American Airlines refused to refund price of ticket when having to travel early due to terminal illness of family member Raleigh-Durham, NC And Sious City, SD Internet

Martha--I am not really sure if the airline told you, but once you purchase an airline ticket, you HAVE bought a ticket, and you can't cancel it without paying the airline penalities, or else everyone would run around booking flights, and cancelling them. What they should have told you was only your son can call American Airlines and talk to them, you might have bought it, but it IS his ticket.

The normal procedure is: for your son to notify the airline before up to 1 hour before the flight to let them know he would not be on that plane, and then the airline will give your son up to 1 year from the date of purchase (not the flight day) to use the air ticket minus any penalities (about $100) and he would have to pay the difference (if there is any) in the new ticket. All airlines have this policy, they had to do something to make sure they can still make money.

It is rare if ever an airline will wave fees, but they won't cancel a ticket, and only recently if you booked through a travel agent, can the travel agent cancel a ticket 24 hours after you buy it, if someone calls 25 hours later saying I don't want the ticket, TOO BAD!

The airline and the travel agent both have their money, and they client has a ticket.

Most major airlines have two classes of fares: refundable and non-refundable. Most discounted fares are non-refundable. Nonrefundable tickets can be used as a credit for future travel by the ticket holder for one year, less the airline's stated penalty ($75-$100).

I am not an airline employee, but have family members employed by airlines for more than 15 years. This has been standard airline policy for years, not a rip-off, and has nothing to do with Citibank. Every airline I have ever flown, including Southwest, does this. Check their websites. If one wants a refundable fare, one can request one, and pay a higher price. The other (cheaper) alternative is to purchase flight insurance.

However, given the situation, it might be possible to get the penalty waived if your grandson pled his case -- nicely-- in person at an American ticket office; this has a higher liklihood of success than dealing with someone though the airline's 800 number.

Good luck.

Boy I wish people like you would learn a little more about the Airlines & Ticketing before you start spewing. You seem to think when you buy a TICKET, you have reserved a specific seat on a specific flight. Boy I wish that was so. Then when you didnt make the flight, the airlines couldnt RE-SELL that seat again as you also seem to think. Well then I & my FAMILY can fly in that seat for FREE as a Airline Employee....THANK YOU !!! But alas, you are SO WRONG !!!!! What a ticket is a CONTRACT OF CARRIAGE with RULES & LIMITATIONS. WE can send you via BUS if we have to. You seem to think you are special & everyone should do for you, well you are WRONG !!!! As others have stated, you can make changes by paying PENALITIES & CHANGE FEES. See Airlines are trying to offer you something. But you are probably too FAT & POMPOUS to believe that you should pay them. WELL TOUGH, you bought into the CONTRACT & now you are RESPONSIBLE for the TERMS of it.

Like I say, petition the FAA & FTC and any others to force the airlines to sell you a SPECIFIC SEAT on a SPECIFIC FLIGHT & let no others have it or allow it ti be resold. Then when you miss the flight, well your seat flew, but your butt stayed grounded. And as a EMPLOYEE I can ride along on a SPACE AVAILABLE basis for FREE in your nice PAID FOR seat. I know you will think this is wrong too, but that is exactly what you are asking for. The airlines would love to do it your way. Simplier, LOTS more profit (From all those EMPTY SEATS) and Employees would love it as we could FLY anytime cause of you missing in action type people. GET REAL NOW !!!!

Hello-

I am a travel agent with a large company.

In the future, if you desire the safety and protection you are wishing you had with this ticket, you need to pay more for a fully refundable, fully changeable ticket.

Yes, they are much more expensive than a NONrefundable budget ticket.

What also needs to be remembered is: When you purchase a NON-REFUNDABLE ticket, you are, indeed, purchasing a NON-REFUNDABLE ticket. Not a non-refundable but in the case of... ticket.

First of all Bill--I wish to congratulate you! You actually submitted a rebuttal WITHOUT forcing us all to read about how "important" you think your FAA Dispatcher's license makes you!

