I paid too much for my plane tickets
August 27, 2010 9:46 AM   Subscribe

I bought two plane tickets for mid September this past Tuesday from Delta. Since then, the price has gone down 130 bucks. Is there anything I can do to get my money or the difference back?

I've called Delta and they said there isn't anything they can do since it is less than 150 bucks (which is the difference where they'd issue a refund), and if I cancel (as it has been more than 24 hours), I'll be charged 150 bucks.

The tickets were 380, now they are 250. I bought 2 from Delta. I don't think there's much I can do but I thought I'd give it a go here. I'd appreciate any suggestion.

In addition, they were not business or first class tickets, so no full refund.
posted by icollectpurses to Travel & Transportation (12 answers total)
 
Contact the airline and see if they'll offer you a credit or direct refund.

I know there's a web site out there that tracks this kind of thing for you, and I could have sworn I stuck in my fav's, but I'm not finding it there. I recently flew on Virgin and can't remember if it was Virgin specific, or not. I know this is not helpful. I'm sorry.

Googling "flight rate tracker" did bring up quite a few options, though. Good luck!
posted by SoftSummerBreeze at 9:55 AM on August 27, 2010


Farecast, now part of Bing's travel search, may be the site you are thinking of, SoftSummerBreeze.
posted by chiefthe at 9:58 AM on August 27, 2010


Contact the airline and see if they'll offer you a credit or direct refund.

The question explicitly states that the OP has already contacted the airline. To the OP, you're likely out of luck on this since you're below the refund threshold unless you bought them from a site that has a similar guarantee. Otherwise, you're just stuck paying the price you did. Airline ticket prices are wildly variable and I recommend using Bing travel or a similar service to figure out if you're buying at a good time or not.
posted by proj at 10:07 AM on August 27, 2010


Did you buy it on a credit card? Some have a price-match guarantee.
posted by muddgirl at 10:22 AM on August 27, 2010


In the future, don't go back and check if prices have gone down. I do it all the time and make myself sick. Buy your tickets with confidence and don't look back!
posted by Sassyfras at 10:24 AM on August 27, 2010 [4 favorites]


What Delta told you is correct, assuming that $150 is actually the change fee for that fare. Even if the price dropped $170, you'd only get $20. I also believe that credit card price match guarantees do not apply to airfare.
posted by Lame_username at 10:40 AM on August 27, 2010


"I've called Delta and they said there isn't anything they can do since it is less than 150 bucks (which is the difference where they'd issue a refund)"

I'm not clear on whether the tickets were $380 each, or $380 combined. If they were $380 each, I would argue that the difference is 260 dollars, above their threshold, since you purchased two tickets. Why does it matter whether the difference is in one ticket or two, if you're still being shorted $260?
posted by karminai at 10:56 AM on August 27, 2010


Response by poster: proj, I think you're right that there's not much I can do. I had been tracking Bing which said the price would decrease at 360, then it increased to 380. Its recommendation was to buy it as it will further increase with 80% certainty. But 3 days later it went down...130 bucks. I was also told(by someone else) that 20 days before the trip is when you can buy a ticket at its lowest, which isn't the case.
posted by icollectpurses at 11:01 AM on August 27, 2010


Response by poster: I was buying them for my parents, actually, and my dad received a call from his travel agent (about whom I didn't know), and was told that it is now 250.
posted by icollectpurses at 11:03 AM on August 27, 2010


I'm not clear on whether the tickets were $380 each, or $380 combined. If they were $380 each, I would argue that the difference is 260 dollars, above their threshold, since you purchased two tickets. Why does it matter whether the difference is in one ticket or two, if you're still being shorted $260?

The change of agenda fee applies per ticket, not per transaction. So, if the difference is 130 dollars per ticket and the change of ticket fee is 150, the OP will actually lose $20 more on each ticket.

icollectpurses: Unfortunately, there's not a hard and fast rule about when tickets are cheaper (i.e., the 20-day rule) and in fact tickets vary by time of day in addition to the day of the week. Even though Bing had 80% certainty that the tickets would increase, that means there's still a 20% chance, based on prior transaction history, that it will decrease. There are also a large number of stochastic factors at work here and it may have been that sales for that particular flight were not meeting expectations for some reason and the airline dropped the price as a result to spur sales.
posted by proj at 11:07 AM on August 27, 2010


Check Yapta and see if it can be useful.
posted by zaxour at 1:16 PM on August 27, 2010


I'm not clear on whether the tickets were $380 each, or $380 combined. If they were $380 each, I would argue that the difference is 260 dollars, above their threshold, since you purchased two tickets. Why does it matter whether the difference is in one ticket or two, if you're still being shorted $260?
posted by karminai at 10:56 AM on August 27 [+] [!]

Have to disagree here. Not sure where this retail entitlement thing crept into popular culture, but it's starting to drive me nuts.

He's not being shorted $260 - markets fluctuate, prices change. He made a decision to purchase a ticket at a known time - the airline is under no obligation (unless they promised one up front) to refund or change anything for him. If they do have a customer service policy that lets him get some kind of better deal, good PR for the airline, but realize their ability to offer cheaper tickets today is also because of the number of *already* sold seats at other prices. The deal is done - one needs to accept a deal is done, unless they've been outright deceived or lied to in the process.
posted by TravellingDen at 10:29 PM on August 27, 2010


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