Am I obligated to pay more?

[daisytruffles]

My trip with my friend was cancelled due to reasons beyond our control. I bought really good travel insurance before and she relied on her parents home insurance as she lives with them. My insurance should cover most of mine, hers won't. I am not particularly well off but she's a mature student so it hit her more. She lost over £1k.

We applied for a refund from the airline and hers was granted for £20 and mine was granted for £150. I should be able to claim some of the rest with my insurance but she can't. It was the same ticket and nowhere near the cost of the ticket and both came into my account because I booked. I can clearly match up the codes that the larger refund was for my refund request and the smaller for hers. Other than submitting one refund request slightly later than the other there was no difference. We waited to submit hers in hope that the flight would be cancelled by the airline as that was her best chance of getting her money back (back when there were all the cancellations.) The day before, when we realized it wasn't getting cancelled, we submitted her refund request.

I just feel really guilty that I have kept all the money from my refund and was wondering if you would think that there would be an expectation to split the refund amounts? I paid her refund to her and didn't tell her about the price difference.

I have lost about £250 already which is a lot of money to me. Have I acted appropriately?

I am very very frugal as I am saving up. So I hope I have acted ok and this mindset hasn't clouded my actions.

I would have split the refunds so you were both equally out of pocket.

Have you enquired why the difference in refunds?

I wouldn’t expect someone else to subsidise my cancellation. Is there a reason why you should eg. was the cancellation driven by something you did?

I don't understand why the flight refunds were different amounts?

Your better insurance isn’t free. You still pay for it.
If it was her decision to wait and see if her flight was cancelled then that’s a gamble she chose to take.
As a Goodwill gesture you could spilt it in half . However she is also living w parents (if using their insurance) so presumably has less day to day costs than you?

I don't think you should pay more. You both booked a trip and chose appropriate insurance. Your friend chose the budget version and that had affected their level of cover.

You were proactive and you did the right thing - getting insurance that was right for you.

I would retain what the insurers have refunded you in total.

Does it sound like they have only refunded the air passenger tax element for your friend maybe?

She didn't get proper insurance. That's the risk you take when you don't take it out.

No sorry it’s her fault she doesn’t have the adequate insurance

They were different amounts because hers was cancelled within 24 hours of the flight. I was getting some money back from insurance so needed proof of cancellation so cancelled a week before my friend. My friend couldn't get any back from her insurance but if she waited her flight was likely to be cancelled where she would have gotten a full refund. We were given very little information and didn't know that we would get different amounts.

@FridayiminlovewithRobertSmith no it was neither of our faults that the trip was cancelled

Then it’s fine to keep your compensation and she gets hers if you are confident that is the reason for the difference in refund. Like a PP I wondered if actually it was because they’d only refunded tax or a mistake had been made.

She rolled the dice with insurance and on waiting for the flight to cancel and unfortunately it hasn’t worked out for her.

It's easy to be wise after the event. I think your friend has to accept that she took a chance and it didn't pay off. You had to pay the premium, you should get all the refund you were awarded.

Well in that case I really wouldn’t have any expectations of you as a friend. It wouldn’t cross my mind. Don’t worry about it at all.

I would keep all the compensation from the Insurance. Maybe split the refund from the airline

If it wasn't your fault are you sure you're not entitled to more from the airline? I'm a bit confused about the kind of situation where you have to cancel but not your fault. I would say that you each keep your own refund and you don't subsidise your friend. The insurance and the cancellation was her choice.

no I wouldn’t either.

she took the gamble not getting her own travel insurance and relying on the home insurance to hopefully cover it, it’s literally a few £, it’s her own fault she lost money by not getting it.

you shouldn’t have to finance her poor decision.