Timeline for Plane ticket price went down by 40% two weeks after I booked it. Is there anything I can do to get a refund?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
16 events
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| Nov 26, 2019 at 0:41 | comment | added | Mars | @Hoki If you buy from Expedia, etc, you often can get 'discounted' hotels and transportation, and I second Voo's experience of finding cheaper through those sites than direct. They also likely offer a more uniform insurance policy, rather than a different policy for every airline [citation needed] | |
| Nov 25, 2019 at 22:45 | comment | added | Voo | @llama Sure you can get unlucky and I assume sometimes not even paying by credit card is going to help. But assuming you fly often enough, the cost you save on the flights where it works out, seems at least to me to be more than enough to cover the extra expenditure when it doesn't. And it's not like you can't find people complaining even when buying directly from the airlines - at least the cheap ones. And I had colleagues who had a hell of a time getting their refunds from Lufthansa, so even that's not guarantee. | |
| Nov 25, 2019 at 22:17 | comment | added | llama | @Voo sounds like you've been lucky, but there's plenty of stories of people getting screwed by those low-cost resellers (at least the absolute cheapest ones). I personally used to use them, and never had a problem, but now I find that the security of buying directly from the airline and dealing with them rather than resellers is worth the cost for me. | |
| Nov 25, 2019 at 21:40 | comment | added | Voo | @Hoki Most times when I check for flights they are far more expensive when directly sold via the airline (Lufthansa for example) than via one of those agencies. Sure the customer service might be worse, but I never had a problem in way over a hundred flights yet that couldn't be resolved reasonably easy. Certainly not worse than getting my legally guaranteed EU regulation money from Ryan Air after I bought my ticket directly from them. I'm sure with enough effort and planning you could buy the tickets for the same price from the airline, but that's a lot of hassle for little benefit. | |
| Nov 25, 2019 at 19:45 | comment | added | StackOverthrow | I wonder how applicable optimal stopping would be. Like, wait until 1/e of the days in your chosen window have passed, then buy when the price is the lowest you've seen. | |
| Nov 25, 2019 at 15:04 | comment | added | If you do not know- just GIS | @Hilmar that is incorrect in my experience. You cannot pay a "change fee" to the same flight and on the lowest-level non-refundable non-changeable fares the change fee is often just the price of the new ticket! | |
| Nov 25, 2019 at 14:54 | comment | added | Hoki | @mars other benefits ? except for some hidden useless insurances I don't know what benefit these other travel agent offers. But even ignoring any benefit, if you buy your ticket from the airline you can call and modify 24/7 whereever you are in the world, or simply go to the ticketing desk at the airport and they can access your ticket for you. If it is bought from a travel agent, any other party (including the airline itself) will tell you "we cannot touch this ticket, you have to deal with the agent who sold you the ticket" ... | |
| Nov 25, 2019 at 1:01 | comment | added | Mars | "Ideally buy directly from the airline rather than expedia or similar" Why Is that? I personally haven't found direct to be cheaper and then you miss out on other benefits... I'd suggest changing this to "be sure to check directly with the airline, not just expedia or similar" | |
| Nov 24, 2019 at 12:06 | comment | added | AnalysisStudent0414 | I want to add one thing: for Christmas/Easter, just buy as soon as possible. | |
| Nov 24, 2019 at 8:57 | comment | added | Martin Argerami | Depending on the time of the year, 3 months before the trip is not "early" at all for Canada-EZE. And six weeks before the trip is super late, and you'll often find that the tickets are not $1700 anymore but more like $2500, | |
| Nov 23, 2019 at 21:58 | comment | added | Blue | @Mophotla Perhaps the OP could change to another random flight, and then change it back, paying the change fee 2 times. Maybe its worth it. | |
| Nov 23, 2019 at 15:52 | comment | added | Bunji | @MariaInesParnisari Ah -- I see below that you booked with Air Canada. What fare class did you book? Economy, or Economy Basic? | |
| Nov 23, 2019 at 15:47 | comment | added | Bunji | @Hilmar I guess if the OP was willing to change the day she flew it might be possible to recover some money if the change fee was less than the price decrease... that also assumes she didn't buy a "basic economy" (or similar) ticket, and that booking through Expedia doesn't alter the rules. | |
| Nov 23, 2019 at 14:15 | comment | added | Mophotla | @Hilmar: But a change fee is only applied when you're actually changing flights. The OP wants to keep the flights she booked originally, which can only be done by cancelling the current ticket and making a new booking. As Bunji says, that would probably not be worth it. | |
| Nov 23, 2019 at 13:31 | comment | added | Hilmar | "there's almost certainly nothing you can do". Sorry, that's not true: Most tickets will allow a change for a fee so you can get at least some money back. In this case the change fee is probably $200 so there is a good chance she can recover $500. | |
| Nov 23, 2019 at 1:33 | history | answered | Bunji | CC BY-SA 4.0 |