Is there anywhere I can book flights that are refundable?

[squashyhat]

DH and I are looking to book a short break within the next few months. A family member is ill, it's ongoing and may get worse. We need to be able to book (at least partially) refundable flights, in case we can't go at short notice. Most accommodation bookings nowadays offer at least partial refunds, but I can't find the same for flight bookings (I know you can usually rebook for a later date at extra cost). Do they exist?

If you have travel insurance that will pay out for flights assuming it's a close family member and the airline won't refund. There will be a small excess, like £100. I did this last year when I couldn't fly as planned to a conference as my husband had a stroke. They paid for non refundable accommodation too. I had to get medical proof which cost £50. But betterthan losing everything.

How close is the family member? Insurance will be your best bet but they are usually quite tight on who they will cover so you’ll need to be careful to make sure you’re covered, especially if they’re already ill.

BA offer a flexible ticket which I think allows you to cancel. Depending where you’re going the rebooking fee with a cheaper airline might be cheaper though.

Lots of airlines do refundable tickets. They are all very expensive.

Better off with a low cost carrier and just being prepared to pay a fee to change.

If there is a terminal prognosis insurance won’t pay out.either premium with a scheduled airline or book last minute?

Flexible flight tickets tend to be horribly expensive. So, depending on when you are going, you might be better off booking last minute.

Agree with several of the above posters - some airlines do offer fully flexible/fully refundable tickets but they tend to very very expensive.

^^ add to my above.

As an example just looked quickly at BA.com to get an order of magnitude check and a LHR-Europe route, fully flex short haul economy with them can be something like 4 times the price of a basic non- refundable.

I'd be surprised if insurance paid out for cancellation if the family member is already ill, unless you've already notified them and they've loaded the premium accordingly, which might not be that expensive as the potential payout isn't huge compared with the other risks you're insuring against.

I'd either not book anything and book last minute or even stay in the UK this year where you can just drive home if needed or book as normal but be prepared to change the flights to a later date.

Jet2 at least allow date changes for a reasonably trivial sum although it might be worth losing the booking and starting again especially if you need to change both flights.

As others have said, fully flexible flights are usually much more expensive such that its cheaper to book non refundable and risk paying extra than paying extra in the first place. Plus if you're looking at a beach holiday, you're generally limited to the low cost airlines anyway unless you travel from London.

Thanks everyone. Yes, we are probably going to stay in the UK, although I have just been looking at Eurostar which has some flexibility for bookings so could do a short break to Ghent or somewhere. We have already lost a lot of money having to cancel long haul flights for later in the year.

Something to consider for the future is that BA flight booked through Avios points are fully cancellable with just a £35 fee. I use my amex card to get one free and build up our points. It's helpful for us as my DPs are very elderly, so gives us a bit of flexibility if it's needed.

Do you have to fly? 🤷‍♀️ Why not go by train?

You can buy an Interrail pass, which you can activate when you're ready to travel any time within 11 months. You do have to pay for reservations on the Eurostar with this at £30 a time, and these are not refundable but they are exchangeable, if my memory serves me right. In some countries you have to pay for reservations on their high speed trains as well (typically 10- 20 euros a time), but in France at least they're fully refundable. I think all prebooked SNCF tickets are refundable actually.

The more I hear about flying the less I understand why people do it for fun. If you're going to Australia I understand, but there are better ways to travel around Europe. If a train is delayed for more than 60 minutes you will get compensation. I gather that doesn't happen with flights!! 😆

Oh, and reserve accommodation through booking.com with the free cancellation option. You can usually cancel for free up to about a week in advance.

Mrs multiple posts again 😳

As an example, we had a short break to Marseille at the beginning of November by train. Amazing city, would definitely recommend. It's only 3 hours by train from Paris.

Interrail passes are usually best value to us because we're coming from the far SW and UK travel is included, but for those in the London area buying normal train tickets could work out cheaper.

And we're going to Amsterdam next weekend- again by train.

The more I hear about flying the less I understand why people do it for fun. If you're going to Australia I understand, but there are better ways to travel around Europe.

If you are travelling between major centers along the main rail routes (e.g. ex London linking with somewhere on the TGV network) then trains work well, if you are travelling region > region air can be a lot faster.

If I want to travel from where I live in Europe, very near a major city, to somewhere like London or or one of the other European capital cities it’s a choice of maybe up to 12 hours plus plus a on a train (certainly for London) verses a couple of hours by air.

Well, I live nowhere near a major centre. Which also means I live nowhere near airports, either 🤷‍♀️.

I think, when people do these calculations, they don't factor a lot of the inconvenience of flying in. Yes, the flight only takes 2 hours. However, you have to be there 2 hours in advance. And how do you get to the airport from wherever you are? Your options are train (and most people don't live within walking distance of a station), coach (ditto), taxi (extortionate), or drive and pay for airport parking (extortionate). And there's the time taken to get to the airport. And then, when you get to the "other end", there's the time taken to get into the city centre.

I flew to Amsterdam about 9 years ago, and it went like this:
Get up very early. Drive 2.5 hours to nearest airport with flights to A'dam. Airport parking was £25 a day I think (and this was a small regional airport). Check in and wait 2 hours. Single daily flight about an hour. Say an hour and a half from Schipol into the centre: 7 hours.
Our trip next week is going to look like this: Drive half an hour to nearest mainline station- Park for free nearby. Hop straight on the 10.46 to London (could take one an hour later, but we want time for a nice lunch and cocktails in London- it's my birthday). 4.5 hours to London. 20 minutes on tube (or 30 by bus) to St Pancras. Check in for Eurostar at 5, it leaves for Amsterdam at 6. Arrives 11.00 European time, in the very centre of Amsterdam. That's 11 hours (allowing for the time difference), but could be 10 if we cut short our time in London.

So, 3 or 4 hours longer, but that encompasses a leisurely lunch somewhere nice in London, and just sitting back in a spacious seat relaxing with our own wine we have brought on the train with us, enjoying the view. Personally I think it's worth it. Of course, if I lived somewhere less remote it would take less time to get to an airport, but it would probably also take much less time to get to London on the train as well! And most people in the UK live closer to a station than they do to an airport!

Well If you want to compare.notes I can do house door somewhere in France, ( close to major city not on the TGV network but with major airport) to a house door in London in about 6 hours by taking local train/bus to airport, wait for flight, then then fly, then tube.

If I use local train to local city, then long distance trains X2 (partly TGV, has to be via Paris) then tube in London it can"t be done in much under maybe 14 hours, if that, if you are very lucky.

Hence most people travelling to/from here from the UK for fun and holidays fly.

We're hoping for a link to the TGV system but it will be a long time coming.

Ryanair have an option for a flexible ticket - not sure whether it's refundable or just that you can move the date.