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US Airways Group Inc. ,LCC, US Air Selling seats more than once and charging all customers Tempe, Arizona
My wife and I purchased two tickets from US Airways, round trip LA-Tel Aviv. Nothing was said about tickets being non refundable prior to purchase.
Over one month before the date of travel, my wife was hit by a car and taken to the hospital. Her doctor said emphatically she would not be able to travel by the due date of the tickets.
US Airways said if we didn't fly we lose the two tickets. We finally got them to give us a year, but if the trip we used the tickets for was less than the amount of the original ticket, we would lose the difference.
We still have not used the two tickets. However, we know that US Airways sold our tickets, seats, (there were no seats available on that flight when it left), to other passengers, charged them, while also charging us. How many more times they resold the same seats is unknown.
What a ripoff for us passengers!!!!
4 Updates & Rebuttals
Flynrider
Phoenix,Arizona,
USA
Can't have it both ways.
#5Consumer Comment
Tue, February 08, 2011
"It sucks that this is legal, probably the result of powerful lobbyists. We feel that these fees should be regulated."
So, you're basically saying that you'd like to purchase tickets and the non-refundable price, yet still have the option to refund or change them. Good luck with that. Non-refundable tickets are cheaper for a reason. They guarantee that the airline will collect revenue for that seat on a partiular flight. If you don't show up, the might be able to resell the seat, or they might not. If the seat goes empty they lose money. If enough people don't show up, the whole flight loses money.
You have the option of purchasing tickets that can be refunded or changed. You also have the option of purchasing travel insurance for a lot less than a full fare ticket would cost.
If you're old enough to remember the days when the government regulated ticket prices (and everything else related to the airlines), you may also remember that the prices were such that only the wealthy could typically afford to fly. Be careful what you wish for.
Steve
Mesa,Arizona,
USA
Selling seats twice
#5Consumer Comment
Tue, February 08, 2011
This seems to be the most profitable business that airlines can do: charging a customer and not to provide any service: Nobody would pay a "full fare" unless it is someone who has too much money. We paid $ 780 for a trip to munich, the break down showed that less than $ 300,- was for the airline, the rest was taxes and fees.
When my wife was unable to travel they wanted to charge us $ 500,- to rebook this flight (and that was just the fee, assuming that the new fare would remain the same...).
It sucks that this is legal, probably the result of powerful lobbyists. We feel that these fees should be regulated. It is a real rip off to charge a customer more than the original fare just to rebook it.
Karl
Highlands Ranch,Colorado,
USA
"LAND OF THE FEE POEM"......
#5Consumer Comment
Tue, January 18, 2011
was recently submitted at this website!
*Just type in 271454 to see if it is posted later today in the consumer comments section at Ripoff Report #271454.
Thank You
Robert
Irvine,California,
U.S.A.
You don't fly much do you..
#5Consumer Comment
Wed, January 05, 2011
First it is good that your wife appears as if she will be okay. But based on your comments you don't really seem to know how airlines work.
Just about every discounted fare is NON-REFUNDABLE, some are even NON-CHANGEABLE, this goes for just about every airline out there. You didn't say what you paid, but I would bet it was a discounted fare of some sort. If you actually looked at what a FULL FARE(totally refundable) ticketwould have costyou would find thatit would have been at least 2-3 times higher.
Then you seem to think that them giving(and charging) someone else for the seats you didn't use is some earth shattering news. Well again this is pretty much industry standard.
By the way there is one easy way to handle this in the future, and that is to purchase Travel Insurance. This is exactly what it is meant for and you would receive your entire fare back if a covered situation keeps you from making your trip. On average this insurance will cost you between 5-10% of your tripdepending on the company and coverage you are looking for.