Non-refundable tickets air code. Can I return a non-refundable ticket? Which airlines provide this service

The essence is clear from the name: travel documents cannot be returned or exchanged. So the carrier insures itself against losses that may arise if the passenger decides not to go anywhere. And so that travelers are willing to take risks and buy non-refundable tickets, they are sold cheaper than those that can be returned without any problems.

In Russia, this concept was introduced in 2014, when they started selling non-refundable plane tickets. The State Duma has previously amended Russian air carriers have the right to sell tickets at non-refundable fares to the Air Code of the Russian Federation, according to which air carriers received the right to sell tickets at non-refundable fares.

On January 1, 2019, a law came into force, according to which they began to sell non-refundable train tickets.

But for buses, this option does not exist. If you purchased your travel documents legally from a licensed carrier, you can return them.

When should and should not buy a non-refundable ticket

Buy a non-refundable ticket if you:

  • We are sure that the trip will take place.
  • Do not depend on unreliable fellow travelers.
  • You can take a vacation when you need to.
  • Do not have problems with the visa and documents.

If you are flying by plane, carefully read the information on the baggage allowance on the airline's website. In some cases, a standard suitcase can be carried on a non-refundable ticket. However, more often, a travel document assumes that you are traveling with, and you will have to pay for luggage. Paying extra for a suitcase can negate the savings.

And you definitely shouldn't buy a non-refundable ticket if your departure depends not only on you:

  • No visa.
  • You are caring for a relative with health problems.
  • Vacation schedule not approved.

In this case, it is better to buy a return ticket and not worry about the possible loss of money.

How to buy and return non-refundable plane tickets

How to understand that your ticket is non-refundable

They are usually marked with one of the following marks:

  • Ticket is non-refundable / no-show - the ticket cannot be returned.
  • Changes not permitted - the ticket cannot be exchanged.
  • Changes any time charge eur 00.00 - the ticket can be exchanged, but only for the amount that will be indicated in the label instead of zeros.
  • Name change not permitted - the passenger's name cannot be changed on the ticket.

Almost all of the world work on these tariffs. Aeroflot sells non-refundable tickets in the Economy Promo and Economy Budget sections, UTair - Minimum Economy, S7 - Basic (in Economy and Business options). Foreign carriers usually do not return travel documents purchased as part of promotions and sales.

How to return a non-refundable ticket

There are exceptions to the no-refund policy. You can get a refund for a ticket in several cases.

Force Majeure

You or your companion become ill, a close relative dies, and the trip must be cancelled.

To get a refund, notify the airline of the special circumstances by email prior to check-in, then call and provide the same information to the carrier's employee. The letter is needed to confirm that you told the airline about what happened, because the call can be “forgotten”.

Prepare one of the documents confirming the force majeure circumstances:

  • A certificate of illness indicating the name and details of the hospital, signatures and seals of the attending and chief physicians, the date of issue and the duration of the disease, a note that the patient is not recommended to fly at this time.
  • A certificate from the airport first-aid post if it became bad right before the flight.
  • Copies of the death certificate of a family member and a document confirming kinship with him.

Together with the application for a refund, send the document by mail to the address of the airline and wait for a decision.

Airline Violations

If the flight was canceled and it violated your schedule (for example, you missed your connecting flight) or you were not able to find a place on the plane during overbooking, you are also entitled to compensation for damages.

To get a refund, ask an employee of the air carrier to mark the problems with the departure on the tickets or get the relevant certificates from him. Make copies of them, attach duplicate receipts confirming the expenses incurred due to the airline’s indiscipline (hotel costs, bus tickets, etc.), an application for a refund and send a package of documents by mail to the air carrier.

As for the cancellation of flights due to flight bans to some countries at the state level, here you also issue an involuntary refund and can claim to receive the money spent. So, the president signed the decree Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of June 21, 2019 No. 287 "On Certain Measures to Ensure the National Security of the Russian Federation and Protect Citizens of the Russian Federation from Criminal and Other Illegal Actions" about the ban on flights to . Rostourism declared Information about the situation in Georgia that money will be returned for all tickets, including non-refundable ones. The airlines have confirmed this.

