Advise needed for tough question regarding tickets--refund or credit possible from consolidator?

A friend of mine is confronted with a tough situation. She had bought
2 air tickets last year to China shortly before the whole SARS thing
exploded. The plan was to travel in April or May. She had apparently
bought those tickets from a consolidator.

When the CDC had come out with those travel advisories my friend
informed the consolidator about either postponing or cancelling the
flight because the other member of the party is her elderly
parent--and older people who contracted SARS were dropping like flies
and spreading the disease around worldwide....The long and short of it
was that she decided to postpone the trip until the end of this year.

Now, she's working in a hospital with patients, and she can't go to
China or anywhere else this year. Can she get a refund or arrange for
some credit for air tickets from the consolidator? (She might be able
to take some vacation next year, and she was thinking she can arrange
for a swap for herself or for her elderly parent.)

What should my friend do? I don't think she can suck it up and forget
about the whole thing. It would be like giving money away for
services NOT rendered or products that were NEVER delivered. My
friend also wants to know what sort of recourse is available if the
consolidator refuses to grant either a refund or credit? Can she
complain to some consumer affairs department? Should she dispute the
charges with her credit card company even though it's been over 6
months since she bought the tickets?

Thanks in advance.

Lil

Dispute under what conditions? The tickets were probably non refundable and
non exchangeable, if that was the case then she has no recourse. As long as
the planes were flying on the days she was ticketed for she doesn't have a
claim to get any of her money back.

She may be able to pay a change fee to change the dates, but probably not
that either.

She needs to check the terms of the tickets and the deal with the
consolidator. If it was a no refunds, no changes, no exchanges, then she's
just plain out of luck. It's why some tickets cost a lot less then others
do, because they have a lot of conditions riding on them.

She needed to understand the limititations of the tickets before she bought
them, not try to fix it after the fact by trying to get her money back.



"Lil" wrote in message
om...
A friend of mine is confronted with a tough situation. She had bought
2 air tickets last year to China shortly before the whole SARS thing
exploded. The plan was to travel in April or May. She had apparently
bought those tickets from a consolidator.

When the CDC had come out with those travel advisories my friend
informed the consolidator about either postponing or cancelling the
flight because the other member of the party is her elderly
parent--and older people who contracted SARS were dropping like flies
and spreading the disease around worldwide....The long and short of it
was that she decided to postpone the trip until the end of this year.

Now, she's working in a hospital with patients, and she can't go to
China or anywhere else this year. Can she get a refund or arrange for
some credit for air tickets from the consolidator? (She might be able
to take some vacation next year, and she was thinking she can arrange
for a swap for herself or for her elderly parent.)

What should my friend do? I don't think she can suck it up and forget
about the whole thing. It would be like giving money away for
services NOT rendered or products that were NEVER delivered. My
friend also wants to know what sort of recourse is available if the
consolidator refuses to grant either a refund or credit? Can she
complain to some consumer affairs department? Should she dispute the
charges with her credit card company even though it's been over 6
months since she bought the tickets?

Thanks in advance.

Lil

If the consolidator was a U.S. consolidator, then most likely they had to
report the sale of the ticket to ARC (Airline Reporting Corp.) by the
Tuesday following the sale of the ticket. The consolidator no longer has
the money from the sale of the airline ticket. The airline has the money.
The consolidator usually receives an upfront commission and a back end
override depending on their productivity over a measured period of time. It
may not be up to the consolidator at all whether or not to issue a
refund/credit on the ticket. Your friend purchases a ticket that probably
has more restrictions on it than does a regular airline ticket. In return,
I'll bet your friend saved a considerable amount of money over the price
that the airline was selling the ticket for. What does the ticket say in
the endorsement box? I'll bet it says "Non- Refundable". Now it's no ones
fault when an event like SARS occurs. But you can't expect the consolidator
(or travel agent) to do work (the sale) and then turn around and ask them to
do more work (the refund) without any compensation. Services WERE rendered
by the consolidator - the sale of the ticket. You stated that the trip was
postponed until the end of the year. Did the consolidator do more work by
rebooking the flight and reissueing the ticket? If so, the airline
certainly didn't compensate the consolidator for the extra work that they
did. Did your friend compensate the consolidator if they did more work?

Your friend needs to suck it up and quit crying in her beer. The airlines
aren't to blame in this situation and certainly not the consolidator.


"Lil" wrote in message
om...
A friend of mine is confronted with a tough situation. She had bought
2 air tickets last year to China shortly before the whole SARS thing
exploded. The plan was to travel in April or May. She had apparently
bought those tickets from a consolidator.

