I recently purchased a non-refundable ticket to Ireland on Aer Lingus. I need to change my itinerary due to family circumstances but not life and death. When I purchased they told me the penalty to change was half my ticket cost. Has anyone had any experience with this. I need creative answers please. I've always had good advice from you before. Help!!!!! I am traveling in early August so the penalty would be approx. $300.

You are somewhat lucky if it only costs you half. I purchased a totally non refundable and non-changeable ticket from them. Of course, it was much cheaper than any other ticket they offered because of those restrictions. It was only round trip from London to Dublin, however. When our flight from Miami to Heathrow was canceled and American put us on a slightly later flight to Gatwick, so we couldn't use the original Aer Lingus ticket, we simply lost out. As stated when we purchased it -- no change and no refund. There was no refund. Fortunately American, taking good care of us, provided us with free tickets on BA from Gatwick to Dublin instead. <BR><BR>The bottom line is that the reason you originally got a good fare (supposedly) is because you agreed to the restrictions. It's the price you have to pay to get that fare, so there's not much you can do about not paying the original agreed upon fines or fees.

I had the same exact thing happen to me two years ago with Aer Lingus. I had two options: Keep the ticket and you can use it later (which I did....they were good enough to waive any change of date fees.) My other option was to produce a copy of a death certificate and they'd refund the entire cost. Call the 800 Aer Lingus number and ask for the customer service number and speak to someone who is not a ticket rep but rather a customer service person. I think they will bend rules for an unfortunate family incident, but want to make sure to limit things like this so that everyone isn't changing plans on a whim.

Cheap ticket + non-life/death = big penalty. In fact, if it was a non-refundable ticket you are very lucky if they are willing to make changes for only 50%. Unfortunately you are probably stuck.

So are we now suggesting to fake a family death to get a refund or a change? Shame on you, Amy. Pat has already stated that this was not even a life and death circumstance. No wonder it becomes harder and harder to get a good fare in case of a real family death.

Sorry, I misread. I thought it said it was life and death. Mine was a death, which is why I was so happy that Aer Lingus found it within the rules to make an exception in my case.

I don't think Amy was suggesting that we all have a supply of fake death certificates on hand to use when we want to change our travel plans. She simply stated that she had to produce one in her case, which was due to a death.

I work for a domestic airline here in the US and have the empowerment to make decisions regarding these types of situations. What I recommend is to speak to a customer service rep and tell your circumstances and see if there are any exceptions that can be made for you. There ia a variety of criteria that is looked at when making these types of exceptions and unfortunately it is subjective - no black and white - only gray. Good Luck

I purchased 2 tickets last feb 2001 for a May trip. In march I needed to change my dates to a week later and was charged no penalty. I was told that as long as the changes were before 60 days from travel date there was no penalty.

Pat, here's my advice:<BR><BR>Go find a dictionary, and look up the word "non-refundable".