How to return part of the money for a non-refundable ticket

In some cases (for example, if the ticket is marked as Changes any time charge eur 00.00), you can return the travel document for an additional fee. Depending on the airline, the amount may increase in proportion to the reduction in the time before departure: the later you return the ticket, the more it will cost. To return it, you need to contact the support service of the air carrier and follow the further instructions.

Another option to get some of the money back is to return the fee for the fees. We are talking about the booking service fee (YR), fuel surcharge (YQ), ticketing fees, taxes and fees for unused flight sections (funds that the airline pays to countries for flying over their territories, for using the airport complex).

Please note that for tickets marked YR/YQ tax is non refundable only in case of a non-refundable fare, service and fuel surcharges are non-refundable.

How to buy and return non-refundable train tickets

When purchasing a travel document at the box office, you will have to ask about the required fare. On the Russian Railways website, non-refundable tickets are indicated by a return arrow.

Like air travel documents, non-refundable train tickets can be refunded if:

  • You or the person who was supposed to travel with you got sick.
  • family member.
  • The train was canceled, delayed or there was no place for you in the car.

You have five days from the moment of departure of the train to contact the ticket office of the station where you planned to go. You must have documents confirming force majeure with you.

The desire of a person to save money on a flight results in the search for plane tickets at the lowest possible prices. Usually, booking of such places is available on board low-cost airlines and tourist charters. However, such a cost indicates that the airline customer has purchased a non-refundable airfare. What this means and how relevant the benefit becomes, we will understand a little lower.

Since the beginning of the summer of 2014, people have been able to purchase non-refundable air tickets. This right is enshrined at the legislative level by the draft State Duma. In the name of the tariff lies the decoding of the term. Purchasing seats on board of this class makes it impossible for the airlines to refund money to the client if the passenger refuses to fly for personal reasons. True, here the legislators took into account some exceptions, which we will discuss later.

From now on, airline customers independently determine the conditions for booking seats on the liner. If a person is interested in the flight and is sure that circumstances will not interfere with starting the journey at the scheduled time, such a passenger has the right to buy non-refundable plane tickets. The opposite situation forces you to purchase a standard fare ticket. In such a case, the passenger has a guarantee that the airlines will reimburse the cost of the unused flight.

Such transportation rules provide the same working conditions for domestic airlines and foreign companies. After all, the amount of the fare includes restrictions on the transportation of the client's things in the luggage compartment. These rules reduce the nominal cost of a flight by 15% and help avoid misunderstandings with baggage on connecting joint flights with low-cost airlines of foreign airlines.

In addition, the authorities have amended the law and tightened the rules since July 2014. Up to this point, airlines have reimbursed unused tickets purchased by passengers on similar terms. Moreover, the carrier returned the full fare to customers if they refused to fly, and in case of late requests, they imposed a fine of 25% of the face value. Usually such a concept meant the delivery of an air ticket in the last 24 hours before the departure of the board. However, after the amendments come into force, such a solution to the issue is excluded. Although here, too, customers will find a loophole and be able to return a partial ticket price.

Features of innovations

Considering the desire of carriers to get as rich as possible with minimal investment, the adopted law does not work quite the way its developers planned. The idea of ​​adopting such innovations was to introduce a category of budget tickets on the domestic aviation market, but the reality today is different. Airlines hurried to transfer the cheap flights available at that time into a similar category irrevocably. This approach is different from the typical policy of foreign carriers.

For example, in the West, budget tariffs are regularly changed depending on the onset of "low" seasons, days of the week and holidays. Here, they actively use this technology to increase customer loyalty, arranging promotional offers and organizing low-cost flights on days with minimal passenger traffic. In Russia, non-refundable tickets have become a separate category of cheap flights forever. Airlines have even introduced special names for such a fare.

So that a beginner does not make a mistake when choosing the right seat on board, it is important to carefully study the conditions offered by the airline at the stage of booking a seat. This is usually marked "non-refundable" in red. In addition, airlines indicate specific travel conditions for the tariff plan chosen by the passenger.

Will it be possible to return the funds

Perhaps the most important topic for Russians is the question of how to return money for a ticket with a non-refundable fare. In most cases, airlines refuse customers such a request. Indeed, today this right is enshrined in law. The passenger runs the risk of encountering such situations under the following circumstances:

  • change in the client's plans;
  • disruption of docking during independent route planning;
  • late for check-in and boarding;
  • illness of relatives;
  • cancellation of the flight of the passenger's companion;
  • deterioration in the client's well-being, not documented;
  • force majeure circumstances.

