Can I get credit for an unused portion of my international ticket (northwest airlines)?

Question

I purchased a roundtrip ticket from Dallas, Tx to Manila,Philippines. Used the Dallas-Manila portion but didn't use the return. The ticket was purchased from a travel agency. I missed my flight because my wife got pregnant. I was planning on staying only 6months, but now I've almost been here for a year. Can I apply my unused portion for a round trip? It should be around 600-700 dollars credit. Pls help. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Answer 1

You have one year from the date of purchase to redeem any unsed portion of a ticket. You need to read the fare rules of the tickets, some fares are so discounted that if you do not fly any portion of the round trip, you lose the remaining value. You need to contact the travel agent you used if the one year mark has not passed. If it has, you are out the money. Depending on the travel agent you used, the airline may be able to do any redemption you may be entitled to. Just be advised there is a change fee plus or minus the difference of the fares you will apply the credit to. International change fee's alone are usually around $200. Then you apply the difference of the fare to come up with the remaining balance.

You'd have to look at the fare break down to see how much you are really applying. Its not just split in half. The fare from Dallas may have been more or less than the return. Plus you have to seperate out taxes, landing fee's, security fee's and any other international fee's. Its an algebraic nightmare. On a paper ticket the fare break down is all of the numbers and letters in the middle of the ticket. The fare is next to the city code.

If the one year is coming up, you need to get this taken care of ASAP. If you are on a paper ticket you will have to go to the airport to exchange the ticket. Go ahead and have in mind what you want to exchange it for and give International Reservations a call. That way they can set up the itinerary and get the reprice done. That way the ticket agent wont have to stand on the phone for an hour (If there is not a specific International check in and only general check in) getting it taken care of and all they have to do is print the new ticket. If it was electronic, dont worry about it. Try to pick an off peak hour to get to the airport to exchange the ticket if you are on paper stock. You dont want to go during the busiest hours of the day because the lines are long and it will take a considerable amount of time to do the exchange. Go when you have 30 min-1hr to burn, it can sometimes take a while to do if they have to call and let an International agent do the work. Most ticket agents are only trained for domestic ticketing unless there is a seperated International check in like you would see in most major airports like Atlanta and JFK or Memphis in the case of Northwest.

Answer 2

The way I understand you is that your ticket was purchased a year ago. In this case, it is highly unlikely that you will be able to get any credit for the ticket. Had you have travel protection, or contacted the airline when you were supposed to fly, there is a very small chance they would give you some credit. However, most tickets now are non-refundable, so you likely wouldn't have been given any credit anyway.

If you purchased the ticket as a roundtrip ticket and not two one way tickets, you probably wouldn't be due any credit. One way tickets usually run higher each way, than both trip for a roundtrip ticket, so they probably wouldn't give you a refund.

If you still want to see, my recommendation would be to either contact the travel agent that booked the trip or call the airlines.

Answer 3

Its all depends on your fare base. You need to contact your travel agency for a better answer.