My wife and I are planning to visit England for a couple of weeks this summer. I was wonderign if anyone can advise re refundability of ticket purchases if we need to cancel shortly before departure. Is using a credit card for the purchase safer than any other means, ie cash? cheque etc?

- Peter.

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Fully refundable air tickets are a fairly expensive rarity these days. The current standard is that the tickets' value remains available for a year then they are lost.

Buy trip insurance. You can probably get a 'Full refund for any cancellation' policy for around $100 per person and it should include the other standard features too like flying your body home if you die over there.

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Agreed.

There is no benefit to using a credit card. They won't go to bat for you to obtain a refund.

If you can use the funds on the same airline within one year, you're all set.

I recently had to do the same thing, and they allowed me to use the funds although I was not the original passenger (however I was the purchaser).

The non-refundable ticket with trip insurance is going to be your lowest cost option. Be sure to understand for what type of events the trip insurance will pay, they only cover specific issues.

Be aware the airlines charge a significant fee to change a non-refundable ticket. You can apply the value of the ticket to a future trip, but you will be charged for doing so. The fee is likely to be $150-$250 per ticket for making a change.

Sometimes a good strategy is to purchase tickets later in the season, closer to your departure date. With the economy still in the doldrums, it's unlikely ticket prices will rise much as we approach summer. Though with fewer flights on the schedule, there is a chance of not getting seats on the exact flight(s) you prefer.

if you think you will cancel, dont use the bargain fare sites like travelocity, orbitz, priceline etc. they will allow you to cancel, but there is generally a $150 per ticket fee and the rest is credited to same airline usable within 1 year by the same person, international is $250. I have tried many times to get around this, but they wont budge. If I think I might cancel, I make sure it is within the policy of the ticket I buy to change it for a small fee.

also I have found the wait and see mode to not work well anymore. the airlines have started cutting flights which means their bookings are getting full, very rarely in the past year have I been on a flight that wasnt almost full, most have been turning away standbys.

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