Too sick to fly — how about a refund?

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Question: I need your help. I’m suffering from end-stage liver disease, and my physicians have decided that my best chance for survival would be a liver transplant.

Based on my current status, it would not be safe for me to fly. I have asked US Airways for a refund on an airline ticket. But it responded with a form letter, saying, “nonrefundable tickets are one of the more restrictive tickets,” and offering the opportunity to change my ticket for $150 plus a fare differential.

I have requested a one-time exception to US Airways’ policy, based on my medical condition. I am a former elite-level frequent flier with US Airways, and have been very pleased with the service provided by the airline, until now. Can you help me persuade them to refund my ticket? — Gary Garretson, Jacksonville, Fla.

Answer: US Airways should consider refunding your ticket, based on your medical condition. But it doesn’t have to.

The airline’s contract of carriage — the legal agreement between you and the airline — says so. (You can download the entire document here.)

It says unused nonrefundable tickets “are valid and may be changed for one year from the date of issue,” as long as you notify US Airways on or before the scheduled departure date if you don’t plan to fly as ticketed. The new ticket is subject “to any applicable fees.”

In other words, you can still use your ticket if you postpone your trip, but you’ll have to pay a change fee and fare differential. Otherwise, your money is gone.

It could be worse: A few years ago, US Airways tried to make airline tickets completely nonrefundable — no exceptions. Passengers didn’t like that, and the airline quickly reversed itself.

Then again, it could also be better. Ideally, tickets would be transferrable so that you could give your unused ticket to a friend or relative. Or even sell it to someone else.

Writing to US Airways was a good idea. The first response will inevitably be a form letter, repeating the airline’s “no refunds” policy. Which is exactly what you got. A review of your correspondence shows you appealed this denial, and were again turned down.

When that happens, you still have a few more people you can ask. (I list them on my site.) You can appeal the decision all the way up to the chief executive officer, and in a situation like yours, that may be necessary.

Fortunately for you, it wasn’t. I contacted US Airways on your behalf and asked it to review your request. Again, it didn’t have to bend its rules for you, but given your serious medical problem, I though it was worth asking.

US Airways agreed to refund your fare, minus a change fee.

  • David Emery

    Shame on US Air for imposing a “change fee” (pronounced “profit”) in this situation. We need to continue to frankly badger the airlines to start treating people as something other than profit centers to be leached.

  • Larry

    I have often wondered why airline tickets are not transferable. (Well: cynical me knows exactly why. That doesn’t make it right.) I am old enough to remember when that wasn’t the case.

    In my view, that single regressive policy is cause of a lot of dissatsfaction.

  • cjr

    The world will be a much better place when companies – not just airlines – start doing the right thing for customers, rather than avoiding it.

  • http://www.autoslash.com Jonathan

    For what it’s worth, if you were booked on United, you would have gotten a refund. I say this because I had booked a trip to Chicago for myself and a friend, and my friend got sick and couldn’t go. It was a non-refundable ticket, and frankly I didn’t expect to get anything back, but I put in a request online and they refunded my friend’s ticket 100% no questions asked to my pleasant surprise. United’s customer service is a thousand times better than USAir and the other airlines, although this may soon be changing with the combo of United and Continental.

  • Tim@OKC

    So if I’m reading this correctly, US Airways refunds his ticket cost, but charges/keeps part of that money? (change fee) And now realinzing that ticket won’t be used, the seat is now available to be sold AGAIN, thereby generating MORE profit.

    ALL at the expense of a person suffering from a life threatening disease, who most probably needs the cash US Airways took for the change fee.

    I guess the US Airways business model is “always do the right thing as LONG AS WE PROFIT from it TWICE”………

  • frostysnowman

    I was thinking, “Good for US Air for doing the right thing” until I got to the part about the refund being less the change fee. I share Tim’s disgust! And shame on US Air for being so stingy.

  • Jennifer Hanuschak

    @Tim@OKC couldn’t have put it better myself!

  • Bill Norris

    I’m happy that you were able to get at least a partial refund for Mr. Garretson, but to be fair to the airline and other passengers who have to travel and know that they have a serious health problem, the solution is to purchase travel insurance.

  • MVFlyer

    And USAir didn’t do anything until Chris intervened…

  • BucksterSF

    David Emery>>”We need to continue to frankly badger the airlines to start treating people as something other than profit centers to be leached”

    Then we need to change our behavior. We flock en masse to an airline that cuts its fee by $5, regardless of the costs on service. We’ve spiraled down for years and now we complain? We’ve got exactly what we’ve asked for.

    Airlines have non-refundable and refundable tickets. If you have any doubts whether you will be able to use a ticket then the solution is simple. But everyone here has the same issue, “I bought a non-refundable ticket and now I want a refund – make an exception for ME!”

