Have to Cancel Trip To London and Belfast

How disappointing!

Do you have travel insurance? I would start there. Basic economy does not give you any ability to cancel or reschedule flights.

I believe you can cancel a basic economy ticket on AA for a hefty fee. If the fee is less than the amount of the ticket, you get the excess back in the form of a travel credit with an expiration date. I don't know what BAs policy is. Cancellation of your AA ticket can be done by logging into your account, no need to call them.

Did you purchase travel insurance that might help you recover any costs for cancelling?

I didn't buy travel insurance. Too late to get it? I tore the meniscus in my right knee. It has swollen up to the size of a soccer ball lol! Surgery is being scheduled so, unfortunately, I will not be ready by September 2nd.

If the credit card with which you purchased your airline tickets has travel insurance benefits, they might cover non-refundable airline tickets up to their stated limit. Typically, such a card would have an annual fee, but worth checking.

So sorry to hear about your injury. If you go ahead and call British Airways, you may be on hold for a long time, even 40 minutes or more. The representative there can give you your options, or confirm whether you have any.

I hope the surgery and recovery go well, and that you can enjoy a make-up trip soon.

Too late to get it?

A non credit card policy has a window of time in which you can buy insurance to cover pre-existing conditions. Usually you must buy the policy within 10 or 15 or perhaps 20 days after your first deposit or payment for a trip.

Great tip on the credit card. I didn't think about that. That's why I came here. You all always have great suggestions. Thanks for the well wishes.

If you bought Basic economy tickets, there is no refund or e-credit. (but check the ticket as someone else suggested). I am pretty sure you cannot change the flight either, but call the customer service representative at AA. Not all reps are accommodating, if at first you don't have a great conversation with them, call back and hope you get an extra friendly rep who may be more helpful. However, if your ticket is basic, I think you may have lost out. As for BA, I have had to cancel a flight before and their customer service is difficult to navigate. hopefully, the ticket from Belfast to London was not too expensive. You may have to eat that cost too.

As for health insurance, Yes, it's too late to buy, especially with an injury (pre-existing condition). So sorry this happened to you. Hopefully, you have hotels and tours on a refund or free cancellation basis.

I'll call and see what can be done. Would be great if we could reschedule for, six months or so down the road. If not, we are out 2000 bucks lol! I don't know much about travel insurance. Had I bought it, would I have been covered in this scenario? Yes, the hotels will not be a problem as well as the 2 Game of Thrones Tours in Ireland. Damn I'm pissed lol!!! This will be a great learning experience for sure.

Sometimes re-scheduling is an option for tours, etc. as well.

As others have mentioned, AA’s Basic Economy fare allows for cancellation with a fee for domestic flights - but not international. However it can never hurt to ask so yes, call! If you get a no the first time, don’t cancel at that moment - call again a different time and ask again. $2,000 is worth a bit of HUCA (hang up and call again).

Your best bet for all of it is rescheduling as opposed to trying to get money back for things you booked as non-cancellable.

All of that is if you find you don’t have travel insurance coverage with your credit card.

And I’m sorry about the pain now and ahead! (As well as the loss of your wonderful trip.) I know it hurts!

This will be a great learning experience for sure.
Such a great attitude, given your circumstances! And your learning experience will help others as we all follow along, so thanks for your reporting as to efforts and outcomes.

I called my Credit Card Benefits Services. I'm covered up to 5000 dollars. Dependent children under 19 are covered as well. My Son (he's 35) was going with me. I booked everything on my card, so his airfare won't be refunded. The lady said, next time, let him book on his card and he'll be covered also. I'm going to try and push for the trip, maybe 6 months down the road. I don't really want a refund if we can reschedule for a later date. She said I'd need documentation from my Dr stating why I can't travel to be refunded. To the person that said try and call Credit Card Services, if I have to get a refund, if you're ever in my city, dinners on me lol!

That sounds like good news for the most part!

I am so happy to hear that your credit card has insurance that will cover you!

It's a date in Wilmington !! :-)

Thanks for the great tip. I was in the Bay area a few years ago. SF, Oakland, San Jose, Napa etc. It's very beautiful out there.

Likewise, Wilmington, which I visited during a pandemic era road trip along the SE coast. I really enjoyed the waterfront promenade and the little downtown area.

Yes, our waterfront along the Cape Fear River is very nice. I'm sure you saw the incredible USS North Carolina Battleship while down there. Beautiful beaches here. Our beach water is a bit warmer than out west. Wrightsville Beach is at 81 degrees now.

I loved Wrightsville Beach!

