Help with Non Refundable Tickets on AirTran

[natalia1681]

Hey all,

Need some advice from the experts here! Something has come up for our Jan plans and we need to travel one day earlier than originally planned. We booked our plane tickets 2 months ago at a reasonable nonrefundable price on AirTran. So, I attempted to change my reservation and the price to change the tickets is $400. This is almost what I paid for the tickets. So, I told them I would simply like to cancel the tickets and then rebook. This as well costs $400.:brick:

Anybody have any tips or suggestions on what I can do? I appreciate any advice:wave: Ideally I'd like to cancel my tickets and not bother with AirTran anymore. Anything would be greatly appreciated

Thanks!

 

[Tim G]

Here's small part taken from the Fare Rules of Airtran Airways...

And indeed they ARE NON-REFUNDABLE...
There's absolutely nothing you can do about it...

Please read below...


Hope this helps.
=============================================

RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED FOR ALL SECTORS.
WAITLIST NOT PERMITTED.
TICKETING MUST BE COMPLETED WITHIN 24 HOURS AFTER
RESERVATIONS ARE MADE.
NOTE -
TICKET NUMBER WITH A PRECEDING /TKNA/ OR /TKT/
MUST BE ENTERED IN THE OTHER SERVICE INFORMATION
/OSI/ PNR FIELD FOR ALL RESERVATIONS.

CD.CHILD DISCOUNTS
DISCOUNT DOES NOT APPLY

AD.AGTS DISCOUNTS

NOTE -
CONTACT AIRTRAN RESERVATIONS FOR INFORMATION.
OD.OTHER DISCOUNTS

NOTE -
NO DISCOUNTS ON PUBLISHED FARES PERMITTED.
NO SENIOR CITIZEN DISCOUNTS PERMITTED.
NO CHILDREN DISCOUNTS PERMITTED.

SO.STOPOVERS
NO STOPOVERS PERMITTED

TE.TKT ENDORSEMENT

THE ORIGINAL AND THE REISSUED TICKET MUST BE ANNOTATED -
NON-REFUNDABLE - AND - NON-TRANSFERABLE - IN THE
ENDORSEMENT BOX.
NOTE -
ALL TICKETS ON AIRTRAN ARE NON-REFUNDABLE AND
NON-TRANSFERABLE AND MAY BE USED ONLY BY THE
PERSON WHOSE NAME APPEARS ON THE TICKET.

PE.PENALTIES

CANCELLATIONS

TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE.
NOTE -
TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE AND NON-TRANSFERABLE.
--------
IN THE EVENT OF A LOWER FARE BECOMING AVAILABLE
NO REFUNDS OR TRAVEL VOUCHERS ARE PERMITTED ON
PREVIOUSLY CONFIRMED RESERVATIONS THAT DO NOT
CONTAIN A CHANGE OF DATE/TIME/ORIGIN/DESTINATION.

CHANGES

CHARGE USD 50.00 FOR REISSUE/REVALIDATION.
NOTE -
THIS CHARGE IS IN ADDITION TO ANY APPLICABLE FARE
INCREASE.
PASSENGERS ARE PERMITTED TO REBOOK THEIR FLIGHTS
PRIOR TO ONE HOUR BEFORE SCHEDULED DEPARTURE OF
THEIR FLIGHT SEGMENT. PASSENGERS MUST REBOOK ON
A SCHEDULED FLIGHT AT THE TIME AIRTRAN IS NOTIFIED
OF SUCH REBOOKING. IF AIRTRAN FAILS TO RECEIVE
NOTICE OF REBOOKING AIRTRAN WILL CANCEL ALL
RESERVATIONS HELD BY SUCH PASSENGER IN CONJUNCTION
WITH THIS FLIGHT SEGMENT. PASSENGERS MAY REBOOK ON
FLIGHTS WITHIN ONE YEAR OF ORIGINAL PURCHASE DATE.


CO.COMBINABILITY
FOR ONE WAY FARES
ADD-ONS NOT PERMITTED.
FARES MAY BE COMBINED ON A HALF ROUND TRIP BASIS WITH ANY
FARE FOR ANY CARRIER IN ANY RULE AND TARIFF TO FORM
SINGLE/DOUBLE OPEN JAWS/2-COMPONENT ROUND TRIPS/MULTI-
COMPONENT CIRCLE TRIPS.
END-ON-END PERMITTED. VALIDATE ALL FARE COMPONENTS.
TRAVEL MUST BE VIA POINT OF COMBINATION.

