[wjfmsmith]

I paid $559.20 for two one way tickets on Frontier and had to cancel because my husband was suddenly hospitalized. I sent a doctor's letter stating the reason that we couldn't fly on reserved day. I tried to rebook using my " credit , " to book tickets for a total of $ 469.20 . I was told that I could not use the remainder of this credit to cover the change fees . In other words, Frontier Airlines insists on keeping my $90 credit and charging me an additional $ 100 . We have flown on Frontier 8 times since Dec 2008 for medical visits in New York to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center from Denver and had to pay numerous change fees because of the unknown of when my husband will be able to travel. This last extra charge has convinced me to fly on another airline for all the frequent upcoming medical trips.

[EXCO]

Change fees are a fact of life for most all carriers. Buy a full fare coach ticket and you won't have to worry about them.

[Butch Cassidy Slept Here]

For the type of travel you are talking about--medical treatment--it's not realistic to think you can "travel on the cheap." If you have unpredictable departure dates/times you will wind-up losing more money by buying deep discount tickets than if you just puchased a fully-refundable "full fare" ticket in the beginning.

The fully refundable ticket on Frontier is called "CLASSIC PLUS." On a "Classic Plus" fare there are NO change fees; your ticket is fully refundable (to the credit card used to make the original purchase), and you get to check TWO bags FREE for each ticket. For a flight to New York--LaGuardia, from Denver, the "Classic Plus" one-way fare, for a trip on Aug. 10th, is about $70 more than their cheapest ticket.

Southwest recently began flying to New York--LaGuardia. A trip, from Denver, requires a change of planes in Chicago--Midway, or Baltimore. Their cheapest fare is NOT refundable, but, in return for a fee, the full value of the ticket can be applied to a new reservation. Southwest also offers "Anytime" and "Business Select" fares both of which are fully refundable.

Also, make sure the doctor writes a note indicating your husband’s medical condition can tolerate air travel. Some gate agents have been known to get “power drunk” and unfairly stop someone from boarding because they felt their medical condition did not permit air travel and the passenger did not have a doctor’s note stating otherwise. American Air has a section in their Contract of Carriage with authorizes their gate agents to do just this.

Keep receipts for all monies paid-out for air travel in connection with your husband’s medical treatment. The IRS allows a deduction for the cost of transportation to medical treatment. File a return WITHOUT the deduction for transportation. Then, file an AMENDED return (Form 1040X) WITH the deduction. This way, if the IRS disallows the deduction, you can avoid interest and penalty charges.

[azstar]

Frontier has fully refundable/changeable tickets called "Classic Plus" available on their website. These fares are hundreds of dollars cheaper than the competition, including Southwest, and can be refunded or changed without any penalty. If you didn't buy a changeable ticket, don't blame the airline for charging a fee to change the times and/or date.