When the CDC had come out with those travel advisories my friend
informed the consolidator about either postponing or cancelling the
flight because the other member of the party is her elderly
parent--and older people who contracted SARS were dropping like flies
and spreading the disease around worldwide....The long and short of it
was that she decided to postpone the trip until the end of this year.

Now, she's working in a hospital with patients, and she can't go to
China or anywhere else this year. Can she get a refund or arrange for
some credit for air tickets from the consolidator? (She might be able
to take some vacation next year, and she was thinking she can arrange
for a swap for herself or for her elderly parent.)

What should my friend do? I don't think she can suck it up and forget
about the whole thing. It would be like giving money away for
services NOT rendered or products that were NEVER delivered. My
friend also wants to know what sort of recourse is available if the
consolidator refuses to grant either a refund or credit? Can she
complain to some consumer affairs department? Should she dispute the
charges with her credit card company even though it's been over 6
months since she bought the tickets?

Thanks in advance.

Lil

The consolidator did its part - issue tickets at a reduced price. You now
have a contract with the airline. If you are willing to accept an airline
voucher and pay up the difference in price for yet another set of tickets,
you might retain most of the money spent for the original tickets. It will
be entirely up to the airline.


"Lil" wrote in message
om...
A friend of mine is confronted with a tough situation. She had bought
2 air tickets last year to China shortly before the whole SARS thing
exploded. The plan was to travel in April or May. She had apparently
bought those tickets from a consolidator.

When the CDC had come out with those travel advisories my friend
informed the consolidator about either postponing or cancelling the
flight because the other member of the party is her elderly
parent--and older people who contracted SARS were dropping like flies
and spreading the disease around worldwide....The long and short of it
was that she decided to postpone the trip until the end of this year.

Now, she's working in a hospital with patients, and she can't go to
China or anywhere else this year. Can she get a refund or arrange for
some credit for air tickets from the consolidator? (She might be able
to take some vacation next year, and she was thinking she can arrange
for a swap for herself or for her elderly parent.)

What should my friend do? I don't think she can suck it up and forget
about the whole thing. It would be like giving money away for
services NOT rendered or products that were NEVER delivered. My
friend also wants to know what sort of recourse is available if the
consolidator refuses to grant either a refund or credit? Can she
complain to some consumer affairs department? Should she dispute the
charges with her credit card company even though it's been over 6
months since she bought the tickets?

Thanks in advance.

Lil

(Lil) wrote in message . com...
A friend of mine is confronted with a tough situation. She had bought
2 air tickets last year to China shortly before the whole SARS thing
exploded. The plan was to travel in April or May. She had apparently
bought those tickets from a consolidator.

snip

What should my friend do? I don't think she can suck it up and forget
about the whole thing. It would be like giving money away for
services NOT rendered or products that were NEVER delivered. My
friend also wants to know what sort of recourse is available if the
consolidator refuses to grant either a refund or credit? Can she
complain to some consumer affairs department? Should she dispute the
charges with her credit card company even though it's been over 6
months since she bought the tickets?

That is one of the risks you take when you buy discount tickets,
particularly from a consolidator. Your friend took that risk. Gambled
and lost. Not the airlines fault nor the consolidator. No recourse
from anyone.

Lil wrote:
A friend of mine is confronted with a tough situation. She had bought
2 air
What should my friend do? I don't think she can suck it up and forget
about the whole thing. It would be like giving money away for
services NOT rendered or products that were NEVER delivered.

No, it is not the same thing. The product was delivered, and was not
used according to the contract it was purchased under.
If your friend wants refundable tickets, she should pay more money and
get refundable tickets, not expect the merchant to give her a deal on
tickets that are non refundable and expect a refund.

mrtravel wrote in message om...
Lil wrote:
A friend of mine is confronted with a tough situation. She had bought
2 air
What should my friend do? I don't think she can suck it up and forget
about the whole thing. It would be like giving money away for
services NOT rendered or products that were NEVER delivered.

No, it is not the same thing. The product was delivered, and was not
used according to the contract it was purchased under.
If your friend wants refundable tickets, she should pay more money and
get refundable tickets, not expect the merchant to give her a deal on
tickets that are non refundable and expect a refund.


Travel insurance was developed to cover situations such as this.

david wrote:

mrtravel wrote in message om...

Lil wrote:

A friend of mine is confronted with a tough situation. She had bought
2 air
What should my friend do? I don't think she can suck it up and forget
about the whole thing. It would be like giving money away for
services NOT rendered or products that were NEVER delivered.

No, it is not the same thing. The product was delivered, and was not
used according to the contract it was purchased under.
If your friend wants refundable tickets, she should pay more money and
get refundable tickets, not expect the merchant to give her a deal on
tickets that are non refundable and expect a refund.

Travel insurance was developed to cover situations such as this.

To me, the savings from the cheaper tickets is the insurance...