It’s not fare

chs117

I had to cancel air travel tickets and was charged the whole cost less taxes. Is that fair or even legal

eskbanker

chs117 said:

I had to cancel air travel tickets and was charged the whole cost less taxes. Is that fair or even legal

Yes to both, unless you bought flexible/refundable tickets, which are substantially more expensive than the ones most people buy....

elsien

Of course if you have travel insurance and your reason for cancellation is covered by that instead of due to a change of mind then claim on that. 

Caz3121

which airline and what were the fare rules?
Many airlines only sell non-refundable tickets...they will advise you of this before you purchase
Other airlines offer a variety of different fares, some will be non-refundable, some may have a cancellation fee and the most expensive may be fully refundable.

Ayr_Rage

Not very fair but legal and here's today's musical answer.

https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tFP1zcsNjAtKTA3Ljdg9OItyUhVKE-sVMgsUcgsBgB-ywjd&q=the+way+it+is&oq=the+way+it+is&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgBEC4YgAQyCggAEAAY4wIYgAQyBwgBEC4YgAQyBwgCEAAYgAQyBwgDEAAYgAQyBwgEEAAYgAQyBwgFEC4YgAQyBwgGEAAYgAQyBwgHEAAYgAQyBwgIEC4YgAQyBwgJEC4YgATSAQg4NDU4ajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:5a37b479,vid:GlRQjzltaMQ,st:0

heatherw_01

Flights are non-refundable.
You can get flexible tickets and some airlines let you change the dates, but normal tickets are always non-refundable.

This is why you have travel insurance and read the terms before purchasing.

NoodleDoodleMan

If it says non refundable...................................

Grumpy_chap

NoodleDoodleMan said:

If it says non refundable...................................

Which was the whole subject of a recent thread (related to hotel rooms) and the comments made to support a non refundable rate being as flexible as the flexible rate were quite sincere.

cantbelieveit23

Certainly legal, but fair?
If you cancelled well in advance, you might argue that your seats could be sold to others (although you will never know if that was the case).
Usual MSE advice on travel insurance is to buy ASAB, but you may not have had reasons that would be covered.
I can understand you are frustrated that some unforeseen circumstances got you into this situation, but I suspect that you can only grumble.