<p>I bought a plane ticket (the nonrefundable kind) on Northwest. The price for the exact same flights has gone done $30! Is there anyway I can get money back? I’m a poor college student and I need every penny!</p>
<p>Call them—its worked for me in the past with other airlines.</p>
<p>You should at least be able to get a credit for a future flight. They usually expire in a year and it’s not helpful if you’re not planning to fly that airline again, so try for a refund first.</p>
<p>I just called the airline regarding son’s ticket home for the holidays after finals in Dec. We were refunded the difference in price (it had dropped by 1/2) w/o any penalty! We had originally made this reservation around the first of Sept with the first drop in price after having watched the prices for several weeks prior. We were afraid at the time that prices might go back up. Instead, now the price is 1/2. The agent was very nice and said the system was allowing for changes w/o penalties. The only difference is that we do have to pay a checked bag fee of $15, but the refund more than makes up for this fee. The agent was also able to secure better connecting flight/layover as well. I would suggest to anyone right now holding reservations for flights (esp students) trying to make it home for the holdays to call your airline. You never know what they may offer at this time!</p>
<p>If you bought your ticket through ORBITZ it’s an automatic credit to you. They guarantee it.</p>
<p>How come MY kids have the only plane tickets (reservations made in August) that did NOT go down in price? How come???</p>
<p>thumper- I promise you are not the only one!! I have the ticket confirmation to prove it :-(</p>
<p>Thumper1 - you’re not the only one whose flight hasn’t gone down. Last year I flew S home from Detroit to NYC over Thanksgiving for $330. I booked a flight for him in July and paid $829! I’ve been checking the Northwest website, and the only thing the flight has done was increase in price. Unfortunately, there are not many direct flights into NYC from Detroit and Northwest has pretty much cornered the market. They know when every Michigan break is and triple the cost of the flights. S brought his car to Michigan and will drive home over winter break. Northwest is a total ripoff.</p>
<p>Michone, Spirit has some great deals between Detroit & NYC. American has some great prices even now for the holiday time (although I suppose it depends on exact dates). Southwest flies to Islip. I don’t know about USAir, Delta, or United … but I would think they also fly to NYC. There are GREAT lowprice options out of Detroit!</p>
<p>I’ve tried Spirit, but the flights are limited and the times never seem to work. As far as Islip, that is about 75 miles from our house and Long Island traffic is not pleasant. Do you book many flights from Detroit to NY? I have only gotten cheap fares when it’s not Parent’s Weekend, Winter Break, Spring Break, etc.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention in my thread that most of the flights you mentioned are not direct flights. We’re only talking about a 600 mile distance. It is a two hour flight to begin with. I don’t like to book him on connecting flights because I’ve had many bad experiences of missing these connections. If he takes a connecting flight, he might as well drive home. My friends that have children at different schools that are not in Detroit have much lower airfare, even though the distance traveled is much further.</p>
<p>My kids NEVER fly non-stop…it’s just too expensive. They take a stop. Of course, one lives across the country and one lives a 12 hour drive away. One is flying Southwest and the other Delta for Christmas…prices have not gone down. Probably the biggest reason is that they both have to fly back on January 3…one of the busiest travel times of the year.</p>
<p>Michone, I haven’t flown to NYC in a few years, but my brother has flown Spirit there quite a few times. I do agree that times have to work out in order for it to be most cost effective. I have booked flights from Detroit quite a few times in the past several year to other places. I use whatever airline is least expensive for my particular needs, and that often includes stops.</p>
<p>popsicle-
Some airlines will refund the difference if the price change was within 24 hrs of purchase. Others, as posters have said, will issue credit towards another flight. I didnt know Orbitz had that policy- thats cool. It is automatic or do you have to document the price change and contact them?</p>
<p>As I mentioned earlier, our ticket purchase was end of Aug/early Sept. Also, it was a Delta ticket. Perhaps we were just lucky? I was just as shocked as anyone when we were offered the refund w/o penalty. Hasn’t Northwest merged with Delta? I have witnessed a steady decline in the prices. But, maybe I’m just watching a different market. Also, this is not non-stop, either.</p>
<p>A quick and grateful thanks to the thoughtful CC posters. Our son’s Thanksgiving ticket price went down considerably since purchase, and JetBlue more than willingly gave us a credit.</p>
<p>Southwest had a great sale recently and we were able to change the reservations online AND get the $35 credit applied to future travel. Yippee!</p>