If a flight was postponed, does the passenger have to pay to extend the ticket?
My friend's flight was postponed to a yet unknown date due to a fault in the plane. He has a round trip, he has 2 stops before he reaches his destination. He was planning on staying there for 3 weeks.
However, his ticket back here is still 3 weeks from the original date. Does he have the right to extend his ticket date for free? Or does he have to pay to extend his departure date to come back?
For example, he was supposed to depart on 31 July but, it got postponed to 3 August, and he was supposed to come back 3 weeks after his departure. So does he have the right to return on 25/8 with no extra charges, or does he have to pay to postpone his ticket, which was originally 21 August?
Best Answer
This entirely depends on the fare rules. If a flight is delayed due to a preventable condition (such as a mechanical fault in your case), then the airline should compensate you for the delay and book you on the next available flight for free.
How they compensate, and to what level - this depends on the airline, and sometimes on the itinerary; and sometimes even on which class of travel you are flying.
In addition to the compensation, airlines offer to ignore or reduce fees for rebooking, or any penalties for cancellation of the ticket if there is a preventable delay.
The airline's liability is to take you to your destination; that's all. In other words, the liability is limited to each leg of the flight - there are normally two legs to a round trip flight (the departure leg, and the return leg).
In simple terms - what this means is that your delay when arriving at your destination, does not entitle to you any compensations on the return flight; in other words - if your inbound flight was delayed and you took the flight, it does not entitle you to any compensation or reduction in fees when scheduling the return leg of the flight.
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Do you have to pay to extend a flight?
Every major U.S. airline (except Southwest Airlines) typically charges penalty fees to change or cancel an economy fare flight. The fees, however, can vary from as low as $75 on a domestic flight to more than $400 on an international flight.Do I have to accept a rescheduled flight?
Minor change Passengers victim of a minor schedule change have generally no choice but to accept it. If this happens to you, feel free to ask a refund or an alternate flight, but keep in mind that you are not covered by any law and the airline doesn't have the obligation to refund or reroute you on a different flight.Do I need a new ticket if my flight is delayed?
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In case your domestic flight is delayed over 6 hours, the rescheduled time will be informed to you before your original scheduled departure time. Also, the airline is entitled to offer you an alternative flight within that time or a full refund of your ticket.Airline Refunds - Flight Cancelled? Know Your Rights!
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