Now consider the exceptions, how to return a non-refundable plane ticket. Airlines provide customers with this right in special situations. Let's list this list, which looks like this:

  1. Confirmed disease. If the passenger or his companions are sick and can present the relevant document to the airline employee, the carrier will refund the amount spent on the purchase of the ticket.
  2. Death. Recognizing a person as deceased allows relatives to return money for an unused air ticket. The same rule applies to family members of the passenger. True, the carrier will have to report this before the take-off of the liner.
  3. Departure schedule changes. It will be possible to return a non-refundable ticket and compensate for the amount spent if the airline delays the departure of the aircraft for 4 hours or canceled the flight altogether.

According to lawyers, airlines return funds to the client even in case of violations of joint agreements. This includes a change in the airport of arrival, and unplanned circumstances - the main thing is that such conditions should not appear when booking a seat by a passenger.

In addition, customers always have the right to recover losses at least partially. After all, the amount for the flight consists of several components. This includes the tariff, airport tax, insurance premiums and other similar payments. Therefore, all the money, in addition to the tariff plan, can be returned without problems.

Compensation algorithm

Let's see if it's possible to return non-refundable tickets " Aeroflot". After all, this carrier is popular in our country today and is partially owned by the state. If your case fits within the terms of the refund, count on full compensation for rash costs. To do this, it is appropriate for the passenger to contact the airline's call center and find out about the details of such a procedure.

Consider the common case of canceling a flight due to a sudden illness of a client. This procedure is simple and represents the following algorithm of client actions:

  1. Cancellation of booking.
  2. Collection of documents.
  3. Handing over the papers to the airline and writing an application for a refund.

If the client has correctly and timely fulfilled the necessary conditions, the airlines will compensate the full cost of the canceled flight. The money is transferred by bank transfer to the accounts from where the passenger made the purchase. The return period is 3-10 days. To find out the details, we specify the conditions for the execution of each step of this algorithm.

The nuances of a refund

So, an obligatory step, without which the following actions are meaningless, is the removal of the seat reservation. To do this, just contact the representative of the airlines by phone or come to the office of the company. After notification by the passenger, Aeroflot” will confirm that the place has been taken. Keep in mind that such actions are advisable before the end of the flight check-in, otherwise the meaning of the plan is lost.

The first step is to cancel the flight booking at the airline office or by phone.

Other actions are permissible after the departure of the liner. The passenger collects documents that will become the basis for compensation for the amount spent in vain. It is better to start with a trip to the doctors. Airlines require a certificate stating the medical reason and the date that explains the refusal to fly on a particular flight. The document must contain the personal seal of the doctor and the stamp of the clinic. Moreover, the type of form and the severity of the disease do not play a role here.

If you booked for a flight alone, it is enough to confine yourself to the original and a copy of your passport. When the whole family was forced to miss the flight, the airline will require from the applicant documents confirming family ties and copies of the passports of the applicant's companions. In situations where the passenger is on inpatient treatment, a power of attorney and documents of the person to whom the client delegates the case will be required.

The last step is to visit the company's office. Here, the passenger gives the airline employee a package of papers and draws up an application with a request to return the money. The form of writing the form here will be prompted by an employee of the airline. However, such a scheme works only with direct purchase of an air ticket on the official portal of the carrier. Purchasing seats through aggregators or intermediaries does not guarantee a successful refund.

If you have collected all the necessary papers and provided them to the airline employee, you will be transferred the money for the ticket within 3-10 business days

However, only a few domestic companies pursue such a policy. The desire to compensate for the flight by a low-cost airline, even for a good reason, is likely to result in the carrier's refusal to pay for the passenger's misses. Most overseas airlines do not offer refunds for missed flights.

Purchase Details

Finally, find out where non-refundable tickets are sold. Today, such tickets can be found on the carrier's website, ticket office, terminal portal, online aggregators, and travel agencies. It will be possible to reserve a place on the liner in any available way - after all, the tariff plan does not imply restrictions for people in this situation.

