First, before I get a lot of angry comments, this is NOT a post accusing the airlines of causing the current “swine flu” problem.
But I do believe that current U.S. carriers’ policies towards changing tickets contribute to spreading colds, flu and other illnesses around the country.
Years ago, if you couldn’t use a supposedly nonrefundable airline ticket, all you needed was a doctor’s note for a refund. And like many policies, this was abused. As a travel agent, I know people were getting notes from dentists, psychiatrists, dermatologists, and all manner of doctors for no reason. Many general practitioners were routinely writing fake notes for their regular patients.
And the airlines cracked down. Fare changes for any reason, except on Southwest, now result in a penalty. Period. If you didn’t use a ticket, you could keep the credit towards a future trip, less that same penalty.
In cases of illness, sometimes, but not always, we travel agents could get a waiver to allow someone to change a ticket by a day or too. And if we couldn’t the penalty was about $50.
Now, as most travelers and travel agents know, it is almost impossible to get a waiver, and the penalties are up to $150.00 per ticket, plus change fees.
For business travelers, who are often reimbursed, I have found that most people cancel when they are sick. But for leisure travellers, with the penalties so high, this is not always the case.
A family of four now, for example, if a child is ill, cannot delay a trip these days without paying at least $600, and probably a lot more.
In one instance a client told me after the fact they had put makeup on a child’s rash because they had called the airline and were told it would have been about $2000 to delay their trip by two days. Was that wrong, yes? But the guy said “I felt awful, but we couldn’t afford the fees.”
In less egregious cases, clients ask all the time what the change cost would be, and often, they then decide to travel. Even some business travelers hate the thought of sticking their company with a big bill. So they tough it out. Especially at the onset or end of an illness.
Not that it’s going to happen anytime soon, but it would be nice to see a model where passengers with a contagious, documented, illness, could put off their trip for a day or two without a huge cost. (Assuming of course, that space is available.) And if people are really sick, again, with detailed documentation, that they could keep the nonrefundable credit without paying the full $150 per person.
Many international airlines at least have the penalty waiver in place, sometimes requiring proof of hospitalization, others deal with illness on a case by case basis.
Yes, a policy change would bring it’s own set of hassles and it would be extra work in a tough economy. But when you’re on a plane next to someone with a bad cough or other signs of needing to be home in bed, it sure seems like the net benefit would be worth it.
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Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