  • Chris in NC

    There is insufficient information for me to judge.

    Having said that, I think blasting US Airways is a little harsh here.

    If the OP bought tickets knowing that his serious illness could prevent him from flying, and he wanted his money back, he should have bought a REFUNDABLE fare. If he chooses to buy the non-refundable ticket, then he is assuming the risk of not being able to fly.

    If the OP bought tickets when he was healthy and subsequently was diagnosed with the serious illness, technically, the terms and conditions of the ticket still apply. Thats what travel insurance is for. US Airways could have chosen to offer a partial refund out of compassion and good-will, but is not legally required to do so.

    As I’ve said many times in the past, the solution is fair ticket pricing. The spread between non-refundable tickets and refundable tickets is simply too unreasonable. Why should a discount ticket cost $198 and the least expensive non-restricted ticket cost $986?

    BTW, for all of you who think the US legacy carriers are strict about non-refundable, non-changeable tickets, have you ever booked a ticket on a European short haul flight that is non-refundable, non-changeable?

    As long as airlines continue to make exceptions to non-refundable tickets, the practice of booking them, then appealing to an ombudsman to modify the terms will continue.

    @ Bill Norris
    If the OP has already been diagnosed with liver failure, travel insurance is useless. Its called pre-existing conditions. Your advise would not apply in these cases.

  • Tom

    Odd that he’s on his death bed — end stage means near death — and his dying wish is to receive a few hundred bucks from US Airways. I’m not sure with my final ounce of strength I would type out a message to Chris Elliott for his help in recovering a few hundred dollars. I’m not sure that would be on my bucket list.

  • Anne S

    I also have always wondered by airline tickets are not transferable. I had a similar situation this summer when I needed to cancel my flight to Virgina. Got the same response from the airline- and I’m out the $300 for the ticket. But, then I looked at the travel insurance policy I purchased… good thing I did. Turns out the plan, (i think it was through Travelguard), included an option to cancel for any reason and this option allowed me to recoup the cost of the ticket. Just a word of caution for situations like this — I’d get travel insurance even if you’re completely healthy.. it unexpectedly saved me a bundle!

  • sweepergrl

    I’m only slightly surprised by some of the ‘you should have known better’ posts. Come on, the guy has end stage liver disease. As we all know, being on the transplant list is a lottery at best. If there is anyone who deserves our compassion, it is this man.

    BTW, travel insurance doesn’t necessarily cover illness, especially if they can find even a hint of pre-existing conditions. i had my travel insurance refuse to pay because I had gone to the doctor for a cold 3 weeks before I came down with pneumonia.

    @BucksterSF- the cost difference between a non-refundable ticket and a refundable ticket is always more than the $150 you lose for the change fees. More than once I’ve looked at a refundable ticket only to find it more expensive than a business class ticket. Therefor, it is illogical for most people to even consider buying one.

  • http://www.thetravelinggiraffe.com Crissy

    While the resolution wasn’t perfect, is it ever? I thought it was fair. You can blame the OP for lots of things that he could have done differently but in the end I think he was deserving of at least some of the cost of the flight back. I’m guessing this wasn’t for a $200 flight to Vegas for a weekend of gambling before dying. Though I could be wrong.

    But one issue I have with non-refundable tickets is for people who have communicable diseases (ie flu and insert your own disease you don’t want). The airline doesn’t want you to fly, but is happy to charge you $150 to change your flight. I can’t blame people for taking their chances on a flight, especially if it’s a shorter flight – under those conditions. On the other hand I think that airlines need to look out for the healthy people flying who don’t want that disease, but they want their $150 change fee more.

  • Roberto

    To those who are asking why Garretson didn’t purchase travel insurance, perhaps his liver disease was already known at the time of booking, so he couldn’t get it covered by insurance.

    I don’t know this to be the case, but it’s something to consider before blindly asking why he lacked a travel insurance policy.

  • kina

    Actually, in defense of travel insurance, it will most certainly cover preexisting conditions, providing it was purchased within a certain window of purchasing the airline tickets. There are some good plans out there and some not so good plans out there and a quick phone call to a reputable travel medical insurance specialist would have insured his financial investment, as well as his health, should he become ill overseas and require a medical evacuation. Anyone planning to travel outside the country should make sure they have adequate coverage, but to be terminally ill and do nothing to protect your investment is not just irresponsible, it is dumb.

  • TTNtraveler

    I don’t get it. If he knew he had liver disease, and that it was bad enough to be approaching “end stage,” and he purchased a non-refundable ticket, he should have known those risks – especially if he is an elite frequent flier on US Airways.

    I think its unfortunate that this gentleman is so ill. I feel for him, but unless there is some real financial hardship involved here, I don’t see why US Air should bend its rules. US Air might be doing the “right thing” here, but based on the blog post, it seems that the OP did the “wrong thing” in the first place.

