It's not just Rental Car rates - check your Airfare, too

[DaveNV]

We Tuggers seem to make a habit of trying to rebook Rental Cars to get lower rates. Some will show savings on a rental in the hundreds of dollars. I recommend checking your airfare too - sometimes it pays off.

I bought airfare last Fall for a Summer 2020 trip to Hawaii. I hadn't thought much about it, but yesterday just for the heck of it, I checked current ticket prices on the same flights. To my surprise, the current fare was much lower than what I'd paid. I decided to see if I could get a credit back for the overpayment. So I called Alaska Airlines. The agent was a bit cool at first, saying, "We don't usually give credit back for airfare price changes. But give me your confirmation code and I'll see what i can do."

When she came back on the line, she said, "Well I'm surprised. But yes, in this case you CAN get an adjustment of the ticket price. Your original ticket was a Refundable Fare. We can adjust the ticket to be a Non-Refundable Fare, and refund you the difference on your credit card." I said that would be great, and I waited while she did the magic she needed to do. After several minutes, everything was done. I thanked her, and we hung up.

The bottom line? I got a refund of $363. Definitely worth a phone call.

Dave

 

[geist1223]

I remember the good old days (about 2 years ago) when Alaska had the low price guarantee. It was one of the things that went away after they bought Virgin America.

 

[Patri]

The bottom line? I got a refund of $363. Definitely worth a phone call.
Dave

Would you have gotten the same lower price originally if you bought the non-refundable fare then?

 

[DaveNV]

Would you have gotten the same lower price originally if you bought the non-refundable fare then?

No. I had purchased the lowest fare available at the time. I didn’t know it was a refundable fare.

@geist1223: They still have Lowest Fare links on their website, but it talks about “Within 24 hours”, and you need to pay with your Alaska Air VISA card. Not sure of all the details.

Dave

 

[Timeshare Von]

Great advice and good to know about Alaska Air. I'm going to check our flights for this summer (Anchorage to King Salmon which were like $380/person)!

P.S. (editted) YIKES . . . ours have jumped from $358pp to over $440 . . . so we're in good shape!

 

[Luanne]

I always check, and re-check any reservations we have with SW. Sometimes I'll do the checks randomly, and I usually check whenever I see there is a sale. What is great about SW is there is no change charge and no penalty to making changes. If the flights were made with points the points go immediately back into my account. If I paid for the flight I get a credit. Over the holidays I had purchased a ticket for our older dd to come visit. Due to the dates the flights were quite expensive. But by checking I managed to get $100 refund (that's right a refund not just a credit, I must have bought a refundable) and also got a credit, which dd used as she had to make another change to her flights. For her flight to Maui I've gotten quite a few points returned.

I generally don't check other airlines as their change policies aren't so lenient.

 

[davidvel]

I really like Alaska, but that's not a glowing review of their customer service agents. She should have immediately known you had a refundable fare and that you could get the better price.

In reality, no magic was required other than canceling the refundable fare and booking at the lower fare. This can also be done online. She really shouldn't have been surprised at all.

 

[jtp1947]

The DOT requires all airlines to allow you to cancel/change your airfare for free within 24 hours of booking if it is made at lest 7 days in advance of the flight.

 

[Bailey#1]

I always check, and re-check any reservations we have with SW. Sometimes I'll do the checks randomly, and I usually check whenever I see there is a sale. What is great about SW is there is no change charge and no penalty to making changes. If the flights were made with points the points go immediately back into my account. If I paid for the flight I get a credit. Over the holidays I had purchased a ticket for our older dd to come visit. Due to the dates the flights were quite expensive. But by checking I managed to get $100 refund (that's right a refund not just a credit, I must have bought a refundable) and also got a credit, which dd used as she had to make another change to her flights. For her flight to Maui I've gotten quite a few points returned.

I generally don't check other airlines as their change policies aren't so lenient.

Love Southwest, we always use points also!

 

[Luanne]

The DOT requires all airlines to allow you to cancel/change your airfare for free within 24 hours of booking if it is made at lest 7 days in advance of the flight.

True. But many times the price changes don't come within 24 hours.

 

[DaveNV]

Got the official notice from Alaska Airlines this morning that they've issued my refund. And it was two bucks more than I wrote down. So it's $365 and change. I'll take it.

@davidvel: I hadn't given her my Confirmation Number when she said that. And by "magic," I meant she had to go type in whatever had to be typed in to make the change. I didn't mean to imply I got something unusual, or that she did something just for me. She was just doing her job.

My larger point of this thread is to recommend people check their existing reservations to ensure they're getting the best bang for the buck. In my case here, I didn't know I had a refundable fare. Imagine my surprise to check the current fares, and to discover tickets on the same flight selling for nearly half of what I had paid. My refund of the difference brought the ticket price down to what I consider more typical of fares to Hawaii. And I've already used the refunded amount on my Alaska card to purchase a ticket for another vacation getaway. Win-win for me.

Dave

 

[Fredward]

We had a flight booked on Delta last year, using miles. I think it was originally 32,000 miles each. I checked again several months later and the same flight was 16K. I called to complain/ask about options and we were able to rebook the flight for the $150 change fee (one-way ticket). I got 32000 miles back for $300, which wasn't ideal but, hey it's 32,000 miles.

 

[davidvel]

Got the official notice from Alaska Airlines this morning that they've issued my refund. And it was two bucks more than I wrote down. So it's $365 and change. I'll take it.

@davidvel: I hadn't given her my Confirmation Number when she said that. And by "magic," I meant she had to go type in whatever had to be typed in to make the change. I didn't mean to imply I got something unusual, or that she did something just for me. She was just doing her job.

My larger point of this thread is to recommend people check their existing reservations to ensure they're getting the best bang for the buck. In my case here, I didn't know I had a refundable fare. Imagine my surprise to check the current fares, and to discover tickets on the same flight selling for nearly half of what I had paid. My refund of the difference brought the ticket price down to what I consider more typical of fares to Hawaii. And I've already used the refunded amount on my Alaska card to purchase a ticket for another vacation getaway. Win-win for me.

Dave

Glad you got your refund! I just wanted people to know if they have a refundable fare they can always get a price reduction. Good that yours was. (Cheapest fares were probably sold out when you bought and they added more in. )

 

[HudsHut]

<<I always check, and re-check any reservations we have with SW. >>
Luanne:
I wanted to thank you for this tip. This past Monday, I made reservations for Orlando. I noticed your post above on 2/19/20. Today, 2/22/20 I decided to double check the fares for our flights. We received a credit of $86 per person (x 3 = $258), for less than 5 minutes work.
Thanks to you!

Dave:
thanks to you also, for starting this thread. I haven't typically checked the airfare afterwards, since many have exorbitant change fees that are a huge hurdle towards getting any credit back. It was a reminder that it's worth checking.