Is this Possible?

[stan wood]

My cousin and wife recently returned from a trip from Hawaii. The package was purchased from a TA and they paid cash. When they arrived at the airport for the flight home, they were told that one of the flight tickets had already been refunded and they would have to purchase a new ticket at substantially more money.

 

Is this possible? I thought with 9/11 that the additional security would prevent someone else from cashing in their ticket. Where would you start to investigate what happened? I would think that someone would have to have records. Is there any chance that someone other than one of them could have cashed in the ticket? Any help will be appreciated.

[cruiseej]

I would think the airline would have to provide its record of when and to whom and even where the cash refund was supposedly issued. Since they're back now, I would also enlist the original travel agent to track this information down.

 

My rule #1 with air travel is to re-check flight information directly with the airline a few days before flying. Had your cousin simply called the airline a few days in advance to check his reservation, this problem would have surfaced, and he'd have had time to pursue it with the airline and his travel agent.

 

My rule #2 is to always purchase tickets/tours on a credit card, never cash. It creates a trail you can document, most companies will issue any refunds directly to the credit card (to prevent situations like you describe), and you can always dispute a charge with your credit card company as a last resort.

 

-- Eric

 

P.S. Just curious why you posted this in the Alaska forum, as it involves neither cruising nor Alaska?

[stan wood]

You are so correct. Since my last trip to Alaska, this is the only forum that I look at on this site in the hope to learn more about Alaska. I should have gone elsewhere and I apologize. Getting old has definite disadvantages.

 

Thank you for your information and opinions.

[Budget Queen]

I would start with the airline and who they cashed this into to. Also, request this information from the booking agent. I would think it will be easily strightened out??

 

A KEY problem here, NEVER PAY WITH CASH.

[knorrisb07]

Never pay cash or money order. If anything goes wrong, you can always have your credit card company (Amex is the best, Chase is the worst, in my own experience) to back you up.