I purchased 3 RT plane tickets from American Air for a mid-June trip to Spain (approx $2,300) for a trip with my 2 elderly parents. Now my Dad may need knee surgery next week. If he does and is immobilized, what ar my chances of getting refund or voucher from American for the tickets' cost? Will they take my word for it, or do I need to send them a letter from the doctor? The tickets were bought through a travel agent in Miami who bought them from a consolidator. I bought trip insurance too, but that covers only a fraction of the cost if I were to decide to go that route. Thank you in advance for any advice.

Let me get this straight. I never buy travel insurance and everybody says I'm crazy. Now you're telling me that you did buy travel insurance, but it won't even cover the cost of the plane tickets if you have to cancel for health reasons? What is the point of the travel insurance?

Terms and conditions vary enourmously so it all depends on what kind of tickets you bought. Some tickets there simply are no refunds for any reasons. Some airlines offer disability proivisions, some don't. If they do, then you will definitely need a doctor's note, but you'll be darn lucky if your tickets or the airline have any provisions.<BR><BR>Without a doubt you make the travel agent earn their money - no need to discuss it here, it's the travel agent's job to do what they can. But chances are the insurance is what you got. If you paid by credit card, check with them if they may not cover some of it. Mostly the CC companys give you insurance for getting hurt during the flight, but it's easy enough to check into.<BR><BR>A question though, if the insurance doesn't come close, what exactly did you buy? Most trip cancellation insurance would definitely cover it.<BR><BR>

A lot of people take out Trip cancellation insurance to cover the land portion only---since most airline tkts are non=refundable but are changeable with a fee.<BR><BR>But I always take out the trip cancellation insurance for the entire trip,including my air=even if I did it independant from the cruise or tour.

An alternative is to rebook the trip using your tickets as a 'credit'. Would this be a viable choice? Probably have to reissue tickets within a year, to be used in the next year.

In my experience most carriers will refund due to illness with a Doctor's certificate .Good luck

Thank you all for the good advice. I appreciate your taking to time to try to help. To the one comment about what's the point of travel insurance if it doesn't cover the cost of the trip? The insurance does cover a portion of the cost of the ticket plus many other things such as medical, medivac, trip delay costs, etc. We'll see what happens. I may not need it if my Dad's surgery is minor....Say a prayer for us....

Try planning a trip ahead stupid!!! If your father needs surgery, they won't tell him a week before! Next time you plan a trip, really plan the trip!

Message for this Bill person, maybe you should visit a church soon that way you won't call a person stupid when they face parents illness. I hope for your sake you don't ever have to go through that and if you do I hope that you don't have to hear a person call you stupid. You should be ashamed of yourself, I'm certain you can't be happy with what you see when you look in the mirror or you wouldn't have the ability to be such a cruel person.

On occasion people have been told a week before that they will be having surgery. I beleive it happens because the situation is Urgent.

Is there a standard policy about how long you have to reschedule your flight? I know there's a penalty, but I seem to remember that the ticket is good for two years? Did I make that up?