Itโs generally accepted that when you buy a ticket on a low-cost carrier, said ticket is non-refundable. Basically- you canโt fly, you forfeit the ticket. Itโs the price of low prices.
Scoot may grant an exception for medical reasons or the death of an immediate family member, but otherwise they adopt the same policy. Hereโs the relevant section from their FAQ:
But hello, whatโs this? โYou may request for partial refund via our partnership with ChangeYourFlightโ.
Thatโs news to me, but apparently Scoot has been working with ChangeYourFlight for a while now. Hereโs how Scoot describes it:
ChangeYourFlight is a Barcelona-based startup whose claim to fame is allowing travelers to extract at least some value from a non-refundable air ticket.
If you canโt travel, you can submit a request for a partial refund from the airline. If your request is approved, you get a voucher that is redeemable towards future travel on the same airline. The airline wins, in that it gets to resell the seat to someone else. You win, in that you get some value out of an otherwise non-refundable ticket.
Iโm flying to Hong Kong for the launch of Mileslife Hong Kong and hold a one-way ticket on Scoot back from HKG-SIN (startups fly cheapest fare, donโt you know). Because of a change of plans, I have to fly home on a different day. This presented me with an opportunity to try ChangeYourFlight.
The process to request a partial refund is actually pretty straightforward. You go to the ChangeYourFlight page, and enter your booking code and passenger name.
The system pulls up your flight and lets you select a refund amount to request. This works on a reverse bidding model where you specify exactly how much you want to request as a refund. Obviously, the lower you request, the greater the chance of getting accepted. Hereโs a video from ChangeYourFlight explaining the factors influencing how much you should offer.
https://youtu.be/64kkMCwXU98
The taxes and fees on the ticket were already HKD 255 (remember, this is a one-way ex-HKG), so there was no way Iโd request less than that. In the end I went with HKD 270, although I could have requested any amount I wanted to.
A few days later, I got the following email informing me my request was successful. If my refund request was rejected, I could always have submitted a new one, so if thereโs still time to go before you fly donโt feel shy about starting with a higher amount.
Great! I thought. The system works. Hereโs how Scoot describes the conditions attached to the partial refund voucher:
That sounds pretty straightforward. But hereโs where the problem started. I couldnโt find a single Scoot flight where the voucher was valid.
I tried everything. I tried the cheap seats, I tried the pricey ones. I tried ScootBiz. I tried flights to Hong Kong, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, everywhere. No matter what I did, I kept meeting this error message when I tried to use the voucher:
I did some searching online, and found this account by another disgruntled customer who was encountering the same problem. I started getting worriedโฆ
The solution- ensure your name matches the voucher
I turned the problem over to Matthew (as I am wont to do) and within minutes he figured out the solution-your voucher is tied to a specific name. In my previous attempts to use it, I was just auto-piloting through the โenter detailsโ section and entering dummy data.
Once I entered my full name, everything worked.
The voucher of HKD270 was applied to my booking, converted to S$46.98 which is perfectly reasonable by todayโs exchange rates. I didnโt even need to use the voucher on a flight to Hong Kong- any destination seemed to be acceptable.
Conclusion
Requiring the name on the booking to match the name on the voucher is a reasonable restriction because it stops people from reselling their vouchers. Iโm fine with that, but Scoot could have saved a lot of trouble by stating this clearly on their website.
To be fair, buried in the FAQ on ChangeYourFlight is this table which shows that Scoot vouchers are non-transferable, but you wonโt see this if youโre just relying on the Scoot website.
Was I happy with my ChangeYourFlight experience? Hiccup aside, pretty much. Getting back ~40% of your ticket price isnโt ideal, but itโs sure better than getting nothing. I deeply suspect the default refund amounts are lowballs, however, and Iโd be looking to request a much higher amount the next time round.
I tried to get a refund (or at best a reschedule) this week from Scoot due to the death of a family member. Really hate calling in and talking to them. They are cold and unwilling to offer any decent options for this one-time unexpected situation, even with proof of a death certificate. I really hate Scoot now and this was supposed to be my first trip on a budget airline.
Calling to ag****.com and other sites for my hotel/day trip/limo arrangments, the other companiesโ agents were kind, courteous, and willing to go the extra mile to provide decent assistance with this unexpected turn of events.
Nope. Not Scoot. Not uncaring Scoot.
I had a v cheap fare to Hanoi over Easter that I couldnโt use โ put in a request for nearly the full value (seats were selling way higher at that point) and it was honoured !
So definately check what price itโs selling at now to gauge your bid โ I imagine if the revenue manager thinks they can sell your seat for a higher price now theyโll be more willing to accept
[โฆ] deals which aim to compete with each other. Some of Scoot's biggest flight sales can take you to Singapore from $198 return or Greece for under $600 return. Some of Jetstar's bigger flight sales include fly one way, return [โฆ]