We cancelled nonrefundable tickets and now we want them back (pay, rate)

[flyingsaucermom]

We are traveling to Europe with my father-in-law and his girlfriend. They live in Mexico.

First, we committed to the trip by buying our tickets leaving from Seattle, stopover in Iceland and then on to England. On the return trip we are leaving from Berlin, quick layover in Iceland before returning to Seattle.

We sent the itinerary to his dad and his dad said, "okay, sure, buy our tickets, we'll travel with you".

His dad wants NOTHING to do with the planning. It's all on us. We have their passport information and credit card.

So we bought their tickets to reflect the same itinerary leaving and entering North America. All was well, until we called his dad and he said, "well, why didn't you book us on flights from Berlin to Mexico City?"

(cause you didn't tell us that in the beginning.....)

So my husband called Icelandair and cancelled the flights. Nonrefundable means we're (they're???) out the cash.

Now we're looking at flights from Berlin to Mexico City for them and it appears that it's going to cost $6000. That's more than flying our family of four to and from Europe.

It would have been MUCH cheaper to make them suck it up and return to Seattle with us and then continue on to Mexico City later in the day or the following day.

I asked about calling Icelandair and seeing about getting those seats back. I mean, they took our money.. they still have our money.. and we'd like our seats back...

My husband said he's fed up with calling them. Wants me to do it. My question is: Do you think they'll do it?

Then it comes down to who's paying for what and when. So the mistake with the flights.. who's was it? Ours or my in-laws? I mean, if they had wanted something I think they should have said something in advance. I think this could be the "price to pay" for expecting everyone else to do the work for you.

My husband says that if we have to buy more flights we should split the difference and pay $3000.

Okay.. I'm fine with that.. but I do think we ought to call Icelandair and see if they will give us the tickets after all. But I don't want to waste my time with them if you all don't think they will. I've dealt with airlines like this in the past (Christmas 2013). It simply sucks.

I think the most overwhelming part of this trip is making the reservations for all of us. I don't know if I should be batching all of us up or do separate transactions for each thing.. like train tickets and hotels.

Anyone travel like this before?

[Quietude]

1) Why did you cancel the tix if they were nonrefundable? Is there any advantage to cancelling way out as opposed to the day before? Or just being a no-show?

2) I said this on a prior posting of yours about the trip and didn't see any reply or discussion, but insure your travel. If you spend anything more than about $1000 on travel arrangements and any one person's difficulties could require a cancellation, $50-200 in travel insurance will cover all your losses. I'm not sure it would have covered you in this case - voluntary changes to plans are only covered at a fairly high rate - but after having an $8k vacation go up in smoke, I will never second-guess buying insurance again.

As for reselling - yup. You canceled; it's their seats to resell. That expensive vacation we missed (serious illness the week before) surely resulted in NCL re-selling our booking, and keeping our money. It's how it works, and it's all in the fine print.

And... aren't family trips fun? Ask me about the time 10 of us went to NYC for a week...

[Lowexpectations]

How long ago were the flights cancelled? Also why would you cancel them and not try to simply change the flights? Most airlines will allow that with no refundable tickets. If it hasn’t been more than a day or two they may work with you.

Your attempted trip to Europe has had way more lead up and complications than it ever really should

[Lowexpectations]

Originally Posted by Quietude

1) Why did you cancel the tix if they were nonrefundable? Is there any advantage to cancelling way out as opposed to the day before? Or just being a no-show?

2) I said this on a prior posting of yours about the trip and didn't see any reply or discussion, but insure your travel. If you spend anything more than about $1000 on travel arrangements and any one person's difficulties could require a cancellation, $50-200 in travel insurance will cover all your losses. I'm not sure it would have covered you in this case - voluntary changes to plans are only covered at a fairly high rate - but after having an $8k vacation go up in smoke, I will never second-guess buying insurance again.

As for reselling - yup. You canceled; it's their seats to resell. That expensive vacation we missed (serious illness the week before) surely resulted in NCL re-selling our booking, and keeping our money. It's how it works, and it's all in the fine print.

And... aren't family trips fun? Ask me about the time 10 of us went to NYC for a week...

Trip insurance wouldn’t have helped here and would have just been more burnt money

[flyingsaucermom]

Originally Posted by Lowexpectations

How long ago were the flights cancelled? Also why would you cancel them and not try to simply change the flights? Most airlines will allow that with no refundable tickets. If it hasn’t been more than a day or two they may work with you.

Your attempted trip to Europe has had way more lead up and complications than it ever really should

The airline doesn't fly to Mexico. They were cancelled yesterday.

As you know we don't travel much. My prior international travel (apart from Mexico) was arranged by my parents.. so, like, nearly 20 years ago. All my husband's travel has been for work and was scheduled by corporate travel agents. So if we seem really bad at this.. it's because we've never done this before. And certainly not with tag-a-longs.

Steep learning curve, but I'm sure it will come together soon and we'll have a good time.

[Lowexpectations]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

The airline doesn't fly to Mexico. They were cancelled yesterday.

As you know we don't travel much. My prior international travel (apart from Mexico) was arranged by my parents.. so, like, nearly 20 years ago. All my husband's travel has been for work and was scheduled by corporate travel agents. So if we seem really bad at this.. it's because we've never done this before. And certainly not with tag-a-longs.

Steep learning curve, but I'm sure it will come together soon and we'll have a good time.

The airline surley flys somewhere that they could catch another flight on another airline to Mexico City. I’d call and cry like a baby to potentially save 3-6k

[flyingsaucermom]

Originally Posted by Lowexpectations

The airline surley flys somewhere that they could catch another flight on another airline to Mexico City. I’d call and cry like a baby to potentially save 3-6k

On hold to speak with Icelandair... I will beg and plead and see where it get us...

[wheelsup]

On AA if you cancel a non refundable ticket you can use the amount paid to book another flight as a credit.

[flyingsaucermom]

All is well (for now). For whatever reason the flights weren't cancelled and they said there doesn't appear to be any pending changes to our itinerary. They emailed us copies of both bookings as it appears on their end so there will be a paper trail if anything changes.

[bizcuit]

I don't have any advice other than to ask, have you also posted your question to the C-D Travel board? There are lots of seasoned travelers there who may have some good advice and tips.

^ oops, didn't see your update above. Still, you may get some tips there for other aspects of your travel.