JoeTro

I'm considering cancelling a planned trip, which would mean cancelling tickets with EasyJet and BA. I'm assuming they are non-refundable, but I'm wondering if there is a fee for cancelling? Do I have to inform them I'm cancelling, or can I just not turn up?

Thanks.

NeoPatrick

I'm ready to be proven wrong, but I've never heard of a fee to cancel and not rebook. If so, I'm with you -- I'd just not show up before paying them to tell them I'm not going and they can resell the tickets.

J62

Not sure the specific rules with EasyJet and BA, but normally if you inform the airline before the trip you can use the value of the ticket on another flight for a fixed period, often 1yr. You would need to pay a fee ($100) to change to a different itinerary, but you do not lose the value of the ticket you purchased.

If you don't show up, you may forfeit the value of the ticket, as you didn't give the airline a chance to resell your seat.

A phone call to the airlines will give you more definitive information.

There is no additional fee for canceling - they already have your money.

rkkwan

Non-refundable fares can often be rebooked for other dates for a fee - at least on non-low-cost airlines like BA.

You may even use the fare credit for other BA flights in the next year.

But if you don't think you'll make that trip at all, then just don't show up.

crazychick

How rude to just not show up if you know you can't make the flight then cancel some poor person might be desperately trying to book a flight on a sold out flight and your cancellations could mean they can get on the flight. Maybe it is just me but I could never just not turn up.

rkkwan

crazychick - That's how the airline business work, and that's why airlines overbook. Because lots of people don't turn up for flights everyday. You really don't need to do anything, and it's not rude.

You calling the airline actually is costing them phone fees and occupying their phone agent's time. How rude it is for you to cause other passengers with more urgent need to wait more time to get to an agent!

alanRow

Do you really want to pay Easyjet etc 10p per minute in order to cancel a flight from where you won't get a refund.

Last time Easyjet cancelled a flight it cost nearly £10 in phone calls to get a £30 refund - ie I only ended up with £20 net

Odin

There would be no need for overbooking if reservations were cancelled when they are no longer needed.

Even if the airfare is non-refundable, the airport taxes can be refunded (BA).

Is cancellation not possible online (assuming the booking was made online?)

NeoPatrick

Just for the record I go back to my original statement. I wouldn't call and cancel IF they charge you to do so. (Which I still can't imagine). That's different than not calling to cancel when there is no charge to do so.

JoeTro

Thanks for the tips. I can cancel BA on-line, and maybe EasyJet too. The tickets are not worth much and I have no plans to rebook/re-use those credits.

AAFrequentFlyer

Full fare tickets do not need to be cancelled to retain value, thus many people, especially businesspeople buy these types of tickets to have flexibility if they need to change anything becuase of business needs.

Thus, many don't show up for their "booked" flight. That's why airlines overbook all the time. They use a sophisticated software that keeps track of all flights and the usually the computer can predict what's going to happen on any 1 flight and tells the airline of the number of "extra" seats they can sell.

Occasionally, the prediction is wrong and more people than there are available seats do show up for the flight, but that's easily fixable by offering people a "bribe" with vouchers and/or free tickets, etc. 99% of the time this works and only occasionally the airline has to bump some passengers involuntarily. In US when that happens, the airline has to report the involuntary bump to FAA which keeps statistics and publishes it on their website. Trust me, airlines do not like that route....

That said, unless the OP is expecting some kind of residual value from the non-refundable ticket to possibly use in the future (usually a year) with that particular airline then there is no need to cancel.

Just don't show up.

It's not rude, it's just the way airline business works.


Reporting from Warsaw.

alanRow

On the subject of refunds

http://money.guardian.co.uk:80/consu...041348,00.html

JoeTro

Thanks. NY Times had something about refunds on BA and EasyJet that basically answered my question! It is nice to know you can get taxes back. In any event, I think I'll probably carry though with my travel plans. Just got cold feet.