Airline wants to charge $1950 per ticket to not take a flight...

[Iciclehead]

All,

Wife and I going on a vacation with an unnamed European airline, the flight was from North America to a European hub, with a 1 week stayover, then ongoing to another destination, return to the hub for a further two weeks and then back home.

Turns out that we do not want to take the second and third leg of the trip, just stay at the hub for the duration.

Called the airline to tell them this and then the crap started. They said, well, the original destination was the endpoint of Leg 1 and Leg 2, we were changing the endpoint to just be the hub, so we had to cancel the ticket ($450 per ticket), and then, even though they are business class tickets that we bought on a business class seat sale, we now have to rebook at current prices....an extra $1500 per ticket.

So to NOT take the second and third flight will cost us $1950 each on a ticket that only cost us $2700 each to start with!

Now, this was a discussion with their telephone ticketing centre, we left the tickets as they are and are reconsidering our plans, but really...is this the way all airlines work?

If I insisted on calling a supervisor, would a higher order brain function at least come back with an answer of $0, and thank you for notifying us so that we can resell the unused seats to other passengers.

Or will I just get myself into a whole heap of trouble with them, particularly if I get the stomach flu or something and happen to just not make the second and third legs of the flights.

Anyone with experience in this and recommendations as to how to handle it?

Dennis

[motion]

Yes, this is how all airlines operate. They count on changes like this, for extra fee revenue. Particularly with business customers who have constantly changing schedules and meetings. If you don't show for the additional legs, the airline will likely cancel your entire remaining itinerary, so be careful.

[Rick Lee]

Yup, happened to me once when I booked a business trip on the wrong day and didn't realize it until a few hours before. Taking an earlier flight, which I 100% had to do, no matter what, meant I was gonna miss the one I had booked earlier, which meant they'd cancel the return flight, even though I wanted to keep the return flight. That error cost my company about $1000 and I waited until my boss was drunk the next night before I explained it to him and he was fine with it.

[imcarthur]

Yes, that sounds normal. Any change in a ticket will cost you. And sometimes it is a crazy money cost. Airlines have have a very complex price per flight equation & any alteration after the fact defaults to a higher fee. And I agree that you can't simply skip a leg without them canceling the rest of the ticket.

Ian

[GWN7]

I bought a car in Oregon and flew in to pick it up then drive it home. A one way ticket was 2X the price of a return ticket. I booked the return ticket and never showed up for the return portion. You don't check in, they don't care.

[motion]

Originally Posted by GWN7

I bought a car in Oregon and flew in to pick it up then drive it home. A one way ticket was 2X the price of a return ticket. I booked the return ticket and never showed up for the return portion. You don't check in, they don't care.

Yes, but that's different. You didn't need your return flight home.

[LakeCleElum]

Travel Insurance.......Might not work for this, but wouldn't be without it for overseas travel.....

[GWN7]

Originally Posted by motion

Yes, but that's different. You didn't need your return flight home.

He just checks in for his return flight home. The flight home is a separate flight and not a connecting flight.

[biosurfer1]

Just make sure you don't fly one leg and get off the plane if you have a connection. They freak out about that!

[cairns]

you can name the airline you know. or just name the hub. then we'll all know.

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by GWN7

The flight home is a separate flight and not a connecting flight.

It probably wasn't ticketed as 2 separate flights. The agent would have booked leg 2 as an open-jaw final destination for leg 1 with a partner airline. And ditto on the return. Failure to fly Leg 2 means (to them) that you have gone AWOL & they assume you will not fill the other seats either. Similar has happened to me.

Ian

[Hugh R]

I flew to Los Angeles > Vancouver > Toronto > Los Angeles a few weeks ago. It was a $17xx ticket. Wanted to extend Toronto to LA by one day, almost $1,000 in change fees. I passed.

[widgeon13]

Originally Posted by GWN7

I bought a car in Oregon and flew in to pick it up then drive it home. A one way ticket was 2X the price of a return ticket. I booked the return ticket and never showed up for the return portion. You don't check in, they don't care.

They will cancel the balance of the entire itinerary. You will lose the flight home.

[Iciclehead]

Hub is Amsterdam.....I think y'all can gather who it is.

Next destination is Moscow and return from St Petersburg, Russia, having second thoughts because of the situation there....

Thanks for all the insight, it is as I have feared, may just have to suck it up...

Dennis

[slodave]

Interesting. My parents had to cancel a trip to Costa Rica about a month ago due to both of them getting sick. I believe they were flying to Texas from LAX domestic, staying the night, then onto CR via International. My dad was able to get vouchers from both airlines and the resort, good for a year. I think the total out of pocket for them was about $250.- and most of that was for the one night hotel room in Texas. They actually rebooked a couple weeks ago and they are there now. My parents had come down with the flu or something. Now, my mom does have lung cancer on top of it and that may have helped with the vouchers...

[atcjorg]

see what it is to just book the last leg

[wdfifteen]

When I've had to change I just cancel and buy a new ticket. It's usually been cheaper. Most recently when we had a change of plans and cancelled Southwest gave us a credit for the original ticket price minus $100 to use on some future flight within the next 12 months. It would have cost over $300 to change that ticket to our new destination/new time. I don't know why it works that way, maybe because they get to sell two tickets. Obviously it does work if you don't fly a lot.

[fred cook]

I don't have anything to do with commercial airlines anymore. If I absolutely have to fly somewhere (rare occasion), I have a friend with a flying service who will not only get me there more quickly, doesn't lose my luggage and in some cases is cheaper than the airlines. As long as I don't have a need to go to Europe, my plan works perfectly.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by atcjorg

see what it is to just book the last leg

This, or what Patrick said

[Dan J]

Airlines suck azz. Their business practices are criminal.
I wish Wal Mart would start an airline