It will be possible to buy a non-refundable ticket at all points of sale of plane tickets

In order not to make a mistake when buying, study the information about the tariff plan of a particular ticket in advance. In addition, check the conditions of the flight and baggage allowance - different airlines change their approach depending on the needs of customers. Some companies have completely abandoned this practice and, say, on the portal " NordAvia”, you will not find tickets from this category.

Since 2014, the law on non-refundable air tickets has been in force.
Tickets of this fare cannot be returned if the passenger canceled the flight for personal reasons
Missing a flight does not become a basis for a refund for an unused ticket of a non-refundable fare
The illness of a passenger or his companion, documented, will be a legitimate reason to return the money
For a non-refundable missed flight refund, please contact the airline call center for the correct procedure.

Air travel is not cheap, so it is not surprising that many, in an attempt to save a pretty penny on this, make their choice in favor of early booking or offers from low-cost airlines. At the same time, the desire to save money often outweighs the desire to save nerves - and the traveler, thinking that his plans will certainly not change, buys a non-refundable ticket. However, life makes its own adjustments, and now it is necessary to change the date of the trip, or even completely abandon the flight ... However, the ticket has been bought, and it seems impossible to return it ... What should I do? Has the money been lost?

On June 21, 2014, a federal law came into force in Russia, giving airlines the right to sell plane tickets at non-refundable fares. As conceived by the authors of the document, it was supposed to help reduce the cost of air travel and increase passenger traffic. Meanwhile, since it is usually impossible to understand the fares and their differences on the websites of airlines, although the adopted law establishes a mandatory procedure for informing passengers about the conditions for returning a ticket purchased for a flight and, in case of failure to provide these data, threatens the air carrier with liability in accordance with the law, issues related to the return of non-refundable tickets (and the return of money paid for them) is becoming more and more.

To find out in which cases a citizen has the right to return money for a non-refundable ticket, we turn to paragraph 2 of Article 108 of the Air Code of the Russian Federation. It says:

“In the event of a passenger’s forced refusal from air transportation due to illness of a passenger or a member of his family or close relative traveling with him on an aircraft, which is confirmed by medical documents, or due to the death of a member of his family or close relative, which is documented , and notifying the carrier about this before the end of the check-in time for passengers specified in the ticket, established in accordance with the federal aviation rules, or in connection with the delay in the departure of the aircraft, other actions (inaction) of the carrier provided for by the federal aviation rules, entailing non-performance or improper fulfillment of obligations under the passenger air carriage agreement, the carriage fee paid for air carriage is returned to the passenger.

Thus, it is difficult, but possible, to return money for a non-refundable ticket. However, in quite rare cases. There can be two reasons for this:

1. If the passenger or one of the close relatives with whom he was going to fly fell ill or died. In order to receive compensation in this case, you will need to provide the air carrier with documents confirming the impossibility of flying, and be sure to report the refusal before the check-in for the flight ends.

However, there are subtleties here. If for Russian airlines a refusal for medical reasons is the basis for an involuntary return, then for many foreign airlines it is not. This is primarily due to the life insurance system in other states. It is assumed that in case of unforeseen circumstances, it is the insurance company, and not the air carrier, that will cover the costs of the canceled flight.

2. If the airline has violated the terms of the contract of carriage. For example, canceled a flight or delayed it for more than a few hours. By the way, the duration of this delay may vary - here you need to carefully read the rules of a particular airline. For example, the well-known low-cost airline Pobeda returns money for a ticket only if the flight is delayed by four hours or more.

At the same time, the law provides for the possibility of returning a certain amount paid for air transportation. Without the above reasons explaining the forced refusal of the passenger to use the services of the airline, and therefore, not having the right to return the carriage fee, you can reimburse part of the funds spent on the ticket, collected by the carrier in favor of other organizations in accordance with the legislation of foreign states, from the territories, on the territory or through the territories of which the passenger is carried by air.

Therefore, you cannot cancel a non-refundable ticket if

  • you just changed your mind about flying;
  • other flights of other carriers have changed and your connection fails;
  • you are sick, you feel unwell, but this does not interfere with the flight;
  • your close relative fell ill, but he does not fly with you, and you want to stay with him for care and assistance;
  • your companion who is not your close relative cannot fly;
  • you missed your flight.

