Has anyone had any experience with obtaining a refund with ebookers? I've purchased tickets for lgw - mci for july, for $860 on delta - now continental is at $450..... suggestions?

Have you contacted ebookers to see if you are even eleigble for a refund? Perhaps they will do some kind of adjustment for you. Also, have you checked the avaialblity of the delta tickets?

Refund policy from their site"

"9.1 Air tickets returned to us for a refund are subject to a minimum administration charge of £100 per ticket, irrespective of the number of tickets returned. There is no automatic right to a refund and when you return an air ticket to us, we will arrange for them to be presented to the respective airline or consolidator to assess eligibility for a possible refund in accordance with the relevant airline's or consolidator's terms and conditions. We recommend that you return such air tickets to us by registered post as we do not accept responsibility for documents mislaid or lost by the Royal Mail."

It's simple. The charges involved in returning the ticket <b>if it's even possible</b> will offset any possible savings in purchasing the new ticket on a different airline.

That said, I suspect you have a non-refundable ticket, in which case the agency and airline will still charge a fee and all you can hope for is having credit for the remaining amount with the airline for 1 year. They will not refund cash to you on the cheaper fares. They will allow you to book another flight and use the credit as payment, but it has to be within a year. When it says non-refundable, it is non-refundable. Only full fare coach, business and first tickets are fully refundable, but you are talking about tickets that usually cost around $2000 and up. Also since you booked through an agency, they have their own fees regardless of what the airline may/may not charge you in instances like this.
Simply, I would forget about any plan to get the cheaper fare. This happens all the time with fares and it's ubforunate when you find a cheaper fare after you made the purchase, but it's also a fact of life. If the cheaper fare was with the same airline, then you do have a shot of a rollover, where the airline sends you a voucher for the difference. Again, this doesn't happen automatically and the new fares have to apply to you purchased flight, but at least it's possible.

I recently rebooked my mom's international flight from Houston to Hong Kong on CO. Her new flight is ~$70 cheaper than her original, so they send her a voucher to be used in the next 12 months. However, the $150 change fee is charged immediately, and we couldn't use the $70 credit for that.

So, even if it's on the same airline, you probably have to pay out another $150 or so (depending on fare class) immediately to change, and then get a voucher. Plus, the &pound;100 from ebooker that Dick describes. That is exactly what you'd have gotten back in vouchers - about $430.

But since the new fare isn't on the same airline, like AAFF says, forget about it!

rkkwan,

I never heard of a fee for a rollover. Is this something new with CO? If the new fare applies to your flight there is no charge for a rollover as far as I know. I've done it with AA, USAir, United and NW and I never got charged.

And did I misunderstand but how did you justify spending $150 for a $70 saving?

AAFF - My mom has to rebook because of some &quot;emergencies&quot;. Of course, we're not going to spend $150 to save $70. But also, it's a change of itinerary from IAH-HKG to EWR-HKG, so maybe that makes a difference too.

You are changing the ticket, not just getting a rollover. That's why the charge.
So if I understand it now, your mom's need to change the ticket will <b>cost</b> her $80. $150 change fee minus the $70 fare savings?

AAFF - Yeah, you've got it. We don't really care whether the $70 can only come in 12-month voucher, as she should make gold elite this year - with a few more purchases in coming months.