Despite your funky personality on this site, I'm sure your employer regards you as the next best thing to having the late Jeffery Dahmler working in the galley. Aside from helping Jeffery prepare "finger" sandwiches, you probably don't realize you have another "talent." You, and your like-minded colleagues, who work for the "Dirty Half-Dozen"--American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, United/Ted and US Airways, have become top-notch "salespeople" for the low-cost, and, consumer-oriented competing airlines.

Some of these airlines are opening-up ticket counters, occasionally, in the same airport (dis-)served by American and/or Continental. Based on your address, you obviously work for one of these two pathetic losers. Since you work in an area where Southwest Air has a strong presence, I'm surprised why Southwest hasn't offered you a few free trips based on the business you've generated for them.

New entrant Independence Air must have been thinking of YOU when they wrote their employee customer commitment--

1. "I am about the customer."

2. "I have integrity."

3. "I am genuine."

The only thing missing is for one of the new entrants to run an ad with a picture of YOUR FACE in a circle--and a diagonal line through it.

Not far-off is the day when the "Dirty Half-Dozen" will become the "Dirty Three," or, not even that. My local airport--Philadelphia International--is now served by Southwest and Frontier, in addition to the more established tenants--Air Tran and America West. Near-bankrupt US Airways is waging an almost comical battle trying to compete with Southwest's ticket prices and "attitude-free" customer service. I suspect US Airways will do everyone a favor, and fold, within the coming two years.

So, Bill, when the "dust" of the shattered "Dirty Half-Dozen" has settled, where will you be? I think we will find you at a departure gate where there are just ten people (5 major stockholders and 5 traveling on an employee's pass) waiting to board a 200-seat airliner. You and the other gate agent will be passing the time chasing cockroaches.

Do have a nice day!

Yes John, keep on smoking that loco weed. You can believe all the hype you want, but DISCOUNT CARRIERS will eventually catch up to legacy carriers as far as costs & such. Also you are correct that the BIG-6 airlines will eventually be cut down to probably around 3. But there are people who wont stand for CATTLE CAR mentality like southwest has. Yes they are cheaper & I fly on them at times, when I am trying to get say from DFW to LAS. I will fly to LAX then catch Southwest into LAS. You see FLIGHTS are FULL into that destination. But I can stand that CATTLE CAR for less than 1 hour. But I & most others dont want it for a 3 hour flight next to someone who hasnt bathed in a week or some drunk (Ever watch that show Airline) Yeah, they seem to have quite a few disgruntled passengers.....OH Well, back to your Crack Pipe John.

Bill, read your "Cattle Car" rebuttal. Sorry to disappoint you but, despite what you've heard about folks in the northeastern US, the crack pipe is not my forte. I get enough of a "buzz" from the White-Out fluid I have to (over-)use on my job. IN YOUR CASE HOWEVER, I think the "Cattle Car" comment represents a secret desire. You know your brain is withering-down to nothing because your workplace safety-conscious employer (lol) has been "feeding" you jet exhaust. Now you realize "cow patty" aromatherapy is your only hope. Shall I alert the ranchers in the adjoining counties of your impending arrival??

FURTHER, ON YOUR "CATTLE CAR" COMMENTS--

I'm sure you are well aware--the "Cattle Car," or, in the case of your employer--the "CAAttle Car"--is, essentially, the image the customer has of the given airline when he exits the aircraft at his destination. A "sold-out" flight does NOT, in and of itself, make for a "Cattle Car"--something I'm sure you are also aware of. Bill, the hostile, anti-customer attitude you and your colleagues have--both at your airline and the other 5 "losers"--is what MAKES the "Cattle Car." The ticket counter agent with his bad attitude and bad information; the gate agent who seems to delight in intimidating families and, if possible, disrupting their travel plans; and finally--the Flight Attendant who gets her "jollys" when she is allowed to play "cell-block guard" in cases where the aircraft is stuck, for hours, on the tarmac awaiting gate clearance (yes, in a snow storm, the airline could spring for the bucks to tow the aircraft to a hanger--BUT THAT'S NO FUN!) For those Flight Attendants who don't get to play "cell-block guard," there's always the option of threating the 80 year-old grandmother with arrest because she can't get a poorly lubricated airline seat-back into the "landing position" within the Flight Attendant's unilateral 30-second time frame.