However, you have every right to demand a refund of the funds spent on the ticket if

  • if a relative who planned to fly with you fell ill, and you can document this (provide supporting medical documents before the end of check-in for the flight);
  • if a close relative dies and you notify the carrier of your flight cancellation prior to check-in;
  • if the plane is canceled or delayed for more than 4 hours, and this disrupts your future plans;
  • there were circumstances violating the concluded air transportation agreement. (for example, changing the airport of arrival or departure).

So, non-refundable plane tickets can be returned. However, we hope that your plans will not be violated, and you will not have to do this.

For those who want to save money on flights, airlines offer so-called non-refundable tickets. They are much cheaper than regular ones. However, if a passenger wants to return such a ticket, change the departure time or reissue the ticket to another person, as a rule, he will either fail, or the seller will make him pay twice. But there are exceptions to every rule...

When purchasing a non-refundable ticket, a passenger must be sure that he will be able to use it. Otherwise, the trip will not take place, and the money will remain with the seller. But there are situations when the airline is obliged to return the money to you.

In what cases can I return a non-refundable ticket?

For reference:

Until April 2014, any air ticket could be returned 24 hours before departure and refunded. Even if the passenger returned the ticket on the day of departure, the airline retained only 25% of the ticket price.

Amendments to the law (Air Code of the Russian Federation) made it possible to conclude an air transportation agreement between a passenger and a carrier, which provides for a condition on the non-refund of the carriage fee upon termination of this agreement at the initiative of the carrier (Article 107 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) or the passenger (Article 108 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

A passenger can return a non-refundable ticket and receive money for it in the following cases:

  • illness of a passenger or illness of a member of his family, a close relative, who carry out a joint flight with the passenger;
  • death of a passenger's family member or close relative;
  • non-fulfillment or improper fulfillment by the airline of obligations under the passenger air carriage agreement.

However, in order to return a "non-refundable" ticket on the above grounds, these grounds must be documented.: medical document (certificate), telegram, etc.

Everything according to the law

According to paragraph 2 of Art. 108 of the Air Code of the Russian Federation, the passenger is always refunded the carriage fee paid for air transportation, if we are talking about cases of “passenger forced refusal of air transportation due to illness of a passenger or a member of his family or close relative traveling with him on an aircraft, which is confirmed by medical documents, or in connection with the death of a member of his family or close relative, which is documented.

According to paragraph 3 of Art. 108 of the Air Code of the Russian Federation - family members are spouses, parents and children (adoptive parents and adopted children), and close relatives - grandfathers, grandmothers and grandchildren, full and half brothers and sisters.

Important! When buying a ticket from a foreign airline, it is sometimes impossible to refuse a non-refundable ticket and receive money due to illness. In Europe, it is customary to insure your life and health. The money for the canceled flight will be returned to the European passenger in case of his illness by his insurance company.

How to proceed to return the money?

For reference:

The requirement for the return of the carriage fee is presented in the manner prescribed by the rules of the carrier, and the contract for the carriage of passengers by air, the contract for the carriage of goods by air, in accordance with Art. 234 of the Order of the Ministry of Transport of Russia dated June 28, 2007 N 82 "On approval of the Federal Aviation Regulations" General rules for the air transportation of passengers, baggage, cargo and requirements for servicing passengers, consignors, consignees ".

  • Before your flight departs, notify the carrier that you cannot fly. Send a notification email. Or call the hotline and let them know.
  • Collect evidence.
  • Record the fact of the disease in a medical institution - consult a doctor and get a certificate. Preferably with the signature of the head physician of the medical institution. If illness (death) overtook a relative who was supposed to fly with you, similar documents must be made for him.
  • Write a letter to the airline. Explain the situation, demand a refund based on certain circumstances. Attach a certificate, photocopies of air tickets.
  • The airline's rules usually specify how long they consider refund requests (for example, up to 30 days). If there is no deadline in the rules, write that you are waiting for a response within 10-14 days.
  • Send the appeal by mail, by registered mail with a list of attachments and acknowledgment of receipt. This is necessary so that in the future you do not have to write a claim.
  • If you are applying in person, please submit in duplicate. Require that your copy be stamped with incoming correspondence.
  • If the appeal remains unanswered, the money was not returned to you, file a lawsuit.

Important! If you purchased non-refundable tickets as part of a tour, ask the travel agency to return both the money for the tickets and the cost of the tour package that includes them.

