America West Airlines Should Honor Expired Ticket

I hope your father is doing better. That is the most important
thing.

I can't see any reason for the airlines to provide you with any form
of refund or credit.

Did you stop and think about the responses you were going to get
before your wrote this letter? Must not have, but even before I read
the responses, I already knew what they were going to be. And was I
right. Shame on you. Tiss, tiss, tiss for thinking you
could.....blah, blah, blah.

It's like you set yourself up for this one. And it doesn't take much
to do that on this site. Myself included. Sorry!

Think about that the next time you write a letter on this thing.
Unless of course, you like "I told you so!"

BTW.....how's your Father doing? I hope much better. Bless you for
taking the time out of your life to take care of him. More of us
should do stuff like that. We'd be better people if we did. Myself
included.

First, I'm sorry about your father. That is always hard and you
probably were not even thinking about the ticket during a time like
that. Unfortunately, a year is a year and it expired. You had the
year to use it and if you felt you were not going to be able to use
it, you should have contacted the airline. I have never known any
airline to refund a customer for an expired ticket. Sorry and good
luck!

You also have to take in account that that ticket would not be 268.00
w rising gas costs and inflation.Bet you wouldnt be insisting on them
letting you use that ticket and you pay the difference :)..it cost me
450.00 the cheapest flight I could get, to go from dfw to NYC...I can
imagine Az(?) to another country!

Expired means expired. If a restaurant served you a big meal of
expired food, you'd be (quite rightly) outraged.

Purchasing a ticket is a contract, and you didn't keep your side of
the bargain by using it in the alotted time. They owe you nothing.

Purchasing an airline ticket is like signing a contract; you pay to
reserve a seat and they expect you to be there for the flight. They
were very generous in giving you a full year to use your ticket.

Next time, I would recommend reading the fine print. There's always
fine print.

You bought an airline seat. You didn't use it. American West was
generous to give you a year to use it. If you bought anything else and
didn't use it, you'd probably only have 30 days to return it. This is
the way it works, regardless of your situation. It's business. Suck it
up and be an adult.

You entered into a contract when you originally purchased the ticket
and one year is one year - - end of story.

As you so pointed out, there is a one-year time frame in which you can
use a credit. Stop being such a special snowflake, put your big girl
panties on and deal with it.

Oh no the money she works so hard to earn......oh please...none of us
do that.

Drama Queen, admit it, you goofed, suck it up

Just another post like the others saying that this should be a
learning experience. Tickets do not last forever and I doubt you will
see any sort of refund.
Worth a last shot though, I guess.

You stated yourself, in plain language, the exact reason why your
complaint is pointless. While I sympathize that there was a family
illness and you were unable to make your trip, America West has a
policy that I highly doubt was not given to you with your ticket, and
which you accepted when you purchased your ticket, stating that you
have a full year to re-route the funds in your ticket. To me, that
seems like a very generous policy.

It is not their fault your father fell ill, and it is not your fault
that you forgot about the ticket in your drawer. They did provide the
service, you simply did not show up to collect. Therefore, they owe
you nothing. Part of receiving what you paid for when you purchase a
ticket for a flight or a show is showing up when it says to on the
ticket. If they cancelled the flight, you'd have reason to complain.
However, you do not.

As a final note, obviously this money is not as great a loss as you
seem to note it is above, otherwise you never would have let the
ticket languish for that long. I think you forgot, plain and simple,
and when you found it, you were disappointed that they made you follow
the rules.

Nope. They don't owe you a thing. It's in the terms of carriage. Had
you asked before, say right after you were done dealing with your
personal crisis, with which I empathize, you might have been able to
get an extention or a partial refund, but as it stands, it's too late.
Buying plane tickets is a big expense, and you need to be sure you're
going to use them.

Sometimes, if you've got one that's about to expire, you just have to
find a reason to go on a flight before it does.

"During this time, I had put my leftover ticket in a file so I would
not lose it. Just today I found the ticket."

So obviously putting that ticket in a file didn't work out so well for
you.

Chalk this up to a learning experience. I don't know why that's so
hard for people to do.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with my sis in law who was
very angry while she discussed her new mortgage. She insisted to me
that if she hurts her back and can't work, the mortgage company must
and WILL understand if she cannot make that month's payment, even if
it's for six or more months. In other words, too bad. She was even
madder when I told her it won't work that way.

that my Grama wrote to me back in 1980. I lost it, but recently found
it and want to cash it.

Granted, she's dead now and the account has been closed, but I think
Lorain National Bank should cough up my money. It's dishonest of them
to keep what was meant for me! After all, my Grama EARNED that money
and why should I not have the money my Grama intended for me just
because it's been 27 years?

Seeing the irony yet Maria?

