Getting refund on fare difference if ticket price is reduced

Last month bought a ticket for a flight in April in PE. At the time, because of the April holiday, the ticket was £1000. I now find that the same ticket for the same dates is only £650 or so.

I know that some airlines will refund the difference if the fare drops minus the ticket change fee. Will Virgin?

What if I just cancel the ticket and take the money as a credit for a future flight. Then buy a new ticket at the lower fare using the credit. Since the new fare would be lower, would the excess credit remain for another flight or would I lose any credit I didn't use?

Hi

1. They won't refund you the difference - caveat emptor and all that. It is likely that what you are seeing now is a sale fare.
2. Check the conditions for your original ticket. If it is cancellable then cancel it (but I'd book the other one first). If it's not cancellable, then you're stuck
3. AFAIK, Virgin Atlantic do not issue credit files

Regards
R3dV

I assume it depends on the fare type you purchased, but my feeling is that you wont get any refund. I dont expect many people actually pay the same cost for a flight as they jump around regularly. I would also assume VS could also say that if you brought a fare at £650 and the fare rose a week later to £1000 they obviously wouldnt expect you then to pay the new increased fare so it works both ways in that respect.

[Neil]

I would also assume VS could also say that if you brought a fare at £650 and the fare rose a week later to £1000 they obviously wouldnt expect you then to pay the new increased fare so it works both ways in that respect.

y) Exactly.

Virgin won't issue a refund or credit in the cost of the fare, unless you bought a fully refundable ticket (J/W or Y class), but from the prices you quote, I imagine you haven't.

To be honest, I don't think they should either, you bought a restricted ticket and as mentioned above you wouldn't be happy if they asked for more when the fare price went up.

Neil

Same happened to me abot 10 years ago - the price dropped because of a sale (my fault for looking again) so I sent a jokey email to VS about them refunding the difference, they sent an equally jokey (but polite) response saying that they wouldn't charge me the extra if the price went up (which it then had as the sale ended)

I purchased six PE tickets to Orlando with M + M back in June last year. A few months later they issued more fares, which this time included the day we actually wanted to travel.

I contacted the reservation team and they were very helpful and said they would change all the tickets to a day earlier (which worked out cheaper) but I had to pay the 'change of ticket fee'. Very fair compromise in this instance I thought. y)

[Neil]

I purchased six PE tickets to Orlando with M + M back in June last year. A few months later they issued more fares, which this time included the day we actually wanted to travel.

I contacted the reservation team and they were very helpful and said they would change all the tickets to a day earlier (which worked out cheaper) but I had to pay the 'change of ticket fee'. Very fair compromise in this instance I thought. y)

Yes, MPM ticket fares aren't as restricted in terms of changes like the cheaper revenue fare codes.

Even with fully unrestricted fare, W and Y you have to pay extra to move it onto a more expensive date. But you don't get a refund with cheaper dates even if the most expensive ticket is less than you paid for the initial unrestricted fare. Not really fair. Much better just to cancel the ticket and rebook.

Thanks for the replies. I didn't expect they would fully refund the difference.

However, as to my second question. I could just cancel the ticket. Then in theory, they hold the value (minus the change fee) for a future flight. However, if the future flight is less than the credit, do I lose the rest of the money? Or will they throw out the excess?

[Neil]

They won't let you cancel the flight and get any refund or credit held towards a future flight. The T&C's of your ticket will state this, and it is just not possible I am afraid.

The only way around it would be to change this flight to a new date amd or route for the same or higher value (paying the change fees and any extra) and then make a new booking at the new price on your current date route. That of course only works if you want to make another flight in the next year on the VS network.

...... as to my second question. I could just cancel the ticket. Then in theory, they hold the value (minus the change fee) for a future flight. However, if the future flight is less than the credit, do I lose the rest of the money? Or will they throw out the excess?

Sorry, I thought I'd already covered this, but more explicitly - if your ticket conditions say you can cancel you will get a refund of the money you paid back to the card you used for payment (less an admin charge). If your ticket is non refundable they will not open a credit account for you against a future flight.

Regards
R3dV

One thing worth checking is the upgrade price.
If UC is also cheaper, you may find you can now upgrade very cheaply.
Won't get any cash back but perhaps better VfM.

...... as to my second question. I could just cancel the ticket. Then in theory, they hold the value (minus the change fee) for a future flight. However, if the future flight is less than the credit, do I lose the rest of the money? Or will they throw out the excess?

To put it simply if you have an unrefundable/changeable ticket and cancel the ticket (or just fail to turn up at the aiport for the flight) - you loose the whole lot (other than the taxes and fees less an admin charge. You need to contact VS to claim this back.

VS (indeed any airline) will not hold the 'lost' amount as some sort of credit note for future use. And if you fail to claim the taxes etc back then VS get to keep those too.