Deadlines for filing notices and appeals

How to understand that the tariff is non-refundable?

For reference:

Airfare = fare + fees and charges.

1) Tariff is the cost of the flight as set by the airline. The cost of the flight depends on the length of the route, booking class and season.

2) Fees and taxes. Taxes are airport charges for ground handling of aircraft - fuel, insurance and service. Has the price of fuel changed? Consequently, the price of the ticket has also changed.

Tariffs are described in the rules posted on the seller's website. Tariff information is usually provided in English.

phrase Ticket is non-refundable says it's non-refundable. That is, cancellation by a passenger of a trip or failure to appear for boarding without a good reason are not grounds for returning a ticket.

When buying, pay attention to the possibility of canceling or rescheduling a flight - sellers of non-refundable tickets often set rules according to which a fee must be paid for changing the time, departure date or name on the ticket, at a cost comparable to the price of air travel.

The following phrases may also appear in the rules:

  1. Changes not permitted - the ticket cannot be exchanged
  2. Changes any time charge EUR 100.00- the ticket can be exchanged for an additional fee, for example for 100 euros (the amount depends on the airline).
  3. Name change not permitted- You cannot change the name on the ticket.
  4. Were fare is non-refundable any time in this case YQ/YR surcharges are also non-refundable.— It is impossible to refund taxes (YQ/YR) if the ticket fare is non-refundable.
  • For Russian airlines, these tariffs are usually indicated by words like "Economy", "Standard", "Basic", "Promo".
  • Sometimes non-refundable tickets are sold during promotions airlines.

If you are not sure that you can absolutely use a non-refundable ticket, it is better to buy a regular ticket that can be returned.

Attention! You can return some of the money without even having a good reason.

Most airlines practice a non-refundable ticketing regime. At the same time, it is assumed that if the client, for some reason, decides to hand over such a boarding pass, then he will be denied the procedure and will not return the money spent. However, you can still return a non-refundable plane ticket for a number of reasons. True, the reasons in this case should be extremely valid.

Now the demand for airline services is increasing every day. People travel, make flights to solve work issues, visit relatives living in other cities and countries. However, in most cases, the cost of boarding passes is quite high. Therefore, many air carriers are developing special fares, tickets for which are distinguished by extremely low prices, acceptable to almost all categories of the population.

Of course, the opportunity to purchase a ticket at the lowest possible cost attracts many customers. However, there are some peculiarities here, which future passengers may not be aware of.

Almost all budget tickets have one thing in common - they cannot be returned. This means that if the client suddenly changes his mind about flying for some personal reason, then the money spent on the boarding pass will not be returned to him. This is the essence of the wording "non-refundable ticket".

True, in some cases, the registration coupon can be exchanged if this is provided for by the rules of the airline, but here you will also need to incur costs. Usually, under such circumstances, a fine must be paid. Accordingly, as a result, the amount of money spent on the whole flight will turn out to be far from being as small as we would like.

The possibility of buying such boarding passes appeared in 2014. It was from this moment that air carriers acquired the right to independently establish the conditions for the sale of seats on an aircraft. Whereas earlier regulations provided for the possibility of surrendering absolutely any ticket a day before departure.

It follows that the right to sell non-refundable air tickets is enshrined at the legislative level. That is, carriers in this case act absolutely legally. The goal is to protect the financial fund of the company from material losses.

Is it possible to return a non-refundable ticket: grounds

Although in most cases it is not possible to return a non-refundable ticket, there are exceptions. Those are determined by law and are set out in paragraph 2, paragraph 108 of the Air Code. The rules set forth here are designed to protect the interests of a citizen if he cannot fly for unforeseen reasons.

You can get a full refund for a non-refundable boarding pass for an aircraft on one of the following grounds:

  • illness of the client himself, a member of his family, a loved one, provided that the sick person also had to fly;
  • death of a close relative from among the members of the passenger's family;
  • non-fulfillment of obligations by the carrier, for example, a flight delay of 4 hours or more, a complete cancellation of the flight.

It is important to understand here that we are talking only about worthy circumstances. Simply put, if the passenger simply changed his mind about flying, then you should not hope for a full refund, because he was warned in advance that such a procedure for such fares is not provided in principle.

