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Nonrefundable Trouble
ChrisCrossings · November 27, 2001

Q: Please let your readers know that when you buy a ticket from an airline's website it may come with additional restrictions. I booked a trip for my grandson and myself to Paris on Iberia. Shortly after that, I suffered another angina attack, and my cardiologist told me not to travel until my condition stabilized.

I got a doctor's note, but Iberia said the certificate was "insufficient." I called its 800-number and was told that even if I were in a hospital bed it would not refund me or rebook me on a later flight because my ticket was bought online. What can I do? I've already tried to file a letter of complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation and have spoken with Iberia several times. Every time I call Iberia, I'm told that it's against policy to rebook my ticket.

-- Joe Comas

A: Iberia is taking a needlessly hard-line position on your ticket. Most airlines accommodate passengers who become ill and can't make their flight as you would expect them to: They offer to rebook them on a future flight or give them credit toward a new trip.

You're correct that some tickets bought online may come with additional restrictions. That's an issue that isn't unique to the Spanish carrier. In the past, airlines have claimed that significant portions of their contracts of carriage-that's the part of your ticket that describes the airline's obligations to you-didn't apply to online purchases. The only trouble is they forgot to tell travelers about it in any meaningful way. The net result was a lot of confused passengers who didn't know what they were giving up when they took advantage of an Internet ticket sale.

To be fair, a ticket bought online can also come with bonuses. For example, an airline might offer more miles if you book online. So while you're trading away some of your rights, you're sometimes also getting something in return.

I've encountered this problem with other European carriers in the past. Once, while traveling on a nonrefundable ticket from Brussels to Frankfurt, I arrived at the airport six hours before my flight was scheduled to leave. One of my afternoon meetings in Brussels had been cancelled and I thought I'd try to get back to Germany, where I lived at the time.

Although there were plenty of flights on the same airline between Brussels and Frankfurt-some flying half-empty-the ticket agent refused to let me on an earlier plane. "If we let you do it, we would have to let everyone do it," she reasoned. I'm not surprised that the airline is now in bankruptcy, having completely forgotten that air travel is about customer service, and that you sometimes have to bend rules to make passengers happy.

I don't think this is necessarily a European airline predicament. I've met more than my fair share of pigheaded airline employees in North America. And chances are that even after a few of the airlines here go out of business, there'll be plenty such ground crew left over.

I'm not convinced that this is entirely Iberia's problem, either. I mean, you were flying on a nonrefundable ticket. Weren't you aware that your ticket couldn't be changed or refunded? I don't know about Iberia's disclosure; I've never booked a ticket from its website (although I did spend a fair amount of time on the site researching this story). At some point, however, you should have been made aware that you were trading some of your rights for a lower fare.

Iberia is making a mistake from a customer-relations point of view, but in the end it has the right to deny you a refund. Your mistake was buying a restricted ticket knowing that you weren't in good health and might have to reschedule. I seriously doubt the Department of Transportation will be able to help you.

Christopher Elliott's column appears on weekly on Ticked.com. All e-mailed questions to ChrisCrossings become property of Ticked.com and may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion. You may reach Elliott at chris@ticked.com. Or visit his home page at http://www.elliott.org.