=============================================

 

[brertigger]

Earlier this year, my family had to cancel one person's airline ticket (out of 4 purchased), since that person could not travel with us at the moment.

AirTran offered us two options:
1) We could get a credit (in either their name or ours, since they are different) for a cost of $50 (for the one ticket). This credit is valid for 1 year.
2) We could also modify our flight agenda however we wanted, for $50 per person affected, plus the fare cost.

We ended up getting a credit for the one ticket, and then redoing our return flight to be nonstop. This worked out amazing, because we found a fare sale, so the fee for us was only like $20 per ticket, but ordinarily this would be the $50.


There is no way to get a 100% refund from AirTran on nonrefundable tickets.
I suggest that you call back and get the credit for tickets, if you might travel again in the next year.

 

[Tim G]

Earlier this year, my family had to cancel one person's airline ticket (out of 4 purchased), since that person could not travel with us at the moment.

AirTran offered us two options:
1) We could get a credit (in either their name or ours, since they are different) for a cost of $50 (for the one ticket). This credit is valid for 1 year.
2) We could also modify our flight agenda however we wanted, for $50 per person affected, plus the fare cost.

We ended up getting a credit for the one ticket, and then redoing our return flight to be nonstop. This worked out amazing, because we found a fare sale, so the fee for us was only like $20 per ticket, but ordinarily this would be the $50.


There is no way to get a 100% refund from AirTran on nonrefundable tickets.
I suggest that you call back and get the credit for tickets, if you might travel again in the next year.

That was very courtious of AirTran, they don't need to do that... Non-refundable is non-refundable...

Like i said... That was very nice of them.

 

[natalia1681]

Thanks for all of your help and suggestions. It looks like we will just be making our original days work out.


I was just being tacky and hoping for an exception to the rules for me (*hangs head in shame*):lookaroun


I have, however, decided that I'm not too worried about the dates, since any day that I'm going to Disney is a good day for me:animwink:

 

[tcpm21]

air tran

We booked our trip back in May of this year. The plan was for myself, Mother in Law, and my two daughters to go. Well, a few weeks later my Mother in Law had a heart attack, and could not go with us. My Husband is going to go in her place now. We called Disney (That is who we booked everything with), they could not help us. I called Air Tran...nothing they can do they said they cant do name changes. Called Disney back again, they said my Mother in law would have to forfeit her ticket, and we would have to buy a new one for my husband. The ticket originally was $157.00, when we booked my husbands only a few weeks later, it was almost $300.00. Thank God we did have the insurance on our trip, we submitted a claim and my Mother in Law got her money back for the ticket.

 

[natalia1681]

We booked our trip back in May of this year. The plan was for myself, Mother in Law, and my two daughters to go. Well, a few weeks later my Mother in Law had a heart attack, and could not go with us. My Husband is going to go in her place now. We called Disney (That is who we booked everything with), they could not help us. I called Air Tran...nothing they can do they said they cant do name changes. Called Disney back again, they said my Mother in law would have to forfeit her ticket, and we would have to buy a new one for my husband. The ticket originally was $157.00, when we booked my husbands only a few weeks later, it was almost $300.00. Thank God we did have the insurance on our trip, we submitted a claim and my Mother in Law got her money back for the ticket.

I'm really sorry to hear that. I am very glad that you had your trip insurance. I always opt not to purchase it, but will be doing so from now on:wave: It wouldn't have really helped in my situation, but sounds to have been very beneficial to you. I hope that you enjoy your trip!

 

[isitingood]

I would never fly Air Tran period. They use to be called value Jet and changed their name after that crash I think it was 1996 when they knew before the plane even took off they were having problems with the auto pilot. Air Tran has the oldert fleet and buy cheap aircraft from around the world and because of this most of the parts are outdated and are hard to find.

 

[barnum42]

All "cheap" tickets with any airline is on a use it or lose it basis and one usually has more luck trying to plat jam than get a flight changed.

I have known of two exceptions - Virgin Atlantic gave credit to my sister when she had to cancel a flight for exceptional circumstances, so kudos to Virgin.

