[Conan85]

Hello,

I booked my vecation on Expedia.com. Unluckily AmericanAirlines issued my flight tickets.

6 days beefore my vecation my dear beloved grandmom died and I had to cancel my tickets and prepare for her funeral. American Airlines desided to make profit of our suffering, and refused me a refund, even if I told them 6 days in advance. The man on the phone just repeated "The tickets are non-refundeble"

Copy from the log Expedia crated while talking to American Airlines:
** 5/21/2008 16:24 (BCDAsajo) **
talk to derrick aldred
agent sine:LH
location: cincinatti

from AA put me on hold to check on fare rules//however pax disconnect//
get back on me//advise me


advise me that this is a use it or loose it tickets//no provision//even if its a death issue//

-----------------------------------------------------------------------


I have later contacted them to get just the "taxes and fees" for the tickets refunded, since I have the right to that by law. (Why the heck should the airline keep my tax money as profit if I have not purchased any tickets!?) Sadly the company refuse me that as well.

Once they tried to put the blame on Continental Airlines, that it was thair rules. When I confornted them with details from the log from Expedia they just hung up the phone.

Now they are not answering my e-mails any more.

I can`t imagine a worse, more colder and more unserious company in the world.

Also Expedia is not the best company. It said nothing in thair rules when I booked that the tickets could not be returned for any reason. It was my request to let AA issue my tickets. And letting me suffer becouse of thair choice of airline is also very BAD service.

Stay away, there are so many other companies to chose from.

[stephen]

If you buy a non-refundable ticket, then you will not get a refund! Not that hard to understand. People die, people get sick, that's life, but that does not entitle you to a refund on a non-refundable ticket. This is why you can pay extra to have the option for a refund on your ticket if an unfortunate situation like this comes up, or you can buy travel insurance. The reason why you are asking for a refund on the non-refundable ticket you bought is irrelevant.

[Leatherboy2006]

who were you scheduled to actually fly on Continental or American? Even if the ticket is issued by American if you are not flying on one their flights you would have to go by the fare rules of the carrier that you are actually flying on. If it is Continental then they would be the ones to issue refund based on their fare rules.

[Silent Bob]

What you should have done, rather than take your issues to AA directly, because you bought the tickets through Expedia, you should have gone through them. From my understanding you can get a refund, though you will get it after 60 or 90 days, plus they may deduct some fees as well you will get some money back. just a suggestion.

[Conan85]

If you can read, I also wrote they refused to pay back taxes and fees. They are not allowed to charge tax and fees for cancelled tickets, thats the thing. Travel insurance does not pay out taxes and fees becouse thats up to the flight company. So if you don`t know how the system works, dont bother writing.

[stephen]

http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/2008/0...ion-taxes.html

US airlines do not refund taxes and fees on unused nonrefundable tickets which are cancelled. See the recent article in USA today. European airlines are required by law to do so, but American ones do not.

[abutterfinger25]

Stephen is right.

By law the U.S. air transportation excise tax applies to the sale of air transportation, not to the transportation itself. Airlines remit this tax to the government shortly after the ticket is issued. If the passenger changes his or her schedule and forfeits the air fare on a restricted-fare ticket, the airline still owes this tax to the government.
Under the law, if an airline refunds the air fare, it is free to also refund the tax. If the airline does not refund the fare, the tax on that fare is payable to the government. The carrier DOES NOT keep the tax.