Heart Condition and unable to fly - Can I get a full refund

phamilton

Seriously need some advice.

Before I was able to take out travel insurance I fell seriously ill with a heart condition and I have been told that I am unable to fly. The compnay I booked with have charged me £440 cancellation on a £950 flight.

The CAB were not particularly helpful when I contacted them.

If anyone can provide me with any advice I would be really grateful because I cant take any stress right now and I really need the money back.

I have been informed that Mr Money Saving Expert tackled a similar issue on a TV programme not so long ago. If anyone knows the name of the show could you please let me know.

Thanks

Gemma__3

You can't reclaim the money. You would have been £950 down if you would have flown.

This is what travel insurance is for. Sadly you didn't have any

bris

With the airlines you won't get your money back, your condition is irrelevant, sorry.

In this country we work on the "mitigating losses" scenario where if they can resell the product for the same price then a full refund should be given as any deductions would be seen as a penalty. Any reasonable expenses can be deducted such as advertising.

In your case the airlines change their prices on a daily basis so the seat can be sold for a much cheaper price with them still able to keep the original £950 you paid, so they resell for £510 and keep your £440, this is legal as thats the way broken contracts work. You don't stand much hope of getting the rest of the money back. If there was any empty seats on the plane then you don't stand anychance and technically they didn't even have to give you back the £550.

If you want to test it in the small claims court (depending on which country they are from) you can sue them for the £440 and make the judge divulge how they best mitigated their loss, they would then have to explain how much they resold the seat for and what the expenses were in doing so, if there was a balance somewhere in between then you would be awarded the difference.

Maybe the threat of court could be enough to get them to pay.

pimento

What was the time gap between you purchasing the ticket and falling sick?

I usually buy my travel insurance immediately after putting the phone down on the airline after I've made the booking.

Hintza

Are you sure you don't have any travel insurance through your bank of credit card?

ThumbRemote

Agree with the above comments.

The simple legal position is that you formed a contract with the airline. They are still willing to fulfil that contract, but you want to break it. Therefore they do not have to give a refund. Unfortunately you chose not to take out travel insurance, which would have covered this.

Regarding stress, your best bet is to just accept the money has gone and feel slightly annoyed with yourself for not taking out insurance. Anything you do to try and get more money back is going to be slightly stressful.

Ne5555

I bought a travel insurance with my flight, and after booked it we have received a doctor appointment for my DS heart problems.
We couldnt fly and we claimed from the insurance company and been declined saying that that was not an emergency appointment.
fortunately it wasnt big deal of money but I have learned my lesson again that insurances are just a rip off.
Even if you have insurance they will try everything for not to pay out.
Unfortunately we must pay for car insurance(£400 last year and £1400 this year for a newer car,no claim,6 years no claims bonus,mature driver with 15 years experience),we must pay for building insurance(which we dont claim for some minor damages,because they will shoot the prices up), we must pay for life insurances (this is ok as I get it from cashback sites,so my layout is small but I doubt they will pay out saying that this is new insurance) and I wont go into details of business side of insurances (employers liability,office,professional indemnity, sickness, etc...)

ThumbRemote

Ne5555 wrote: »

I bought a travel insurance with my flight, and after booked it we have received a doctor appointment for my DS heart problems.
We couldnt fly and we claimed from the insurance company and been declined saying that that was not an emergency appointment.
fortunately it wasnt big deal of money but I have learned my lesson again that insurances are just a rip off.
Even if you have insurance they will try everything for not to pay out.
Unfortunately we must pay for car insurance(£400 last year and £1400 this year for a newer car,no claim,6 years no claims bonus,mature driver with 15 years experience),we must pay for building insurance(which we dont claim for some minor damages,because they will shoot the prices up), we must pay for life insurances (this is ok as I get it from cashback sites,so my layout is small but I doubt they will pay out saying that this is new insurance) and I wont go into details of business side of insurances (employers liability,office,professional indemnity, sickness, etc...)

This belongs on the Praise, Vents and Warnings board. Don't hijack someone elses consumer rights thread with your irrelevant vent.

Ne5555

I didnt mean to jack in to his thread,I just wanted tell about my experience, how it dealt with flight company and insurance company.
If I offended I am sorry.

jkkne

bris wrote: »

With the airlines you won't get your money back, your condition is irrelevant, sorry.

Not neccessarily true dependent on the airline. British Airways will refund on production of a doctors/conmsultants note or allow you to move the flight to a later date (within the year validity of the ticket)

Not helpful to the OP but useful for other BA travellers

pimento

ThumbRemote wrote: »

This belongs on the Praise, Vents and Warnings board. Don't hijack someone elses consumer rights thread with your irrelevant vent.

I read the post as being along the lines of "even if you had purchased travel insurance there's no guarantee they would pay out", so not irrelevant.