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Ticketed Passenger Dies before taking Trip....


msmayor
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There are many knowledgeable flyers in this forum and I'm hoping for any extra information on applying for a refund for a ticketed passenger who has passed away. I am helping my aunt who unfortunately lost her husband two months ago after a brief illness.

 

They had purchased plane tickets on United for their annual trek to their Aruba timeshare. As most people do, they purchased non-refundable fares. No insurance.

 

I have already told my aunt to expect nothing, due to the non-refundable nature of the tickets...but have ready that many airlines will (with proper documentation) actually refund tickets of this type when a ticketed passenger has dies...and that often the traveling companion of that deceased passenger can get a refund.

 

I've made a preliminary inquiry by email to United to ask about it but have not yet heard back. I figure, nothing ventured - nothing gained. If we expect a 'no' and get even a credit of some sort that she can use later one, it's better than nothing.

 

Anyone with more knowledge of dealing with an airline's Customer Service have any information they can offer?

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One important issue is whether the ticket was a published fare ticket sold by United, or some kind of consolidator ticket sold by a third party.

 

Most all published fare tickets are refundable upon the death of the passenger prior to the trip. You will definitely need a copy of the death certificate (and the airline can advise whether a certified copy is necessary or not). Further, you may need to provide details regarding the estate, including information on executor and the like. Any refund may go to the estate rather than to your aunt.

 

Make no assumptions, document everything and keep good records. You are now in the world of estate issues - and good luck.

 

BTW, is there some reason why you are doing this rather than the executor of his estate? That's the legal representative who is empowered to act on behalf of the estate, rather than just a relative or even spouse.

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Everything FlyerTalker said is correct. In my own experience United has been very good about these situations. When my mom was in her last days DW and I were headed to EWR for a working weekend in Toronto when my brother called to say the end was emminant and we needed to get to Maryland ASAP. As i turned the car around I called UA to cancel and they were most accomadating even telling me what I would need to avoid change fees. So. do follow up but have your documents in order and as FlyerTalker suggested let your uncle's executor handle it to avoid legal issues later.

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Thank you all for the encouraging words.

 

I am really only gathering information at this point. My aunt is the executrix of my uncle's estate so any official letters requesting the refund will most certainly come from her. I will help her with the wording and the address information. I did tell her that if United issues any refund for his ticket it would be to his estate.

 

It is encourage though to know that with patience and all the details, she may be successful in getting a refund.

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You can actually ask for your refund online. There is a link on the UA web site and it will allow you to attach the scanned documents you need. Going that route will save you some time with the mail. The two times I had to deal with these issues I was happy to just take the credit for future travel without the change fee because we travel on UA a lot being so close to Newark. Refund to original form of payment was also an option.

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This is not an issue I have dealt with but you may want to consider what happens to the frequent flyer miles attached to his account before asking for a refund. If the account has significant miles, they may also deactivate his frequent flyer account upon notification of his death. I have given some of my family members my login credentials so if the unfortunate were to happen they can still use my miles.

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This is not an issue I have dealt with but you may want to consider what happens to the frequent flyer miles attached to his account before asking for a refund. If the account has significant miles, they may also deactivate his frequent flyer account upon notification of his death. I have given some of my family members my login credentials so if the unfortunate were to happen they can still use my miles.

UA did not deactivate my husband’s FF account, and I was able to use it until the miles were gone.

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UA did not deactivate my husband’s FF account, and I was able to use it until the miles were gone.

As always, YMMV. I am sitting on over million miles (I know I am crazy) so future use of those miles would be top of the list. If you read the official UA policy, the miles are not transferable upon death. You were lucky that they didn't associate the request for a refund on a ticket with the FF account and deactivate the account. You were able to sidestep by still being able to log into his still active account. There is no guarantee with advancements in computers and data analytics that this may not happen for people in the future.

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This is not an issue I have dealt with but you may want to consider what happens to the frequent flyer miles attached to his account before asking for a refund. If the account has significant miles, they may also deactivate his frequent flyer account upon notification of his death. I have given some of my family members my login credentials so if the unfortunate were to happen they can still use my miles.

 

That's something I hadn't considered...thank you for bringing that up.

 

I'll check with my aunt, but if he does have any frequent flyer account there likely isn't a huge number of miles in it. They basically took this one trip a year so not a lot of miles would accumulate.

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You can actually ask for your refund online. There is a link on the UA web site and it will allow you to attach the scanned documents you need. Going that route will save you some time with the mail. The two times I had to deal with these issues I was happy to just take the credit for future travel without the change fee because we travel on UA a lot being so close to Newark. Refund to original form of payment was also an option.

 

Thank you for suggesting the link. I did find the area on the website to request the refund. I uploaded the death certificate and added some date information on when the tickets were purchased, date of death and respectfully requesting the refund. I used all my Aunt's contact information and let her know to watch her emails. We'll see what happens.

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Please keep us posted. If you do not get an answer within 10 days, call them. Sometimes things get lost in the shuffle and you need to prod them. You should have gotten an automated response pretty quickly acknowledging your request. As I recall, mine took less than a week once I submitted them when we were ready to travel again.

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Please keep us posted. If you do not get an answer within 10 days, call them. Sometimes things get lost in the shuffle and you need to prod them. You should have gotten an automated response pretty quickly acknowledging your request. As I recall, mine took less than a week once I submitted them when we were ready to travel again.

 

Well, my update comes pretty quickly. United swiftly processed the request and just four days after submitting the documentation, confirmation of the refund was received by my Aunt. It should hit her credit card by next week.

 

She'll be receiving refunds on both her ticket and her deceased husband. It is a tremendous relief to her that this money is not lost.

 

I thank all of you for the valuable information provided. It made a difference in knowing just where and how to ask for the refund.

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Glad they took good care of your aunt. It is hard enough losing her husband. Give yourself some good points for helping her and for reaching out here and listening the the advice. United really is very good about this kind of stuff as long as you provide the documentation.

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