cancelling a flight with aerlingus

[psy93]

I have a flight booked with aerlingus for June 2009, 4 of us traveling at a cost of EUR1356.36. unfortunately one of the group is having an operation next month and has been told that she cant fly for 6 months afterward.

just off the phone from aerlingus customer care(HA!) told that I will get EUR46.09 refunded if i cancel her part of the flight or I can transfer her flight to someone else for EUR100.

Naively, I always thought that you could get a full(ish) refund if you had a doctors letter saying that you could not fly?

customer care just stonewalled saying that no matter what reason for canceling all I would get is the miserly EUR 46.09.

anyone any experience getting a better refund from aerlingus?

[storysham]

travel insurance should cover it

[Haalands Dodgy Leg]

I always though you would only get the taxes/charges part back and not the actually fair price back?There is also a commision charge for refunds so if you have your confirmation receipt then check it out.

[Falling At Your Feet]

Always have travel insurance taken out BEFORE you book flights, particularly expensive flights. This will cover the bulk of the fare, there is usually an excess of around 100 Euro which will be deducted from the total flight price. Watch as some cheaper travel insurance companies have high excesses.

I recently helped a couple out with an Aer Lingus refund issue.

She had a close family relative who died so they could not travel. I rang Aer Lingus on their behalf and was told that the death of a close family relative is the only circumstance where a full refund can be made.

I am not 100% sure what is meant by "close family" relative,in this particular case it was her step father so she was covered.

To claim the refund a "Death Certificate" had to be produced and an application for the refund can then be made to Aer Lingus I would think this could take several weeks.

Having said all this, I would expect Mick Airways have a zero tolerance on this!

[jd26]

Aer Lingus have three types of fare

Economy Fare
Flexi Fare
Business Fare

Only Flexi fares and Business fares are refundable and both of those are prohibitively expensive, so you're normally better off just booking economy and relying on your travel insurance.