If the consolidator was a U.S. consolidator, then most likely they had to
report the sale of the ticket to ARC (Airline Reporting Corp.) by the
Tuesday following the sale of the ticket. The consolidator no longer has
the money from the sale of the airline ticket. The airline has the money.
The consolidator usually receives an upfront commission and a back end
override depending on their productivity over a measured period of time. It
may not be up to the consolidator at all whether or not to issue a
refund/credit on the ticket. Your friend purchases a ticket that probably
has more restrictions on it than does a regular airline ticket. In return,
I'll bet your friend saved a considerable amount of money over the price
that the airline was selling the ticket for. What does the ticket say in
the endorsement box? I'll bet it says "Non- Refundable". Now it's no ones
fault when an event like SARS occurs. But you can't expect the consolidator
(or travel agent) to do work (the sale) and then turn around and ask them to
do more work (the refund) without any compensation. Services WERE rendered
by the consolidator - the sale of the ticket. You stated that the trip was
postponed until the end of the year. Did the consolidator do more work by
rebooking the flight and reissueing the ticket? If so, the airline
certainly didn't compensate the consolidator for the extra work that they
did. Did your friend compensate the consolidator if they did more work?
Your friend needs to suck it up and quit crying in her beer. The airlines
aren't to blame in this situation and certainly not the consolidator.
"Lil" wrote in message
news:e245b78e.0309281933.12041c4d@posting.google.com...
> A friend of mine is confronted with a tough situation. She had bought
> 2 air tickets last year to China shortly before the whole SARS thing
> exploded. The plan was to travel in April or May. She had apparently
> bought those tickets from a consolidator.
>
> When the CDC had come out with those travel advisories my friend
> informed the consolidator about either postponing or cancelling the
> flight because the other member of the party is her elderly
> parent--and older people who contracted SARS were dropping like flies
> and spreading the disease around worldwide....The long and short of it
> was that she decided to postpone the trip until the end of this year.
>
> Now, she's working in a hospital with patients, and she can't go to
> China or anywhere else this year. Can she get a refund or arrange for
> some credit for air tickets from the consolidator? (She might be able
> to take some vacation next year, and she was thinking she can arrange
> for a swap for herself or for her elderly parent.)
>
> What should my friend do? I don't think she can suck it up and forget
> about the whole thing. It would be like giving money away for
> services NOT rendered or products that were NEVER delivered. My
> friend also wants to know what sort of recourse is available if the
> consolidator refuses to grant either a refund or credit? Can she
> complain to some consumer affairs department? Should she dispute the
> charges with her credit card company even though it's been over 6
> months since she bought the tickets?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Lil
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