Legal Question in Consumer Law in California

Plane Ticket buyers remorse

I booked a plane flight on the Internet and an hour later decided to cancel it. Their website has NO email addresses and the phone numbers were a 10-hour time difference from me, so their customer service was closed. I waited until the next day and called them asking to cancel my flight. The date of my travel is six months away. They said under no circumstances can they cancel my booking and if I do not use my tickets I'm just considered a ''no show'' and they NEVER refund any money for any reason. Is this legal and can I do anything about it? I am out plane fare for five adults plus additional fees and taxes. I booked a different flight at the same time and cancelled, and they happily gave me a refund.


Asked on 2/01/08, 1:10 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Jonathan Stein Law Offices of Jonathan G. Stein

Re: Plane Ticket buyers remorse

You are probably out of luck. There is no requirement that the tickets be refundable. In fact, some airlines tickets are never refundable and can only be changed by paying a fee. You need to read the terms more closely next time.

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Answered on 2/02/08, 12:37 am
Jonas Grant Law Office of Jonas M. Grant, A.P.C.

Re: Plane Ticket buyers remorse

Did you read the terms and conditions of purchase prior to buying? The vendor that issued you a refund probably had different terms than the one that is declining to do so. I'm not aware of any law requiring tickets to be refundable, requiring an email address for customer service, or requiring that customer service be open certain hours. Under most cirucumstances, you should be able to apply the value of the tickets purchased, less some change or rebooking fee, to future travel on the airline, within a certain time period (perhaps one year). Try contacting the airline you're booked on directly to see if that can be done, and if so, when, how, and at what cost. And before buying multiple tickets from multiple sites at the same time, and requesting refunds on all of them, be sure to read the terms and conditions of sale.

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Answered on 2/01/08, 1:46 pm


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