Refund of Price Difference

[Nee24]

Hi all

Long time lurker, first time poster. Please be gentle on me

I've gotten so much amazing information from this forum over the years so I'm hoping the members here might have some helpful information for me now.

Yesterday I booked a return flight from SYD-HNL for 16-24 March 2018 through my Amex account using my $400 travel credit. A week before I booked, the flight was ~$659 return. 2 days before I booked it was $750 return. The day I booked it was $971 return. I did all the clearing cache tricks, fresh browsers etc but nothing worked on changing the price. I also contacted Hawaiian airlines asking them if they had any sales planned in the near future for the time period and they said they didn't have any information about that. So I ended up booking it yesterday thinking if I left it any longer it could just keep going up.

Today Hawaiian airlines sent out an email with sale fares for my flight dates and the flights I booked are $200 cheaper than what I paid (same price change is offered through Amex).

I've tried emailing Amex because they are not available by phone during the weekend and they are telling me it's not possible to refund the difference, or take advantage of that in any way. However when I called Hawaiian airlines they told me that I can request a refund of the difference but will need to do it through Amex since I booked the flights through them.

I found an article about it online and apparently this is listed in most airlines contract of carriage.

So my question is, does anyone have experience in a similar situation and what was the outcome? Does anyone have any advice for me?

Amex said the following:
As the fares are also non refundable, if you cancel the booking, we would charge a AUD55.00 cancellation fee and place the current flight into a credit hold, depending on the rules of the ticket.

I'm not sure if that means the entire cost of the ticket would be put into credit or I would lose the entire amount I paid.

Any help or feedback is really appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Renee

 

[trooper]

These days I don't think ANY airline (particularly on International routes) offers what you are looking for..which seems to be a fee free/low cost change to the lower fare, and a refund of the "excess" you seem to feel you have paid.

I just googled "Hawaiian airlines refunds" and under the heading "Standard Rules and restrictions" were two possibly relevant clauses...(Of course ALL depends on the specific conditions of your purchased fare)

"Tickets are non-refundable, unless otherwise specified"" and...

"Refund or credit will not be provided if a flight change is made and the applicable new fare is less than the original fare paid"

I have no idea if things are different due to having purchased through (?) Amex.....but it appears they too consider the fare "non-refundable"

As I said, that sort of rule is AFAIK pretty universal.... and after all, I doubt you would react favourably if Hawaiian asked you to pay more because the fare went UP.

I have a personal rule that once I buy a fare..I STOP LOOKING!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

For US based carriers you have 24 hours to cancel your ticket without penalty for a full refund. This may be what HA is talking about. But if you can't cancel because AMEX is closed you may be out of luck.

Ordinarily there is no refund of the price difference in the situation you are talking about. The terms and conditions will require a refund in the event of an involuntary change where the new fare is lower. But this is not the case for you.

 

[Cynicor]

This comes up from first time posters about once a year. It's not possible, it makes no sense. Would you pay more if you booked the initial low price then it went up? Of course not.
Trooper has the best advice- when you book, be happy with it and stop looking.

 

[clifford]

This comes up from first time posters about once a year. It's not possible, it makes no sense. Would you pay more if you booked the initial low price then it went up? Of course not.
Trooper has the best advice- when you book, be happy with it and stop looking.

Yes, I agree. If you travel often enough it will happen at one time or another. Can't always get the best fare, no matter how hard you try. Just have to suck it up.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

This comes up from first time posters about once a year. It's not possible, it makes no sense.

Except it IS possible for US airlines where you have free cancellation for 24 hours (no questions, don't need to have a mistake). The OP was on a US carrier and could have cancelled had AMEX been open.

Edited: looking at some threads elsehere on the net it looks like HA will credit - in the form of a travel voucher - the difference if a fare drops by $100 or more. But this is in the form of a travel voucher, to be used within 12 months. The caveat is that it looks like the original fare needed to be purchased on HA's website.

 

[Hvr]

Maybe think of the scenario the other way. Would you pay the difference if the fare rose substantially?

If no then you shouldn't ask for a refund.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Maybe think of the scenario the other way. Would you pay the difference if the fare rose substantially?

If no then you shouldn't ask for a refund.

HA's terms and conditions specifically allow for refunds when fares drop.

International Contract of Carriage - Full Text | Hawaiian Airlines

Rule 5 D 2

Effective Rules, Fares and Charges
All carriage of passengers and/or baggage shall be subject to the carrier's rules, regulations, and tariffs in effect on the date of commencement of carriage covered by the first flight coupon of the ticket.

1. When the fares or charges collected are not the applicable fares or charges, the difference will be refunded to or collected from the passenger as may be appropriate.
2. If after a ticket has been issued and before any portion thereof has been used, either a decrease in the fares or charges applicable to the transportation shown on the ticket becomes effective, or a new fare for which the passenger can qualify is added between the points shown on the ticket, the amount of the difference in fares will be provided only in the form of a travel credit, provided:
   1. There is no change in origin, destination, stopover points, flights, dates shown on the original ticket, or on any ticket issued in exchange for the original ticket.
   2. Subsequent to the decrease in fares or charges or the addition of a new fare, all conditions of the decrease fares or charges of the new fare are met, including booking code and advance reservations and ticketing requirements.
   3. This rule will only apply to tickets purchased through Hawaiian Airlines Reservations Department or sold on Hawaiian Airlines Web Site HawaiianAir.com, and does not apply to fares purchased as part of travel packages.
   4. An administrative service charge of USD $40.00 will apply for all tickets presented for one-time exchange.

The fare drop needs to be $100 or greater. And there's a $40 admin fee. Plus it depends how AMEX booked the tickets. Nothing for the OP to lose following this up.

 

[Nee24]

Thanks for the replies and sorry I didn't come back earlier.

Yes I thought it was a ridiculous question, but the reason I asked was specifically because I spoke to HA and saw that in their terms.
Even if a travel voucher, I've been to Hawaii 5 times since August and plan to go there just as much in the future so wouldn't have been an issue.

In any case, AMEX email support was of no help and their call centre was closed so I had no luck. I've noticed HA are doing sale fares every couple of weeks now since then though (probably to compete with jetstar's low fares) so next time I book I'll just wait til I receive one of their sale emails.

Thanks again for the replies.

Cheers