  • Lisa S

    I was just in a situation where my traveling companion fell ill and needed to cancel or postpone our trip. We had travel insurance so we ended up postponing the trip with minimal fuss, but my first thought was to call a friend and see if she wanted to go on a trip with me. Of course, I realized that wasn’t possible because none of the airlines involved would have allowed the tickets to be transferred to her–although they had all been paid for months ago!!! Airlines cite “security” reasons. If that were true, then how can they sell same day tickets? I think the airlines need to get over themselves and allow you to transfer a ticket you bought to someone else. If there is some process that vets the person, i.e., checks the person’s name against the no fly list, then maybe there could be a $5, $10 or $25 change name fee, but no more expensive than that. It is unbelievable what airlines get away with. Theater tickets are transferrable. Not sure about Amtrak, but I never had any problem when I used the train in Europe to give my ticket to someone else or to simply purchase 2 tickets. It does seem that only airlines pull this stuff and get away with it.

  • Linda Snow

    The reason the airlines were able to start offering such low fares for nonrefundable tickets is because they knew that some tickets would not be used and could be resold, or bring in some extra revenue for change fees. Buying them is a gamble, and people should understand the risk they take by buying one. Trip insurance for a low-price ticket is really cheap – people should buy it, or not complain when they lose the gamble. Nonrefundable means just what it says – live with it!

  • laura

    Shame on you! – I think some of you are being quite harsh. Why did he buy a non-refundable ticket? Well, have you ever had a devastating disease that sucked up all your available cash like a Hoover? The diff in fares btw refundable and non-refundable is steep, mayhbe he only had enough for the non-refundable ticket, maybe it was a necessary trip – like say to a clinic in CA and then the docs says, hey, that won’t work, you need to go to TX right away for a transplant. (Some of you are questioning why he would be traveling, like the only reason to travel is a vacation – my husband and I racked up thousands of miles flying to different hospitals and doctors for tests, second opinions and different types of treatment). I’m surprised someone wasn’t gauche enough to ask why he wanted a refund if he was dying – oh wait, the poster named Tom did, how callous is that?

    No one pointed out the obvious – no, the airline according to its contract didn’t have to refund anything, but then again, the airlines change their schedules, policies and fare rules all the type with little thought to the aggravation and money it costs the consumer. If they can’t get my plane out on time because the crew is delayed for hours (their fault) maybe they should be a little more lenient when the consumer can’t make it.

  • Eric

    I’d like to see a sliding scale, based on how much notice you give the airline, for ticket change fees. I can maybe understand a steep change fee if you cancel the day before your flight. There is a chance that seat will go unfilled. But if you want to change your ticket a month before your flight, someone will be sitting in that seat and therefore the airline isn’t harmed by your cancellation and therefore should charge a much smaller change fee.

  • mort

    I am not surprised by USAir’s response. They are a terrible airline. I fly a lot between LGA and CMH. I used to fly USAir all the time but thanks to Delta, that’s the way I go.

  • Charles

    I keep reading “the airlines should…”. In most cases I agree. I think it’s ridiculous that an airline can sell the same seat more than once, something they do all of the time. But, the airlines are not going to change their policies without regulations that require them to do so. Many cite the European airlines having better policies. In general, that’s because of better regulations. And, we are now in the climate where new regulations are just not going to happen, so we can complain as we please, it’s not going to really matter for a while.

  • LFH

    Your answer that the Contract of Carriage does not require the carrier to refund a non-refundable ticket is probably wrong.

    In the contract of carriage, Section 3.1 permits US Airways to refuse to transport passengers who “[a]re seriously ill and have been determined by US Airways’ medical advisor to be at risk to themselves or to be a health risk to others.” If US Airways refuses to transport a passenger based on this provision, then “at the request of the passenger, [US Airways will] refund in accordance with Section 8.2 of this Contract of Carriage” Section 8.2 relates to involuntary refunds. Unlike voluntary refunds where no refunds are available for non-refundable tickets (Section 8.1), where a passenger is refused carriage that passenger is entitled to a full refund, even if the ticket is otherwise non-refundable.

    In order to use the Contract of Carriage, the ill passenger would likely have to go to the departure point timely and be willing to travel for US Airways to make the determination that the passenger is too ill to travel. In this passenger’s situation, US Airways might not have made that determination since no one would be at risk other than the ill passenger himself. On the other hand, where a passenger is ill and a medical threat to others, then the carrier is more likely to make the determination so that it does not end up causing an entire planeload of passengers to become sick or possibly die.

    The lesson to be learned from this is that from the perspective of preserving legal and financial rights, it is better for passengers not to consider doing the morally correct thing themselves by avoiding risk to others, but to put that burden on the carrier.