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**Hugh** · 02-06-2025, 15:16

Just spent three hours on a WhatsApp chat line with an airline...

What's "happy" about that, I hear you ask?

Well...

We were supposed to fly out to Thessaloniki on the 17th June with two friends, to visit their house in Portaria, The Pelion, Greece.

I had full knee replacement surgery May 12th (flights were booked before I knew I was having surgery), and the surgeon said before the op it depended how quickly I recovered, the length of the flight, etc. if I should fly or not. We saw him yesterday (after seeing the physio) for a post-op check-up, and he said whilst I was making a good recovery, he wouldn't recommend going on a four hour flight followed by a two and half hour car journey at this stage in my recovery (physio said the same).

I thought we would just have to write off the flight costs (unlikely the travel insurance would cover it, as they would count the surgery as "elective", therefore my choice about having it (not taking into account the exruciating ongoing pain I was in from the knee)), and the airline's T&Cs state whilst you can change your flight dates, or names on the tickets, anything else is a cancellation, so you lose the money and claim against insurance (or not, as explained above).

So, I thought "what the hell", let's try with the airline - like most businesses now, it's either a chatbot or WhatsApp; got on to the WhatsApp, explained my situation, highlighted the fact I was a long-standing loyalty club member, and that I've bought over 100 return airline tickets with them in the last 20 years (me and family members), so was there anything they could do, for example, change the tickets for tickets to Cyprus in September/October...

As I said at the beginning, it took nearly three hours, but in the end I spent £250 in admin fees and flight price difference, but saved losing nearly £1k for the original tickets - sometimes, you just have to have patience.

02-06-2025, 15:16	#15389
Hugh laeva recumbens anguis Cable Forum Team Join Date: Jun 2006 Age: 68 Services: Premiere Collection Posts: 43,727	Re: The Happy Thought Thread Just spent three hours on a WhatsApp chat line with an airline... What's "happy" about that, I hear you ask? Well... We were supposed to fly out to Thessaloniki on the 17th June with two friends, to visit their house in Portaria, The Pelion, Greece. I had full knee replacement surgery May 12th (flights were booked before I knew I was having surgery), and the surgeon said before the op it depended how quickly I recovered, the length of the flight, etc. if I should fly or not. We saw him yesterday (after seeing the physio) for a post-op check-up, and he said whilst I was making a good recovery, he wouldn't recommend going on a four hour flight followed by a two and half hour car journey at this stage in my recovery (physio said the same). I thought we would just have to write off the flight costs (unlikely the travel insurance would cover it, as they would count the surgery as "elective", therefore my choice about having it (not taking into account the exruciating ongoing pain I was in from the knee)), and the airline's T&Cs state whilst you can change your flight dates, or names on the tickets, anything else is a cancellation, so you lose the money and claim against insurance (or not, as explained above). So, I thought "what the hell", let's try with the airline - like most businesses now, it's either a chatbot or WhatsApp; got on to the WhatsApp, explained my situation, highlighted the fact I was a long-standing loyalty club member, and that I've bought over 100 return airline tickets with them in the last 20 years (me and family members), so was there anything they could do, for example, change the tickets for tickets to Cyprus in September/October... As I said at the beginning, it took nearly three hours, but in the end I spent £250 in admin fees and flight price difference, but saved losing nearly £1k for the original tickets - sometimes, you just have to have patience. __________________ Thank you for calling the Abyss. If you have called to scream, please press 1 to be transferred to the Void, or press 2 to begin your stare. If my post is in bold and this colour, it's a Moderator Request.