The other was more of a battle, but I was able to get a British Airways flight for my mother changed by a couple of days. Again this was for exceptional circumstances, but I had a hell of a job sorting it. I managed to get my way up the ladder to a director who obviously had better things to do with their time than have a losing argument over an economy ticket.

 

[KrazyKowboy]

Anybody have any tips or suggestions on what I can do? I appreciate any advice:wave: Ideally I'd like to cancel my tickets and not bother with AirTran anymore. Anything would be greatly appreciated

Thanks!

It's unfortunate that you'll bear the cost of changing your flight plans, but don't let those tickets go to waste.
Maybe you can help someone else and get one of those deep down good feeling for having done so. Ever think of donating them to the Make a Wish Foundation?
At this time last year Wendy's had partnered with Airtran in offering Plus Reward coupons on their drink cups that would go toward free tickets anywhere they fly. 16 coupons got you a one -way flight, 32 a round trip. All during November and December last year we saved drink cups and in January I sent in enough coupons for 3 round trip tickets to be used anytime in the next 12 months.
I booked my trip to WDW for this year back in March and thought at the time I'd use those credits for our flight down from Atlanta this year. Since then though I bought a new SUV and decided to drive as we always get a rental at MCO anyway. I found a place on Airtran's website where the tickets I had could be donated to Make A Wish, so I did that rather than let my credits expire.
I'll never know who will get them, but I know from having seen some of those kids and their families at Epcot last Christmas, that those tickets will find more value than I could ever have had from them.
And if you're wondering what's in it for me, beside the good feelings of helping others, claim it on your taxes as a charitable donation.

:xmas:

 

[natalia1681]

It's unfortunate that you'll bear the cost of changing your flight plans, but don't let those tickets go to waste.
Maybe you can help someone else and get one of those deep down good feeling for having done so. Ever think of donating them to the Make a Wish Foundation?
At this time last year Wendy's had partnered with Airtran in offering Plus Reward coupons on their drink cups that would go toward free tickets anywhere they fly. 16 coupons got you a one -way flight, 32 a round trip. All during November and December last year we saved drink cups and in January I sent in enough coupons for 3 round trip tickets to be used anytime in the next 12 months.
I booked my trip to WDW for this year back in March and thought at the time I'd use those credits for our flight down from Atlanta this year. Since then though I bought a new SUV and decided to drive as we always get a rental at MCO anyway. I found a place on Airtran's website where the tickets I had could be donated to Make A Wish, so I did that rather than let my credits expire.
I'll never know who will get them, but I know from having seen some of those kids and their families at Epcot last Christmas, that those tickets will find more value than I could ever have had from them.
And if you're wondering what's in it for me, beside the good feelings of helping others, claim it on your taxes as a charitable donation.

:xmas:

Thanks for putting it into perspective for me. We actually are going to go ahead and go as originally planned. I had seen that offer for the Wendy's cups before. I wonder if AirTran will do that again?

Thanks again!

 

[sring]

Hey all,

Need some advice from the experts here! Something has come up for our Jan plans and we need to travel one day earlier than originally planned. We booked our plane tickets 2 months ago at a reasonable nonrefundable price on AirTran. So, I attempted to change my reservation and the price to change the tickets is $400. This is almost what I paid for the tickets. So, I told them I would simply like to cancel the tickets and then rebook. This as well costs $400.:brick:

Anybody have any tips or suggestions on what I can do? I appreciate any advice:wave: Ideally I'd like to cancel my tickets and not bother with AirTran anymore. Anything would be greatly appreciated

Thanks!

Looks like you went with your original travel dates later in the thread, but it highlights one of the problems with air travel.

The "cheap" seats are capacity controlled and while there is a $50 change fee per ticket, it also requires the same fare being available (not just offered but seats still available) or you need to pay the increase in fare.

It's not just AirTran but across the industry. The flip side is generally you can keep the value of the ticket (minus the change fee) to apply to another ticket for the same person for a year, but again, check the fare rules.

 

[natalia1681]

Looks like you went with your original travel dates later in the thread, but it highlights one of the problems with air travel.

The "cheap" seats are capacity controlled and while there is a $50 change fee per ticket, it also requires the same fare being available (not just offered but seats still available) or you need to pay the increase in fare.

