Expert: Matthew Smith - 9/18/2008

Question
QUESTION: My family(husband and 3 boys), would like to cancel our xmass vacation to Jamaica on Air Jamaica.  We are tight on money right now.   The hotel will refund us but the airline won't.  I have no travel insurance.  They will let me change the flight for $100 fee each.  Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Tracy

ANSWER: I'm afraid that you really don't have any recourse.  Not only will they charge you $100 fee for changing the flights, but they will charge you the difference bewteen the cost of the tickets.

The only way to have avoided this would have been to buy refundable tickets, which are much more expensive than regular tickets. (Like $1000 vs. $300)

I recommend--even though money is tight--that you go ahead with the trip to Jamaica, because you have already spent the money. It is a "sunk cost."  Maybe find a cheaper hotel to save on that aspect of the trip.  Avoid expensive activities like scuba diving and instead just hang out at the beach.  Avoid restaurants and tourist traps.

Or, if you still think it's more economical to avoid the trip, you'll just have to swallow the loss on the tickets.  Most airlines will honor the credit for up to one year.

But my gut tells me to find a way to way to make it happen.  I'd hate to see you lose all that money on the plane tickets.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for your help.  I was thinking with the $100 per ticket fee change that we could go on a off week and the hotel would cost less than xmass week or even go anywhere that air jamaica flies?  what are you thoughts.  Right now we are booked on dec. 21st to jan 3rd, even to shorten the trip cost $100 per ticket.  If I change the dates to April then we would only go for a week.  They boys are young and can miss school(7,6, and 4).Again, thanks for your help.

Answer
You'd probably have to work up an Excel spread sheet to see the cost/benefit of postponing the trip.

Let's say that the hotel is $200/night during the Christmas season, but only $100/night in April--a savings of $1200. The airfare will cost $500 to change, so that reduces the savings to $700.  Oh, but you said you'd reduce the trip to a week, so there's even more savings on the hotel.  So far, things are looking good to postpone.

The $100 is merely the penalty; there is also the difference in the ticket price that you must pay for.  Sometimes the ticket is cheaper (rare!) in which case the $100 isn't so tough to swallow.  But usually the ticket is more expensive, and so in addition to the $100 penalty, there is a $100-200 price increase.  (If the ticket is more or less expensive depends on so many factors, that it's tough to predict.)  It's this difference in ticket price that could be the deal killer.  If the tickets are the same or cheaper, it's probably worth it to postpone.  If the tickets are more expensive and then have the penalty on top of that, then it might not be worth it.

No matter what you choose, I really think that spending some time looking up the ticket/hotel prices for April vs December, and then working it out on excel would be time well very spent.

You still have time, so don't make any rash decisions!

Best,
Matt