Flight refund help??

maxmais

Hi Guys, bit of advice of any loopholes would be great....

My girlfriend and I booked flights to Australia a few months ago for this December, returning in January, costing approx £1850. My girlfriend has fallen pregnant and we have to cancel the flights. We did not get any insurance for them. Have initially spoken to the manager of the company we booked with, basically we can't get a refund, all we can do is make an alteration to the returning flight, i.e change of name, flight time etc (at a cost). But with the outgoing flight, nothing whatsoever can be changed about it. So can't try and sell it at all or change date etc...

Have been told can only get the tax back - approx £460 for both flights, as this is a lot of money to be simply throwing away, was wondering if anyone knew of any way of getting a bit more money back???

Cheers.

lorweld

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PolishBigSpender

Would insurance even cover pregnancy?

In all honesty, it's a problem of your own making, and as such, you probably don't have much hope of getting money back. I believe you might be able to argue about hotel costs (they have to make a reasonable attempt to re-sell the room, I think...) - but you're likely to be left in the lurch as far as flights go. They're probably non-refundable tickets (more than likely, actually!) and as such, there's very little you can do.

becominganobsessivesaver

Insurance does generally cover pregnancy (for example if you aren't permitted to fly with the airline).

I think the OP should check that their bank/credit card don't have some form of travel insurance (just in case), if not my only suggestion would be to speak to the airline directly and plead your case (though may not be successful)

Congratulations by the way!!!

Quentin

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Would insurance even cover pregnancy?

Virtually all standard off the peg travel insurance policies do!

lfc321

Quentin wrote: »

Virtually all standard off the peg travel insurance policies do!

Yes, but you would have had to take out the insurance prior to getting pregnant. OP hasn't.

So only chance would probably be if they have an annual policy, or through bank account, credit card etc.

Worth a try begging the airline but wouldn't have high hopes - especially if you booked through an agent and are not frequent flyers with them.

Anyway - congratulations! Hope all goes well.

Quentin

We know OP has no insurance!

My post was to answer PolishBigSpender's question asking if cancellation due to pregnancy is covered by any insurer!

You will find that generally, pregnancy is covered as a reason for cancellation - even if you are in that condition when taking out the cover! In fact, if you indulge in baby making activities, how can you be sure you aren't?

maxmais

Thanks for the replys, and the congrats! Doesn't look very hopeful then! Will try a bit of pleading and then I guess will just have to settle for the tax back.

PolishBigSpender

Quentin wrote: »

Virtually all standard off the peg travel insurance policies do!

Wow. You won't find that on Polish travel insurance policies!

UK policies are vastly superior to Polish ones in almost every respect, though.