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| screen shot of the fare rule section |
Hello Everyone,
Am sorry for not updating my blog consistently but then I recently changed jobs and with it came more responsibility. I
Today I will be talking about the travel lingua you must familiarize yourself.
Fare Rules
Think of this as the bible of travel, these are rules set by airlines governing each of their flight, No two airlines have the same set of rules. Before any change can be made on your ticket, the fare rules must be checked and complied with.
The most important part of the rules would be the penalty section. Penalty for no show, penalty for refund, penalty for change fee. Failure to adhere to this rules could result in consequences worth millions of Naira.
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What is a No-Show
Simply put, a No-show is when you miss your flight, and also fail to cancel your reservation either by asking your travel agent or by calling the airline. Meaning your seat was un-occupied, A seat that could have been bought by somebody else.Most people commit no show for a variety of reasons but if its not for the death of a family member with a valid death certificate to prove, you will be fined.
A No-show is a very serious penalty, A No show committed on a Lufthansa Carrier, most times renders the ticket unusable. Now this penalty varies with airlines, Arik fines USD300 when a No-Show is committed on an international flight and Emirates go for as low as USD50.
To avoid a No show, the ticket would have to be cancelled at least 1hr 45 mins before departure time for international flight and at least 1 hour before departure for local flights.
Change fee.
Now after missing your flight for whatever reason, your thinking of changing your ticket to another date... you would be required to pay what is known as a change fee. This is how airlines generate a lot of revenue, They charge you every time you change your mind. if you have committed a no show, you'd be asked to pay your No show fee first.
For instance if your carrier is British airways, the NO SHOW FEE could go as high as USD400 then change fee of about USD200. In order to change your date you would pay about USD600 that's approximately NGN100,000 and probably half the ticket price! now had you cancelled your ticket before departure time you'd just be paying the change fee of USD200 i.e NGN32,000. Ignorance is not an excuse. To prevent unnecessary expenses ensure you cancel your ticket before date of departure. CANCELLATION IS FREE!!!
Refund
A lot of people don't know that when they decide not to travel, they are entitled to the fare & unused taxes. Now once again this is subject to fare rules, and this refund process usually takes up to two weeks.
I have had lot of cases where clients demanded a refund because they committed a No show and since their fare rules stipulates that ''when a No show is committed, changes cant be made on that ticket'' So they go ''oh good let me get my money back'' But then again the rule on that ticket also says that refund is not permitted!!!!!!
Often times these clients, having read and understood the rules before purchasing such ticket still want to put the blame on ME!! it takes the grace of God to handle such client. Thankfully I inform all my pax about the fare rules and also advice a change in airline with lesser penalties.
Ask your travel agent about the fare rules on your ticket and if you are purchasing your ticket online ensure you read the fare rules section carefully.
Ticket Validity
This means how long you have until your ticket expires, Most tickets have a one year validity but promo tickets and really cheap tickets usually have a varying degree of validity, I have seen some for 2 months. So while chasing after cheap fare please keep validity in mind.
My client and i almost got into a fix when i gave him a ticket with a 4 month validity- We had spent days looking for something cheap and were so excited when we finally found a seat that i didn't bother with the validity. Calling him up after he had travelled, to tell him that his ticket would only be valid for just 4 months, almost broke my heart.
Hotel vouchers.
Hotel vouchers are hotel reservations made by an airline for pax due to long connecting time between flights. Hotel vouchers are free.
For instance you wanna go to Johannesburg and you choose to travel via Ethiopian airlines which transits in Addis Ababa for a total of 7 hours, this means you would have to wait 7 hours before your connecting flight to Jo'burg.
Due to this INCOVENIENCE, you will be entitled to an hotel voucher. This comprises of a room usually with a meal, airport transfer to hotel and transfer back to airport.
Airlines that are quick to provide hotel vouchers includes Qatar, Etihad, Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines. Now provision of hotel voucher depends on the connecting time. if there is availability of shorter flights and you purposely pick a flight with a long connecting time, you would not be entitled to a hotel voucher.
Children and Infant discount.
Infants don't get a seat in the plane, they seat on the lap of their parents, and are charged 25% of the adult fare meaning they usually get 75% discount. Infants are kids aged below 2. Children on the other hand, get a seat in the plane and are charged 75% of the adult fare, they get a 25% discount. A child aged below 12 and above 2 can claim this discount.
It is rare for infants and adults to pay the same fare. So pls watch out so you don't get cheated.
Because i know Nigerians don't like to read, i would stop here for now. It took me over a week to conclude this piece and i hope it helps someone out there save a bit of money. ciao!