However, in this case, it is worth trying to return at least part of the funds. Here we are talking about unused amounts charged by the airline in favor of other carriers. The so-called airport taxes (service, fuel, insurance), which are also included in the ticket price. And since only the fare is considered non-refundable, then compensation for the fee of the airport in which the passenger has not been has to be provided.

If the terms and conditions indicate that the service fees are non-refundable, then they can also not be counted on. Accordingly, if a person still decides to purchase a non-refundable boarding pass, then he should be sure that he will make the flight. Otherwise, he is likely to suffer material losses.

In order to return the ticket and get back the funds for which it was purchased, you will need to contact the airport employee until the end of the check-in of passengers of a particular flight. You should first prepare an application and find documentary evidence of the fact that the grounds for the procedure really take place.

The application should be made in two samples - one for the company, the second for yourself. Moreover, it is imperative to indicate the reason why the flight cannot take place and the account number where the funds should be transferred. A copy of the ticket is attached to the request.

But as evidence you can present (depending on the reason):

  1. A medical certificate confirming the illness of the passenger or relative who was supposed to fly with him. The document must be signed by the head physician of the healthcare organization and its seal. Be sure to indicate the date of issue of the certificate and the period during which the person was sick.
  2. Certificate of incapacity for work certified by a notary.
  3. Death certificate of a loved one or relative.

The request can be submitted in person, by mail or via the Internet. In the first case, it is necessary to ensure that the copy of the passenger's application is stamped with a stamp confirming the acceptance of the request. Sending documents by mail should be made in the form of a registered letter with a notice of delivery to the addressee.

Typically, such applications are considered no more than a month. It is allowed to indicate in the appeal a different period - 10-14 days. If after this period no response is received and the funds are not returned, then you can apply to the judicial authorities.

If the ticket was purchased through a tour operator, then, first of all, you need to contact him with a question about a refund. The consultant will explain what actions need to be taken. In this case, the commission due to the travel agency is non-refundable.

The deadline set for applying to the airline in order to return the boarding pass and receive the funds spent on it is 6 months.

In order not to make a mistake in choosing a ticket and to accurately understand the consequences of buying it, you need to understand which airlines offer coupons at non-refundable fares, and what exactly they are called. In the Russian Federation, almost all major carriers work in this direction. The most famous of them, Transaero and Aeroflot, were the first to start such activities. The latter airline sells non-refundable coupons at the "Budget" and "Promo" tariffs.

In order not to make a mistake in choosing, it will be useful for passengers to know the following information:

  1. UTair Aviation offers the purchase of non-refundable tickets under the Light Economy or Minimum fares.
  2. The non-refundable fares of S7 Airlines are called “Business Basic”, “Basic” and “Economy Basic”.
  3. Pobeda Airlines in most cases sells only non-refundable boarding passes. For example, according to the tariffs "Standard", "Package plus".

It is important to clarify that the names may change somewhat, so it is extremely important to pay attention to the description of the boarding pass before buying.

But Ural Airlines does not develop special tariffs in principle. This carrier sells low-cost air tickets during the days or hours of specially designed promotions.

In general, any non-refundable ticket must have a corresponding mark. Accordingly, when buying, you should pay attention to the boarding pass itself. In addition, the carrier or its representative is obliged to notify the client about the conditions for the return of funds even before paying for a seat on the plane. Simply put, the agent must explain to the passenger whether he can return the ticket and receive the money spent on it.

Air tickets purchased via the Internet are also recommended to be thoroughly studied. In this case, on the website of the air carrier, you can view information about the fare, and if necessary, clarify any points by contacting the contact phone number. Usually, if such a ticket is marked “Non Ref”, which means “irrevocable”, then it will not be possible to return it.

As for foreign airlines, there are no symbols for non-refundable tickets as such. Abroad, the sale of such boarding passes is carried out as part of promotions and sales. Such programs by themselves suggest that ticket returns are not allowed. In a word, foreign carriers by default mean that if the ticket is cheap, then it cannot be returned.

The cost of a non-refundable ticket can be returned to the passenger in full only if he cancels the flight for good reasons. The list of those is indicated in the Air Code. In other situations, you can try to return part of the funds, which includes service fees. In general, it is recommended that you study the fare conditions as carefully as possible before buying a budget ticket. Such a boarding pass should be purchased only when there is a strong certainty that the flight will be carried out.

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