"Rodger" wrote:
>I am in South Africa, and phoned SAA for you here in SA. Apparently if the
>conditions of the ticket state that it is 100% non-refundable, then it looks
>like you might have to have the ticket re-issued and pay for a new ticket. I
>suggest that you have a careful look at the terms and conditions of that
>ticket and re-approach Orbitz. If there is no way you can come right with
>the ticket, I would suggest as a last resort, to travel on that current
>ticket. Many South Africans know that Americans abbreviate their names (like
>N Paul Todd, where his first name is Neil) and you might get away with it.
>Another angle of looking at it is if you have travel insurance, your
>insurance company might either pay for the re-issue of the ticket, or
>alternatively, if you have cancellation insurance, then cancel the booking
>in it's entirety and then claim back on the insurance.
Thanks for the quick response, Rodger, as well as the call to South
African Airways there. That was very nice of you.
Unfortunately, we did not get trip insurance. That is still an option
but to get insurance for a cancellation *for any reason* would cost
about $850 USD. The Orbitz Terms and Conditions was obviously written
by their lawyers to maximize Orbitz profits. Since this was
technically my fault (I gave them the name they used) they are off the
hook. And they have zero interest in customer relations, obviously.
We even explored your suggestion of buying another ticket, but they
are no longer available because the flight is full (actually
overbooked), and the price has doubled for other flights in that time
period. So at this point I'm inclined to go ahead with the trip and
hope for the best.
Not a very comfortable position to be in...
Live and learn.
Caveat |