Wayne

I have heard that there is a way to sign up for a refund of overpaid fare on at least some airlines if fare prices drop. If this is new, I obviously missed it. If it has been around for a while, I feel dumb. Can anyone enlighten me?
Thanks, Wayne

sf7307

I don't know whether it's new or old, but my husband gets refunds (vouchers for future travel) on United seemingly everytime he goes to Aspen. He makes his reservations early, the fares always drop, he gets vouchers. I don't think they give them automatically -- he calls every time he sees a material fare drop.

AAFrequentFlyer

I don't know of any site that will allow you to do it automatically. There are sites there will notify you about fare drop, but you still have to call the airline or travel agent and request some sort of refund.

That said, It all depends on the fare rules, the airline's refund policy.

Every fare has different rules and every airline has different refund policies, so it's not automatic, it should never be looked at as some sort of automatic right.

Many of the lowest fares have $100 and all the way up to $300 re-ticketing charges, so assuming that you have a $50 fare change, you would actually have to pay the airline if you wanted to get the lower fare.

OTOH, if you buy full fare economy, business class or first class tickets then you may get some money.

So basically, the answer is, it depends.

Dayenu

I know you can do it with Southwest. I had some money sitting on my account, used them for the next trip.

Each airline has different rules, search their website or call.

djkbooks

You have to read the fare rules for the fares when you book. They vary depending on the airline, etc.

I saw this the other day when fare shopping directly with the airline:

"Tickets are non-refundable. Any change in itinerary or name may result in an increase in fare and is subject to penalty. If change results in lower fare, no refund applies."

yestravel

U might have read/heard about YAPTA. It is software that will track air fares for many airlines, notify u if a fare for a specific flight drops (or goes up) and tell u the policy of that airline if the fare drops.

I regularly get vouchers on UA. Like someone else said I buy the flight often well out from the departure date. I use Yapta to track it and call UA when the fare drops. Just recently purchased a ticket to CA, price dropped $50, called UA and got a voucher for $50 mailed to me. Then the fare dropped another $60, called and got another voucher. Has to be used within a year.

spirobulldog

I have called and received vouchers for future flights. I don't know of anyway to do it online or automatically.

1JAR

I recently had tickets on Delta and when they dropped prices I called and they would not waive the $75. ticket change fee...

OceanBreeze1

You cannot do this w/ Air Canada. I booked flights to PBI 5 mos ago & now the cost is half of what I paid. Air Canada says "Too bad".

sf7307

Honestly, I'm surprised they don't all say too bad. After all, the purchaser (my husband included) decided to pay whatever the fare was at the time. Stores only refund your money if you buy something and the price is lowered within 7-10 days, why should airlines be any different? But, regardless of my opinion, United has definitely done this, on more than one occasion.

FrankS

One of the travelsites has a commercial now that claims; if a traveler BUYS a ticket for a lower price on their site than you, then you will receive a refund automatically.

The commercial has some guy travelling in a hovercraft refunding money.

Sounds like a gimmick to me.

JeanH

I've gotten refunds, not travel vouchers, from American Airlines when the fares dropped. It had to be the exact same flights, and it was only for international flights.

debl1

It's on Orbitz - a legitimate site, however their rules are pretty specific - it's only IF you've purchased tickets on Orbitz, then someone else uses Orbitz for same flight and gets lower price, THEN their Price Assurance issues you a refund for the difference up to $250. You receive the price difference refund 30 days after you complete your trip.

montereybob

i would also recommend Yapta.com. This year they I received two $600 vouchers for Hawaii flights that dropped.

MonicaRichards

sf7307, well the airlines want to encourage people to book their flights early. Saying you could get a voucher if the price falls after you buy your ticket removes an obstacle some customers might have to buying now. And the airlines probably know that only a percentage of people actually monitor the price of flights once they book them, so for them it's a win. AA has this policy (well, they used to, don't know about now).

AAFrequentFlyer

MonicaRichards,

once again. All airlines have different policies and then you throw in the fare rules to the fray, so at the end, the fare change may not cover the cost of re-ticketing which is required every time a major airline like AA does a fare refund. So, if AA drops the fare by $50, but the re-ticketing charge is $100, what would you do?