Travelblog » refunds

ADM’s wait for it!

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:58:12 +0000

Ok further to a previous post on ADM’s the question has been raised:

How long does an airline have to send you an ADM:

Well the answer is: 18 Months for an ADM after the last date of travel on a ticket however they do have up to 4 years from date of last travel to invoice you.

When an ADM is raised it is deducted off BSP and intern from the agency account immediately – it is then the agencies responsibility to fight the ADM to try and get an ACM (Agency Credit memo) ie: have the money put back into the agency account. Now on this note lets elaborate on another side of ADM’s – the refund – if you put in for a refund of the ticket the refund is checked and credited to your account – you in turn refund the client, now if there was an error in the refund from the airline they send an ADM for the over payment and again deduct it immediately from your account. So even though you have paid the client back you can be responsible for any incorrect refund submissions. Interesting – hectic responsibility especially when most agencies make between 7 and 10% on the nett fare.

Date changes

admin — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 08:43:23 +0000

Today lets look at something which effects all the travellers that ever purchase a ticket. This is date changing and restrictions on tickets. Note to self though if you work through an agent you can expect to pay a service fee for them to change the ticket. You must be aware that the ticket you purchase does have restrictions. We have discussed refunds before however lets touch on it again which looking at conditions of the flight tickets. Here are some fare rules as examples:

here is one of the most restrictive tickets that you can get:

CANCELLATIONS

ANY TIME
TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE.

CHANGES

ANY TIME
CHANGES NOT PERMITTED IN CASE OF REISSUE/REVALIDATION.

Here is a less restrictive ticket:

ORIGINATING SOUTH AFRICA -
CANCELLATIONS

BEFORE DEPARTURE
CHARGE 50 PERCENT.
NOTE -
CHARGE 50 PERCENT OF THE FARE PAID.

AFTER DEPARTURE
TICKET IS NON-REFUNDABLE.

CHANGES

ANY TIME
CHANGES PERMITTED.
NOTE -
REBOOKING PERMITTED – CHARGE ZAR 300.00

Here is an example of a non restrictive ticket:

CANCELLATIONS

ANY TIME
CANCELLATIONS PERMITTED.
NOTE -
FULL REFUND LESS ADMINISTRATION FEE.

CHANGES

ANY TIME
CHANGES PERMITTED.

These are some examples of the restrictions you can expect to see on the ticket. Just for reference these examples are taken from SAA on the JHB ACC route. The fare difference between the most restrictive and the less restrictive is ZAR8320. Be aware of what you are purchasing and generally you are getting what you pay for. Here is a TIP. If you need a changeable ticket advise this to your agent and ask for the rules of the ticket prior to making payment and issuing the ticket because if the ticket is non refundable changes etc CANNOT be done at a later stage.

Airline refunds

admin — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 05:49:50 +0000

Refunds from airlines take weeks. If you paid cash for a ticket then you can wait between 8 and 12 weeks for a refund. The money is first paid over to the agent who did the refund and then they pay it over to you the client. Yes it really does take this long in most cases. When you purchase a ticket the amount is immediately deducted from the agency. So when you apply for a refund the money is not sitting with the agency in the case of an Iata ticket. This means that the agency is not in a position to give you a refund until they receive money back from the airline. Yes it may happen the agency holds onto this money or is slow in giving the refund however rest assured that generally the hold up is with the airline. Remember it does not speed up the process by calling your agent every day .

In the case of paying with a credit card the refund is given and credited back to your credit card. This is a huge plus when buying tickets. This means that as soon as the airline refunds the money they refund it directly to your credit card which makes the process a lot faster and takes out the agent in the middle. This does not mean you apply directly to the airline for a refund, you will only do this in the cases where you have booked directly with the airline. If you have booked with an agent then the agent should apply for a refund on your behalf. Another bonus on the credit card refund process is that it is a lot faster than a cash refund. Reason for this is the airline refunds your card directly. In the case of a cash refund the money is returned to the agent in their BSP billing advise and most agents receive this every two weeks.

I hope this has clarified the process for you…