Northwest Heartless Ticket Policy

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Jan 20, 2003
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NORTHWEST'S HEARTLESS TICKET POLICY

Friday, October 31, 2003

By Lawrence Walsh, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Debbie Wirth of North Huntingdon has been a Steelers fan for years. She was delighted when friends invited her several months ago to join them for a trip to Seattle this weekend for the Steelers/Seahawks game Sunday afternoon. The $390 cost included airfare, a shared room and a ticket to the game.

Wirth, 46, a computer security administrator for Allegheny General Hospital, looked forward to the trip.

Then her daughter Denelle, who celebrated her 20th birthday yesterday, was diagnosed with colon cancer. She is being treated with chemotherapy and radiation to shrink the tumor. She has regained some of the weight she lost. The operation to remove the tumor is scheduled for Nov. 18.

Denelle Wirth, a business management student at Westmoreland County Community College, isn't in school this semester because of her illness. She plans to resume her classes as soon as she can.

Debbie Wirth called her friends and explained why she couldn't make the trip. They were sympathetic and supportive. They found someone to go in her stead. They called the airline and hotel to tell them there had been a change.

No problem, said the hotel desk clerk.

No way, said Northwest Airlines.

A customer service representative said Debbie Wirth's ticket was nonrefundable and nontransferable. Not only couldn't she get her money back, she couldn't sell the ticket or even give it away. It's her ticket and she is the only person permitted to use it.

There are no exceptions, the customer service representative said. None.

"That doesn't seem reasonable to me," Wirth said.

I called Mary Stanik, a Northwest spokeswoman based in Minneapolis. I explained Wirth's problem and why she couldn't make the trip. I followed up with an e-mail that included Wirth's flight itinerary to and from Seattle via Minneapolis.

After checking with the airlines customer relations, Stanik got back to me. She extended the airline's best wishes for a full recovery for Denelle Wirth, but said there wasn't anything it would do about Debbie Wirth's ticket.

Stanik said Wirth's ticket was "specifically endorsed 'not transferable.' This is a restriction that we do not waive.

"However, Mrs. Wirth's ticket has value that she may apply toward another nonrefundable purchase, provided travel commences within one year of the date of the ticket. So she would have until Oct. 31, 2004, to travel."

Does that mean Wirth could have used that ticket to fly to Davenport, Iowa, this week to attend a memorial service for her brother-in-law who died on Monday?

No.

The airline said that today is the first day she could apply the value of that ticket -- $220 -- toward the price of another Northwest ticket. And she'll have to pay another $100 to reschedule her flight.

Wirth said she'll use the ticket, but not to go to Seattle.

"Denelle enjoys the beach," she said. "When she gets better, that's where we'll go."




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Why pick on Northwest - that's the policy at American, Delta, Continental, United, and USAirways to name a few. Tain't right, but if the author wants to blast an airline, they might as well be fair about it.
 
Ticket rules are ticket rules; there are provisions where you can make a ticket non-refundable except in the death/illness of the pax or family member... but obviously those were not in the penalties section of the rule for her fare. It was non-refundable no exceptions. But the media doesn't care.