Oh, and great tip for others to book tickets for different travelers on separate credit cards so that each person is covered by their own credit card travel insurance limits. Thanks for sharing that!

Re travel insurance:

Had I bought it, would I have been covered in this scenario?

Yes, assuming that you bought it before the injury and it covered cancellation for medical reasons (which is pretty basic coverage). For future purposes, Insuremytrip.com and Squaremouth.com are good ways to shop for coverage and also learn a lot about this complex subject.

But I'm glad your credit card coverage will help, I wish you well with the surgery, and I hope you get to make the trip later!

Thanks Dick. I've spent a lot of time in your neck of the woods. Done many hikes at Mt. Saint Helens, Rainier, Hood and Adams. The Olympics, Columbia River Gorge, Grove of the Patriarchs etc. Unmatched beauty out there.

I would suggest getting a letter from your doctor to submit to the airlines. A friend couldn’t travel do to medical reasons and she has basic economy tickets and she got a refund.

Thanks Robin. I'm seeing my Doctor Monday morning. Will discuss this among other things with him.

Just adding my best wishes for a prompt recovery. I have had surgery for torn meniscus in both of my knees. The good news, is that you can have a very good recovery and be traveling again soon. I hardly ever have knee pain anymore.

Thanks Carol. Unfortunately, the meniscus is not the only issue. So many sports injuries when I was younger and several surgeries along the way. I'm afraid I'm on a collision course with a total knee replacement sooner rather than later. I'm not looking forward to that lol!

Not to take the thread off-topic, but, if you think you're headed for a knee replacement
(and your son is 35, so you're around 60), I'd start thinking about getting it done sooner
rather than later.

If you have the replacement and are faithful with the rehab, within 3-4 months of the
surgery you should be good as new. Especially if you're dealing with limitations now.
The other factor is that at this point, you're likely to not need to consider a 2nd procedure
down the line due to the life of the artificial joint.

And you have the ability to resume all the activities you want to partake of at a time of
your life when, once you retire, will have time and presumably health to do them.

I'll be 62 on October 1st. I had the cortisone injection and it helped for a short time. I tried the Hyaluronic Acid (Synvisc One) injection and it didn't help at all. I'm sure the subject of a TKR will come up in the morning. Ugh! I'm not looking forward to it lol. And, you're right, best to seriously think about getting it done.

I will just add that I think it is definitely worth contacting both airlines by phone, even several times as has been mentioned, to find out about any options. We had to cut a visit short in Ireland last year (Covid, sigh). British Air, while not refunding, was as accommodating as possible in rescheduling our flight, and Aer Lingus gave us a full voucher (good for five years!) even though our flight was completely non refundable. The agent had full authority to do that. We did have trip insurance, so that took care of the British Air portion. And phone wait times were nonexistent at that time. We returned to Ireland and Italy in May, and hope you, too, can reschedule soon!

That's some good information. Thanks Cathy!

I would second the advice to get a letter from your doctor.

We had to cancel a planned trip a few years ago due to a medical diagnosis. The airline was helpful when I called to ask about options. They wanted documentation from the physician or hospital in order to refund our non-refundable tickets. When we described what we needed to the doctor, he said, "Ah, you need an airline letter." That did the trick.

Chances are that your doctor has had a similar request before. I hope it works out for you - and more importantly, wish you a safe & swift recovery.

Knee being replaced in January. Doc said he'd get me a letter for the airlines. Life sure can throw you a curveball sometimes lol! Thanks for all the well wishes and advice.

Speedy recovery wishes. As a double-knee replacement recipient (both at the same time), I can vouch that all airport security from now on will set off the sensors, followed by an often fairly invasive manual search. Not the best aspect of traveling, but I can still travel, and with much less pain.

A plus that you are getting the surgery. No one wishes to have to live in pain.

Best wishes for a quick recovery. Reschedule this trip a few months out to
allow for a reasonable rehab but give you motivation to keep with it so the trip
can be enjoyable.

I'm not sure why Cyn is going through the metal detector machine, if that's
what she's doing. Just head right for the wave scanner. The downside of
this is that with increased crowds these days, it sometimes takes a while
for them to get someone over to run the machine.

Have you had any luck on getting a refund! I hope you on in too much pain, wishing you a speedy recovery from your surgery.

British Air has agreed to a travel voucher that's good for 2 years. I talked with American and the fella told me what to do and provided a link, but every time I put my information in, I get an error message and it says try again later. I will call again this week.

My surgery will be in January 2025. Because I had a gel injection recently, I have to wait a few months because as I was told, there is an increased risk of infection.