[billyfink1234]

I reserved a flight through Travelocity with Aer Lingus from Minneapolis-Vienna On January 29th, 2013 with a return flight on October 23rd 2013 from Vienna to Minneapolis. My intentions are, after arrival in nearby Bratislava, Slovakia to stay for two years as part of a teaching English position. I reserved my return flight only with the intention of changing it to a later date that was only made to show to any authorities if needed, as I was apparently ill advised. When I reserved the flight through Travelocity I spoke with them right afterwards on the telephone about the process of changing my return to a later date. Despite the fact that my return was for 10 months after my reservation and I was asking about changing it to a later time, the person with Travelocity failed to mention the obvious and crucial fact that the reservation could not be changed to anything later than one year after booking. I had been told over the phone that it would cost 190$ to change my flight, only to find out later that it would be 250$. Essentially I would find through one of numerous subsequent calls later with unclear and vague information, that needed to be repeated several times that my flight cannot be changed to more than a year after booking. The polices through Travelocity which I read many times before during and after were hard to decipher as they were not clear to anything specific regarding the rules of Aer Lingus, despite being laid out in general. I learned of my misfortune after phone calls with both Aer Lingus, whom had extremely long wait times and would hang up in mid sentence with you, and Travelocity whom were very difficult to communicate with and were very uninformed. Aer Lingus claims I must talk to Travelocity about anything, yet Travelocity only refers then to Aer Lingus about everything, only putting me on hold longer and delaying everything. It does say tickets are non refundable on Travelocity’s website yet, that is contradictory to the fact that all rulings are based on the airlines rules and vary in all situations, as they concurred themselves over the phone. Aer Lingus claims that rules, such as how Flexi-pass and Business pass are refundable is stated, while Low fare economy is not, yet there is no way to know what type of flight that is unless I book directly through Aer Lingus. My latter attempts led to me trying to recoup what I could while explaining my situation which seemed unfair and unreasonable. I inquired about the fact that despite not being refundable, tickets are transferable and asked about the possibility of transferring my return ticket to someone else, and was told only because of the domestic portion from Minneapolis to Chicago which is through United Airlines, that I cannot transfer the name of the ticket despite it being a very insignificant part of the overall ticket itself. The limitations on ticket transfer are confusing and misleading on Aer Linguses website. I’m also unable to recoup anything from United the first carrier, because they still fly through Aer Lingus. I’m apparently entitled to nothing with Aer Lingus because of my United Flight, yet entitled to nothing from United because of the former. I had been told initially by Aer Lingus that I could transfer the ticket to a different one way flight from a new destination, and then subsequently was told that I could not transfer it from anything and must be the exact return flight I booked based on later calls. The policy on changing destinations within a flight itinerary is not at all clearly stated. I inquired about the possible refunds on taxes which is not explained in any specific way through Travelocity, and I later found through Aer Linguses website. Aer Linguses website mentions receiving a refund on taxes, but does not explain that this is only available when you cancel the entire flight. I ran into inconsistencies when placing a call with the airline directly in that one person said I could receive a refund on my taxes, yet like the website they did not specify that this could be only be attained through cancellation of the entire trip. I was told on my most recent phone call that receiving any compensation was only available when you cancel the flight in its entirety. What struck me as most absurd and concerning is my most recent revelation that despite the fact that I’m still giving the airline its profit on my round trip, I found that they have the discretion to charge me even more for not taking the return flight and through unclear suggestions seemed to implicate that I could be charged as much as another one way flight fee. The airline wouldn’t even specify if the extra charge was the difference between my fair roundtrip and the full price of a single one way flight. A series of revelations have continued to disturb me and therefore I find everything completely unjustifiable. I know they consider that people should be penalized for one way travel because they are possibly taking advantage of a better deal with the airline. I made a mistake of believing the airlines would provide me more than they are with assistance in costs/ adjustments/ flexibility/ helpfulness. I certainly have an issue with my limited funds on this issue and how it will affect me in future. I would certainly hope for outside assistance with this and would appreciate anything that can be offered. My issue is only with the return, and I know any official action cannot be taken until after my departure on the 29th of January. I would wish a refund would be possible however knowing that it’s not likely within my rights a voucher for credit would be perfect. Even a chance to transfer the ticket or use it with different two/one way travel would be a great improvement. At the very least the injustice of being charged extra for not taking the flight is something I cannot stand for and would be something I would fight against and certainly ask for assistance with.

[jimworcs]

Unfortunately, here you are caught in the labrythine world of airline ticket pricing, interline agreements and other such nonsense. Added to the complication, your contract is with Travelocity, not with Aer Lingus, which adds another layer of terms and conditions which complicate the matter.

Let's start with the bad news...there is nothing you can do to recover the wasted portion of your ticket. It has been tested in law and there is little you can do, airlines are permitted to make such restrictions. The one year maximum validity of an airline ticket is something which has been around for many many years, but if you are an infrequent flyer you clearly didn't know this. It is long overdue for airlines to have to put together a ""key facts" summary of the terms and conditions of the tickets they sell. It is ridiculous to expect a customer to read them and they rely on this to exploit the customer.

Now, what do you about your trip to Slovakia. My advice is this. Keep the ticket (it is almost certainly much cheaper than a one way ticket, which was your only other alternative). As your return is 10 months away, you have a fair chance you might get your return portion back. Here is how.

As your return is 10 months away, the airline schedule is only "tentative". If any leg of the journey is reschuduled, you will receive an email from Travelocity or Aer Lingus advising you of the change. As there are 3 legs in your journey there is a good chance that this could happen. When they send you the change, immediately contact Travelocity and advise them that the change is not suitable and you wish to have a refund. You are entitled to a refund under EU Regulation 261/2004 in these circumstances.

Don't let this ruin your trip to Europe. Airline Terms and Conditions are notoriously one sided and unfair. You simply have to play the game....lets hope their timetables are as unrealiable as normal, and you can turn that into your favour.