouble. (And if they don't reimburse you in some way, at least you still can use the points for yourself or someone else, instead,)

 

[scard192]

We just got a $550 credit on Jetblue. My hubby booked the tickets, I called to get the credit, she asked if we wanted it all under one account or to each seat holder. I did not check the credit yet but requested the whole credit go under my hubby's account so we can book seats together when we use the credit.

a week before we went to Disney in October the fares went down $130 each; all the credits for my family are under my account. Another reason I love Jet Blue!

 

[PatMcDuck]

It happened to me about 10 years ago on USAirways, my then 10 year old niece couldn't go last minute. I got stuck with her ticket. The part that killed me is her seat was filled by someone else, at least we should have been able to use the extra seat to spread out.

This happened to my husband too, and he got into a big fight about it with the airline. His friend could not make it last minute, DH had paid for both tickets. No refund, understood, but DH wanted that seat left empty, it was PAID FOR by him after all. Nope, he lost the argument, and they filled that seat, sold it again.

 

[jcjen519]

I understand what you mean. There are so many things about airfare that I find frustrating. Probably decent reasons for a lot of it but still... No less irritating!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[rewok]

I tend to agree. My dd, 20, has about $250 in her JB travel bank. I pay for her fares, but when the fare goes down, she gets the credit! So, now, it goes to waste since she doesn't travel very often. I wish it would go back to the person who booked it. Or at least make it transferable.

Goofy4tink, am I really able to teach you something?

You can do 2 things in your case:

first, when you request credit for price drop, just ask the credits to be in your TravelBank (here I assume you paid for her ticket...). I always book DH & I ticket on my JetBlue account, and get credits for both of us.

second, now that she has YOUR money in bank, just use her TravelBank to book a ticket for YOU! (I haven't tried this one, but since I can buy tickets for DH with my account, I don't see how she couldn't buy a ticket for you)

Now, can you send me a cheque for my 10% cut on that "found" money? Please?

 

[shoes99]

I booked a flight for my sis using my cc and the price went down. She had the $$ in her travel bank, so I just logged into her account and booked a flight for me and DH using her banked funds, and paying for our trip to WDW for a one way flight. The record locater is in my name, so I just added the trip to my profile after purchase and all is well.