Can I get refund for a non-refundable fight ticket?

namvet

Hi Everyone,

My mum, who is 71, bought a non refundable ticket online in February this year for travel in November from a travel agent. The fight was with the operator Emirates. Sadly my mum has been diagnosed with stomach cancer about a month ago and will be will having a operation in November. Her doctor said that once she shows the letter confirming her operation to the travel agent she will get her £700 back. She does not have travel insurance to claim off either.

I have called the travel agent and explained the situation and they have asked me to contact Emirates directly. Once I contacted Emirates, they informed me that they are unable to talk to me and that I should get the travel agent to contact them directly.This back and forth went on for at least 2 weeks and I don't believe that the travel agent has even bothered to contact Emirates. The travel agent has turned round and stated that they cannot refund the money as the ticket was bought as a "non-refundable" ticket, but that they can make a good will gesture and pay back £70.

As you can imagine my mum is already very upset with her condition and the business with the travel agent is adding to her worries.

Is there anything that I can do to get part of the £700 back.

Thank You

Caz3121

namvet wrote: »

Her doctor said that once she shows the letter confirming her operation to the travel agent she will get her £700 back.

So had her doctor read the fare rules on her ticket? I would not expect a doctor to know what each airline's policy was in this instance although I fully expect the majority of airlines would take exactly the same stance and refund the airline taxes referring the passenger to their travel insurance for the remainder. (on the cancellation form they are very clear "Only amounts that are refundable in accordance with the Fare Conditions provided to you at the time of purchase will be refunded. ")

This is exactly what travel insurance is for, does she maybe have a bank account with insurance included?
If she is planning on deferring the trip she can ask if for the costs to change the dates but I imagine that now she has been diagnosed, together with her age, travel insurance may be very expensive.

Hope her op is a success

PeacefulWaters

APT can be reclaimed from the airline (via the agent, who should know how to arrange this). The airline can deduct a fee from this.

The rest from any insurer.

The doctor, alas, should stick to medicine.

littlereddevil

Sorry to hear about your Mum but non-refundable means exactly that.
Travel insurance would have covered it.

richardw

Sorry to hear about your mum, hope her op and treatment goes well.

Perhaps do a thorough search of all her insurance policies to see if there is any cover at all for this situation.

Pollycat

I agree with the other posters about the chance of getting a full refund for the ticket.
Very poor advice from your Mum's GP.

Further to richardw's suggestion, maybe check if she has any free travel insurance as part of a bank account.

Best wishes to your Mum.

Heliflyguy

littlereddevil wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your Mum but non-refundable means exactly that.

In certain circumstances it doesn't but fortunately and unfortunately in the OP's case it looks like no refund is permitted.

Are you able to change the dates of travel considering the current situation and additional costs?

Hope it all goes well for your mum unfortunately EK are not the easiest of airlines to deal with.

InsideInsurance

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

The doctor, alas, should stick to medicine.

You forget that GPs, consultants, policeman, fire brigade and all are all experts on insurance or at least they seem to be based on the amount of time they spend giving advice on it. Somewhat ironic given that most personal lines insurers arent even authorised to give advice.


As others have said, you only have the right to get back the tax paid. Outside of that you are purely down to goodwill of the agent/ airline to allow them to cancel/ change the booking.

callum9999

Contrary to the posts above, Emirates has in fact had a policy of refunding non-refundable tickets if the passenger can present medical evidence preventing them from flying in the not too distant past.

While I don't know if this is still the case or not, some airlines will allow refunds upon discretion in cases like this, and many more will let you change the date/get an airline credit. While there is no legal obligation for them to do so, it certainly isn't as clear cut as some of you seem to think it is. It is also greatly complicated by the fact that it was booked through a travel agent - so you're going to have to keep trying to convince the travel agent to try and get it back, something they aren't particularly good at doing considering, on paper, it's not possible.

I also don't think it's particularly necessary to lecture the OP about travel insurance. I think they're fully aware of that already!

Heliflyguy

callum9999 wrote: »

Contrary to the posts above, Emirates has in fact had a policy of refunding non-refundable tickets if the passenger can present medical evidence preventing them from flying in the not too distant past.

Any links to that policy or which route and nonref class that applies to, just curious.

PeacefulWaters

callum9999 wrote: »

I also don't think it's particularly necessary to lecture the OP about travel insurance. I think they're fully aware of that already!

Struggling to see a lecture.

But it is worth highlighting the fact for other users of the site that insurance should be put in place at around the same time as booking.