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G-ALAN
11th Feb 2020, 20:27
Hi All, I just need a little bit of advice. A couple of months ago I booked a flight to travel in early March, however, due to personal circumstances, I will no longer be able to travel at that time. Instead, I will be travelling a little later in the year but not sure exactly when. Anyway, I paid £730 return for the flight and when I checked the T&C's of my ticket today, I noted in the small print that the cancellation cost of the ticket is £240 each for the outbound and return flights. Now to me this means one of two things but I'm not sure which.

Does it mean:-
A. The airline will deduct 2 x £240 from the £730 fare and refund me the remaining £250?
B. My £730 fare is gone and if I call up and cancel the flights they will subsequently charge me a further £480?

In all my years of travelling I have never had cause to cancel my flights until now but perhaps someone who has more experience of this can advise? If the answer is B then can I simply not turn up at check in and therefore not fly? I'm guessing they can't charge me for doing that.

Many thanks all :)

Cymmon
11th Feb 2020, 21:29
Contact the airline and explain. A looks the best choice, but due to whatever is causing the cancellation some airlines will transfer you onto the later flights you want. Depending on circumstances, some will even waive the charges, but even if they charge they can transfer you and you pay the difference in the fares, hope it's cheaper later in the year..
Good luck.

snooky
11th Feb 2020, 21:44
I think that it probably means A. The fare will consist of the fare plus the taxes, and they are required to refund the taxes,

DaveReidUK
11th Feb 2020, 22:19
I can't see any airline (not even Ryanair) having the nerve to charge you more than you have already paid for your ticket, for simply deciding not to use it.

Harry Wayfarers
11th Feb 2020, 22:53
What it means is that upon cencellation they shall refund you less the £480 and any other hidden charges that they might throw in, admin fee or whatever

Cymmon
12th Feb 2020, 08:31
The taxes are separate from the total fare and MUST be returned. The admin fee is the £480, so it's £730 - taxes (refunded) - £480. If the total fare for the later trip is £800/£600 whatever is left can then be used to rebook. If higher you pay more, if lower its less.
If you don't turn up you just lose the money.... No recourse,

So contact the airline, give them the reasons and see what they do. I once had a problem whilst staying in Philippines and due to fly back with Qatar. I explained the situation, and even though I should have taken an admin fee hit and then pay the difference but due to the circumstances they waived all charges for me.

If if you don't try, you don't get.

Asturias56
12th Feb 2020, 15:14
I once had to cancel a flight at the very last moment in E Indonesia - all my choice - with Merpati Nusantara. I was absolutely astounded when they refunded me 95% of the fare withing 30 days...................:eek:

G-ALAN
12th Feb 2020, 19:33
Thanks everyone. I thought that scenario A was the case but I just wanted to be sure before I contacted the airline to make the cancellation. Anyway, I did contact the airline today and they refunded the fare + tax, minus £480 cancellation fee. It is £480 down the pan but at least I got something back.

Cymmon, I was intrigued to read about your situation because, coincidentally, the airline was due to fly with was Qatar and the flights were Edinburgh to Manila via Doha return :ooh:

wdew
12th Feb 2020, 19:57
Why are the taxes to be returned with a cancelled ticket ?

DaveReidUK
12th Feb 2020, 21:11
Why are the taxes to be returned with a cancelled ticket ?

Because that money doesn't belong to the airline and it has no right to pocket it.

Harry Wayfarers
13th Feb 2020, 00:11
Because that money doesn't belong to the airline and it has no right to pocket it.

Have you tried telling that to flybe? :)

Load Toad
13th Feb 2020, 03:01
Phone the airline.
Get what they tell you sent in writing also
From my experience of having to miss one flight on BA out of HKG due to the T10 a while back. They cancelled my return (having not explained to me the consequences of not taking their outbound rescheduled flight - which was impossible for me). Then they wouldn't allow me to reschedule or reimburse, I still pain in full for their ticket and had to pay for new outbound & return flights. They quoted 'Terms & Conditions'.

So - be careful - get it all in writing.

Harry Wayfarers
13th Feb 2020, 05:27
Phone the airline.
Get what they tell you sent in writing also
From my experience of having to miss one flight on BA out of HKG due to the T10 a while back. They cancelled my return (having not explained to me the consequences of not taking their outbound rescheduled flight - which was impossible for me). Then they wouldn't allow me to reschedule or reimburse, I still pain in full for their ticket and had to pay for new outbound & return flights. They quoted 'Terms & Conditions'.

So - be careful - get it all in writing.

Yes, they may not publicise but such has been industry standard for a decade or few, I only recollected a few days ago the time during 2009 when I booked with Austrian LHR/VIE/LED (return) for just £39.00 plus the extras when the fare VIE/LED alone would have been a few hundred Euros, there was no way that I could have checked-in at VIE to take the remainder of that itinerary, I had to commence the journey at LHR.

DaveReidUK
13th Feb 2020, 06:34
Have you tried telling that to flybe? :)

Even Flybe acknowledge that they are obliged to refund taxes. That said, they levy an "administration charge" for doing so, which is a bit cheeky, though presumably not illegal.

Refunds (https://www.flybe.com/charter/refunds)

flyingfemme
13th Feb 2020, 12:04
Many airlines extract the Michael on refunding taxes....Easyjet go one further by charging taxes on each leg of a connecting flight - no matter how it is booked. Life's often too short to take on the argument, so they make more money for nothing.

Harry Wayfarers
13th Feb 2020, 13:11
Many airlines extract the Michael on refunding taxes....Easyjet go one further by charging taxes on each leg of a connecting flight - no matter how it is booked. Life's often too short to take on the argument, so they make more money for nothing.

But if the airline involved has a registered office in England & Wales then at least one can have the fun of taking them to County Court thru Money Claim Online (MCOL) , previously I have successfully sued Northamptonshire Police, Eon Electricity, Agoda and currently Booking dot com are getting the treatment, they may think that they are above the law but a search of the E&W Companies House website shall identify if they have an E&W address and then "Tally Ho" :)

Pontius Navigator
14th Feb 2020, 12:38
In explaining to the Airline:

Three years ago, after an illness, I had to cancel our flights. The airline said they would not refund the APT and to request this online. The website would not accept my input.

I contacted the CEO of easyJet. Someone from head office rang up to confirm my problem. He than asked why I had cancelled. When I told him he immediately offered either rebook at no charge at a later date or a full refund. I shall certainly book easyJet in future.

Harry Wayfarers
14th Feb 2020, 23:10
I have my business registered with Expedia Group and with their local management team seemingly selective as to which partner enquiries they opt to reply to and which they ignore, they simply would not reply nor resolve my issue so from googling I found the email addressed of 4 of Expedia's top executives at their HQ in US ... Then by issue became resolved :)