They allowed you to have the credit for the flight that YOU cancelled
for up to a year. Many flights don't have that option. You waited
TWO years and are upset because they won't give you the credit for it
now. How long are they supposed to wait on you? 2 years, 4 years, a
decade???? Be realistic here.

Seriously.

That is probably because she probably has.

As a travel agent, I get fussed at on an almost daily basis by people
like you who let their ticket expire.

I'm sure you probably read the agent who informed you of YOUR mistake
the riot act, and took it out on her personally. Of COURSE she sounded
like a robot!! Do you know how many times a day she probably gets
screamed at because of a passengers poor planning?

Welcome to my world, boys and girls...I get to deal with people like
THIS every.single.day.

And ya'll wonder why I'm nuts? ;)

They won't refund you for an over 2 year old ticket. Get real.

"I think keeping customers money without providing a service is
dishonest and lacks honor."

Oh please. Let's have a little reality check here, shall we?

You bought a ticket for a seat on a specific flight at a specific date
and time. The airline provided that flight for you. YOU chose not to
use it after it was provided for you. The airline was not at fault in
what happened. YOU were.

The airline, however, was nice enough to allow you to reuse the ticket
on another flight for up to a year after the flight YOU bought. The
airline was under NO legal obligation to do that for you - and
actually stood to lose money on this offer as it already had provided
and paid the cost for the original flight and now would be providing
and expending money on the second flight. YOU failed to take
advantage of the airline's offer. Again, the airline is not at
fault.

Learn from this and remember to read the terms of sale of future
tickets and to follow those terms if you cannot make your flight. But
if you choose not to, take responsibility for your own actions and
quit trying to play the victim.

Sounds to me like this is entirely YOUR fault.

Yes, I know things come up in life (i.e illness of a family member),
but how did you go 18 MONTHS just forgetting about $270 that you never
really got anything for??

Why didn't you "cancel" or whatever your ticket shortly after you
discovered you wouldn't be able to use it for your planned wedding
trip???

Expired has a meaning. It means no longer of any value. Therefore, if
they refunded you the value of the ticket, it would come to a balance
of $0.00.

Case closed.

How is it dishonest and how does it lack honor?

You were unable to use it and it expired. They didn't provide the
service because you didn't take the flight.

In 1997 I was unable to use a ticket I had purchased. I knew at the
time it had to be used within year ( I checked because it cost $300,
and that was a lot of $ to throw away ).

Like you, I put it in a drawer and forgot about it. I can't remember
the airline, but the policy seemed to be similar across airlines.

Like you, I forgot about it until a year and a half went by. I looked
at the terms again, and reluctantly threw it in the trash can.

I didn't call the airline, didn't try to get a credit or refund. The
policy was clearly stated on the ticket.

I am sure that they get MANY calls like yours from people who have the
final reckoning their $ may have flown the coup (I couldn't resist),
and I am sure that many people have a hard time accepting facts. It
must be very unpleasant for the CSR to break this news to the
customer. You ARE their customer, but this is the way airline tickets
work.

I'd like to know why America West was not contacted when you
discovered you couldn't go to Mexico? I mean, I understand a sick
parent is involved, but this is $270.00. I would have definitely
contacted them for cancellation and refund.

Maybe you should consider hitch-hiking; you could save $268.25 on each
trip and meet some very interesting people in the process.

Get real pal; sounds like you are complaining just to hear yourself
complain! An expired ticket is just that EXPIRED!

In closing, if you want to buy something that doesn't expire, go to
the post office and get some of those "forever" stamps; 2 years from
now you can still use them, maybe you could buy enough and mail
yourself somewhere.

The OP has had the ticket for over two years now. Most merchants will
not accept a coupon that has been expired for one year. It is
unfortunate the OP failed to use the ticket on time, but the airline
is not obligated to honor.

I am certain the customer service representative has had to explain
this many times. In this country, we seem to have no comprehension of
the meaning of the word "expired".

Maria,
The operative word in your complaint is "expired".
Unfortunatkley life took priority over excersizing this ticket in the
required time frame.
I would chock this one up to experience and set myself up with a 365
day tickler file to help avoid something like this happening again.
Good luck.
BillR.

your ticket expired over 18 months ago. Did you assume it wouldn't
ever expire? You could have contacted the airline at the time to find
out how long you had to use it or lose it.

That's the way most airlines work when you purchase non-refundable
tickets. If you don't use it, you have one year, from the date of
purchase (not the flight date) to apply that ticket towards another
flight. You also have to pay a change fee, usually $100, and any
difference in the price of the new ticket.

You were the one who let this ticket sit for over two years.
Sometimes, if you call the airline before the ticket expires, they
will extend it another year but that's at their discretion.