As to your other comments:

TICKET PRICES ON DISCOUNT AIRLINES WILL EVENTUALLY EQUAL THOSE OF THE BIG 6: If a discount airline ever gets a large number of routes where it has no competition--almost certainly. As long as a Discount Airline has substantial competition from one or more of the Big 6, or another discounter, the status quo as to ticket prices will probably be maintained. When US Airways folds, partly as a result of the Southwest competition, Southwest and Jet Blue may well make the East Coast as the ground for the "battle of the titans."

DRUNKEN SEAT MATES: Bill, you know very well the FAA has allowed airlines, for some time, to ban intoxicated customers from boarding. Sometimes the regulation is enforced, sometimes not. Second, the airlines, including the Discount Airlines, aggravate the problem by not cutting-back, or eliminating altogether, the serving of alcohol on-board. Because high altitudes intensify intoxication (a 12,000 foot "atmosphere" is maintained in the cabin,) alcohol, if served at all, should be limited to 2 ounces (half a shot glass) per adult customer for the duration of the flight. No exceptions for first class or intercontinental service. If you want to get drunk, call Amtrak or Cunard (both of whom charge for every single drink.) Even though some of the employees of the Big 6 are probably borderline sociopaths, NO ONE should have to come to work with the fear of assault and/or injury.

SMELLY SEAT MATES: First, I think EVERY airline has an "equal shot" at getting this type of customer. I'm sorry, the Discount Airlines DO NOT have a monopoly on this phenomona.

Second, in varying degrees, all of the Big 6 have service to Europe. If you took the time to talk to your counterparts at your company's European cities, outside of the UK and Ireland, you might be told the use of deodorants is not as widely accepted as it is in the US. Hence, within the context of trans-Atlantic travel, a smelly seat-mate may be more a case of "culture clash," notwithstanding the fact that I may be gagging for 7 to 9 hours non-stop!

DISCOUNT AIRLINES ARE, ESSENTIALLY, INFERIOR TO THE BIG 6: Lets look at profitability. Southwest Air has enjoyed CONSECUTIVE profitable quarters for the last TWENTY YEARS--including the "9-11" period. Jet Blue has enjoyed consecutive profitable quarters for the last two years. When was the last time your employer had a profitable quarter? When was the last time any of the other Big 6 had a profitable quarter? Sorry, the tax payer backed Federal loan can't be counted. Hence, if the Discount Airlines are as bad as you seem to be saying they are, why are the only US airlines now making money found among the "Discounters?" Why are the only employees of the Big 6, who are old enough to remember when their company last made money, now nearing retirement age?? Why do some of the Big 6 feel the need to test the limits of the law and raid employee retirement funds to stay in business?

Bill, open-up a Bed & Breakfast as soon as you can. You'll feel better for it!

Very Good comments John. Well thought out & they also have facts to them. However, Discount airlines are encouraging a type of people to travel that I prefer to not be around I.E. The Backwoods Hillbilly type.

I could tell you some stories from the 80's when Airlines were first deregulated. But anyway, Southwest, JetBlue Airtran & scuh enjoy LOWER OPERATING Costs cause of their lack of Legacy Pensions. And you are correct that many airlines are now RAIDING this area of retirees to help them stay around.

However I believe any business or industry would have to do this cause they are so LARGE & out of norm. The UNIONS are what caused this many years ago when they won LARGE Salary & Benefit packages. It is now coming back around to bite them. Also Major Pilot Salaries are way out of whack.

Internation Pilots making $200,000 + Plus a year for less than 60 hrs of actual work a month is wrong. I know they spend many other hours getting ready & being away, but this is still way too much. Overall I think we are starting to agree on a few things.

But some people will still prefer MAJOR AIRLINES for such things as RESERVED SEATS, Better Frequent Flyer programs, fewer stops (Remember that is the Southwest model. Frequent Flights to short distance destinations) and others.

there was no need for your comments - especially the FAT and POMPOUS comments you made. you have no spine and certainly no class. I bet you love to hide behind a keyboard and make comments like you made. maybe you should grow a pair and say stuff like that to people's faces.

Actually David, It was Bill the "backwoods hillbilly" hating Texan (hmm) that made the Fat Pompous comments. But yes, Im sure he is spineless aswell.