News. No refund for canceled Vegas vacation. (airlines, 2009, senior)

[John1960]

Ethel Schweitzer's husband falls ill before a trip to Las Vegas, and the couple cancels their vacation. Now US Airways wants to keep their money. Why can't it offer them a refund?

No refund for canceled Vegas vacation - CNN.com

[jlawrence01]

I don't agree with Chris Elliott. The couple in the article used Travelocity to book a nonrefundable ticket. They had the opportunity to purchase travel cancellation insurance and chose not to. As much as I do not like US Airways, why should they make the refund.

(For the record, I had the same thing happen when I was hospitalized in 2002 and had to eat five RT tickets ORD-LAS on United Airlines.)

Now, I book nearly all of my tickets on Southwest which has a more liberal cancellation policy. I do not jump to American or United to save $20 and have the plethora of fees

[Drover]

Let's see: a couple wants a refund on a nonrefundable purchase which they knew or should have known was nonrefundable when they made the purchase, and are told to get stuffed. Care to explain how exactly this is "news?"

[lilbeck]

I feel bad for them in regards to her husband's diagnosis, but I am completely irritated by part of her closing statement: "We are a senior couple living on a fixed income".
Makes no difference. You decided, when you booked your vacation, that amount of money was expendable so please don't try to make it seem like it makes it more imperative to give you a refund.

[Granny Sue]

While the softy side of me thinks the $$ should be refunded, the fact remains that they bought non-refundable tickets.

I get irritated at the "fixed income" claim too. Some of those "fixed incomes" are much more than I make a year and I still have a mortgage. I can't afford to go to Vegas on my "fixed income."

[Finger Laker]

if they are in such financial hardships they should be fortunate that all they are out of is plane fare - not the full costs of a vegas vacation coupled with what will be developing medical expenses.......

with that, this is a non-refundable fare - it stinks, but that's the way it is when you buy the lowest possible price

i'll 2nd that I consider southwests policy for flight cancellations when I book my travel ...... i've been within 48 hours of a flight and had to change routing, delay travel by 8 months, etc and it's always been fairly painless

[South Range Family]

I wish that I was on a fixed income. At least they know what their income is every month. If I don't go to work, my income goes down. It never goes up, and it doesn't have a guarantee of staying the same.


These people have learned that a little bit of whining can get you around a legal contract. USAirways had no legal obligation to refund the money, but they did.

They were probably hoping to get some positive PR out of it, but it seems that nobody even noticed.