It's not just AirTran but across the industry. The flip side is generally you can keep the value of the ticket (minus the change fee) to apply to another ticket for the same person for a year, but again, check the fare rules.

I have learned a very valuable lesson from all this. If I am going to book non-refundable tickets, I had better be darn sure that is when I am going.:lol:
I understand fees to change tickets, but since my tickets were only $69 each way, paying $50 to change each leg, really irritated me. Because if I had decided to go ahead and change, I would have been left with only a $19 credit from each leg to put towards another flight.
It was a bit frustrating and like I said, I have learned my lesson with AirTran.

 

[CleveRocks]

I would never fly Air Tran period. They use to be called value Jet and changed their name after that crash I think it was 1996 when they knew before the plane even took off they were having problems with the auto pilot. Air Tran has the oldert fleet and buy cheap aircraft from around the world and because of this most of the parts are outdated and are hard to find.

Problem is, name me an airline that HASN'T crashed and HASN'T been sued and lost. Remember the movie "RainMan" where the title character would only fly Qantas because they never crashed. Well, a few years later that became outdated information.

And by the way, I flew AirTran last Saturday and this past Friday. Both times I was on brand new Boeing 717s. Go figure.

 

[sring]

I have learned a very valuable lesson from all this. If I am going to book non-refundable tickets, I had better be darn sure that is when I am going.:lol:
I understand fees to change tickets, but since my tickets were only $69 each way, paying $50 to change each leg, really irritated me. Because if I had decided to go ahead and change, I would have been left with only a $19 credit from each leg to put towards another flight.
It was a bit frustrating and like I said, I have learned my lesson with AirTran.

The change fee issue isn't just Air Tran it's an industry issue. Other airlines can charge up to $100 for a change fee.

In any event, enjoy your birthday with the Mouse! I'm headed down on Friday and can't wait!

 

[isitingood]

Problem is, name me an airline that HASN'T crashed and HASN'T been sued and lost. Remember the movie "RainMan" where the title character would only fly Qantas because they never crashed. Well, a few years later that became outdated information.

And by the way, I flew AirTran last Saturday and this past Friday. Both times I was on brand new Boeing 717s. Go figure.

Yeah well most airlines don't take off when they know they already have a problem with the aircraft which Value Jet had that day

Qantas has never crashed it did run off the runway in bangkok but nobody was injured. Southwest,America West,Air Canada,U.S. Air Shuttle,American trans air, Finnair, All Nippon Airways are some that have never crashed. Wow I already named 8 airlines go figure.

The only reason Air Tran bought the new 717's is because

1. the parts for the DC'9s are outdated and hard to find

2. The NTSB is watching Air Tran and even though Air Tran changed there name they are still on probation.

 

[natalia1681]

The change fee issue isn't just Air Tran it's an industry issue. Other airlines can charge up to $100 for a change fee.

In any event, enjoy your birthday with the Mouse! I'm headed down on Friday and can't wait!

I hope that you have a great time! Even though these plane tickets have been a bit of a hiccup, I can't be too upset since I'll be there for my birthday!

Take care!:wave:

 

[lewisc]

SW is one of the few airlines that doesn't charge a change fee. Passengers just pay the fare difference, getting a full credit if the change produces a lower fare.

Passengers with tenative plans should look at the change fees before they make reservations.

 

[JimboJones123]

Aren't there like 61,000 people in the air right now and there haven't been any crashes in like 3 years. Come on people... I won't fly because they crashed once???? There are a dozen other airlines that use the EXACT same plane.

 

[isitingood]

Aren't there like 61,000 people in the air right now and there haven't been any crashes in like 3 years. Come on people... I won't fly because they crashed once???? There are a dozen other airlines that use the EXACT same plane.

No crashes in the last three years? Try around 30. That Value Jet crash should have never happened. That same DC-9 was forced to return to the airport seven times in two years because of maintenance problems so that doesn't seem very safe to me. Plus the airline was grounded for two months after the crash. The DC-9 is all but extinct the last year it was made was in 1982 so the aircraft is almost 25 years old. N.W has a couple but soon they won't have any and as soon as Air Tran gets the rest of the 737's they won't have any either,but I have to give them credit for not only buying brand new planes but bringing that airline which was left for dead to being the NO.2 airline in Atlanta.