I had an interesting experience today and I thought some people might find it helpful. In January I bought airline tickets on United flying from Sacramento to Auckland, NZ with at change in San Francisco. Our return tickets were from Sydney, AUS to Sacramento with a change in San Francisco. A week or so ago I was notified that my first flight had been changed and the layover at SFO was going to be much shorter, and they offered me a one time change. A few days ago my husband and I decided that we wanted to cancel the trip and pivot to a European trip instead. I wanted to verify that if we did so we would get flight credits. I was shocked and pleasantly surprised when the man I spoke with said I could get the flight credit OR I could get a refund. I had had economy tickets that were non-refundable. Yes please, I’ll take the refund. Airline tickets are more expensive now, but I used airline miles that were discounted by 44% for the flight to FCO and 34% for the flight home from MUC. This just goes to show that it never hurts to ask.
Posted by
1779 posts
So true about it never hurts to ask. It's likely because of the change that United made that it was possible. If you'd just called and asked because you changed your mind about going and it was non refundable, that would have been a no.
We just had a significant flight change made by the airlines. They gave us every bad alternate fight they could come up with. When I finally spoke to a real live person and asked about the direct flight that existed but wasn't given as an option, she worked it out with her supervisor, and we were so grateful that she took the time to find a great solution.
Posted by
USA/SF Bay Area
235 posts
That is great! I usually fly Delta and very often just get flight credit when I cancel a flight. I agree the refund was offered because of the change in flight, I assume. Great win for you!
Unrelated (but in keeping with the "it doesn't hurt to ask"), we recently returned from Mexico. Our return flight was to San Francisco with connection in LAX. At check-in, we were told flight to LAX was oversold and they offered us compensation to take a later flight on Alaska that would go direct to SFO. But we had comfort+ seats and those were not available, and no guarantee of seating together. We would arrive earlier in SFO than original flight with connection. Agent offered $300 each, we said how about $600 each. Agent said yes quickly (they were really desperate, I guess!). Said we would get email with gift card by the end of day.
I then had to work with Alaska agent for a while so they could seat my minor child with one of us, but we arrived in SFO earlier than we would have on original flight. But of course, day later no email with gift card. After multiple calls and filing a complaint online, and after 10 days of our flight, we got a call from Delta apologizing. They sent gift cards for $900 each for the inconvenience.
The comfort+ seats were free upgrade otherwise we would have requested a refund (it has happened with me before and they were quickly to refund that).
Posted by
OP
Sacramento, California U.S.A.
11468 posts
I had another ‘it doesn’t hurt to ask’ experience last year when I went to Australia with my friend who lives in Portland, OR. We were flying from Portland via SFO to Melbourne. She was flying back to Portland via SFO from Sydney at the end of the trip. I had no reason to go back to Portland because I would have had to take another flight back to Sacramento. I priced the ticket to SFO and it was considerably more expensive. This was for business class. I checked to Sacramento. Same thing. I got the ticket to Portland because it was so much less expensive, even though I would have had to take another flight home. I waited about a month and then called United and asked if I could terminate the flight in San Francisco because my plans had changed. Absolutely! They didn’t charge me more either.