chrisbroglio

Left for Paris from San Francisco on Sept. 15th 2016 for three weeks after a year of planning. Flying on Air France business class. Got to SFO 3 hours early and checked in. Found out we had made an error, turned out to be expensive mistake. My spouse's passport was up for renewal Dec 31, 2016. Agent informed us passport had to be valid for 3 months from return date of Oct 8 and that we could not fly unless we: (A.) We got a one year extension on her passport, estimated time to accomplish three weeks, or (B.) we rescheduled our return date, shortening our visit by two weeks. OK, we had paid in advance some thousands of dollars for hotels and a lot of other things. What to do?, We spent 2 hours trying to reschedule our flight as we were determined to go. Thought Air France was great to stay on the line and get everything redone for a return on Sept. 25th. We figured to sort this out when we got to Paris. It got closer land closer to departure time and then came the kicker it cost an additional $4,000 to do all this. We had tried to reach our travel agent this whole time but could not reach her. So we paid the money, flew to Paris. We were able to talk to our travel agent after we arrived and she worked some magic and got our original flight back at no charge. Our TA said we should have only been charged $250 each not $4,000. What is chance to get our $4,000 dollars back? Less of course the $500 reschedule fee.

Jeff_Costa_Rica

I think your travel agent is technically wrong. When you change flights like this, you pay the change fee and you pay the airfare that's available at the last minute -- that's bound to be very high -- and then, minus the credit you have from the airfare you paid. So, it very well could be $4,000. I have heard of cases of airlines waiving the difference in airfare as a matter of goodwill and charging only the change fee. That's entirely their discretion.

mrwunrfl

Am tagging along to see how this turns out. While I'm waiting I'll offer that maybe you got your original flight back at no (additional) charge because you spent $4000 more for the tickets and that change was allowed at no charge. Or, it could have been magic. But I think it might take real magic to get those bucks back.

Good luck!

WoinParis

Get your travel agent sorting it out. She was unreachable beofre you spent the 4 000 $ and she is the one saying you can get it back. Let her work. Maybe offer her 10% of what you get back ? I did it once, she refused, I brought her a bottle of champagne. (the stake were less, 500 $).

Right now you're supposed to be on holiday. Money is only money, you seem to have enough by flying business and I am not so sure doing it now versus after coming back will change much. So enjoy.

My attitude in these cases is that you have to consider it as a car crash - you survived, you lost money but you still have a chance to recover it. So enjoy life and travel.

BigRuss

You're back? Work through the TA as much as you can.

You've paid by credit card so CHALLENGE THE CHARGE when you get your statement. Once the challenge (contested charge, whatever) is in place, it'll stop the interest run-up.

mrwunrfl

I misplaced my passport at LAX the day that I planned to fly to Vietnam. Had to spend $$$$ to change the ticket.

I considered it a self-insurance payment. That is, there was always a risk in buying low priced restricted fares. But, I saved a lot over many trips by not paying higher cost, more flexible, fares and by not paying any cancel-for-any-reason kind of insurance. So, I messed up and had to pay for it that time, but am still way ahead.

Underhill

Write to Christopher Elliott at Elliott.com. He can sometimes work magic.

thursdaysd

Agree with Jeff, I think you're out the $4,000. Has your unreachable when needed TA explained WHY the airline should refund it? You had to buy new tickets because of your error, not the airline's responsibility.

Odin

I also agree with Jeff. The TA might be getting confused with the fare rules, thinking that only the change fee of $250 applies, when in fact not only is the change fee payable, but the fare differential between the original price and the current price is as well. It could amount to $4k esp on business class tickets.

However, if your TA thinks the airline is wrong, there is no harm in letting the TA handle the refund and see what comes out of it.

chrisbroglio

Merci beaucoup! Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions. I will tell the forum how it finally works out. Best to you all and good travelling.

Sue_xx_yy

First, your TA is useless. If you can't get her when you really need her, not even by urgent email, then what good is she? Next, she doesn't seem to have a clue about airfare pricing. Airlines don't just sell seats, they sell seats to specific buyers with specific needs. High prices actually worked in your favour in this instance - because those high prices discouraged other people from buying those seats. If the airline had priced them for discount fare plus $250 each, what were the odds they would have been available for you to buy at the last minute, versus the odds that someone else would have bought them up days if not weeks ago?

Meanwhile I'm with mrwunrfl, I see the occasional high cost of change as something that if you spread out over the many times you've booked a cheap fare, makes it little worse than a kind of insurance premium.

LT

Shouldn't your TA have known about the passport requirements to begin with and informed you? Seems like she/he dropped the the ball long before you got to the airport...

justineparis

I agree with LT , I stopped using travel agents decades ago , never had an issue i couldnt solve myself , and because i research all my options for flights, trains and hotels. I think i do a much better job than a travel agent .lol

Also i almost never ever prepay for hotel stays , for the reason you just had to deal with.

Cowboy1968

I'm a bit surprised that it took two HOURS for AF to reschedule a return flight and to calculate a new fare.
I do that several times per year, also with semi-restricted or restricted tickets which incur a penalty.
It usually takes 1-3 minutes to make the changes (including a few options to minimize penalties) and to issue the new confirmation document - regardless if I get it done via (my company's) TA or at the airlines' desks in person.

Cathinjoetown

Could you have flown as planned and extended or renwed the passport at the embassy? There's the "I lost it" excuse or simply the truth.

Would have been cheaper than $4,000. Or, would they not let you leave the States with your original return flight?

Bummer.