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Are Air France Flex tickets fully refundable, meaning no hidden fees, non-reimbursable taxes or other bad surprises of that kind? If so, is the refund issued as a voucher, or is the money actually returned to me?

I can’t find the answer on Air France’s website. On the booking page, Air France simply states that Flex tickets are "refundable":

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I've read conflicting information online: "Paid amount minus service fees to my knowledge.", "full refund", "On a flex fare, I would expect a penalty for change and cancellation", etc.

Meanwhile, the order page on Air France's website states:

You can change your ticket without paying a fee before your first flight's departure. However, a fare and tax difference may apply.

"May apply" is too vague to be useful. Which taxes are they referring to? Some taxes amount to just a few cents, while others can make up the majority of the ticket price. When exactly do these taxes apply, and under what conditions do I get a full refund?

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    The may apply in your quoted sentence simply means you have to pay the difference in the fare price. There is no additional fee but if you want to change your ticket to a more expensive one you still have to pay the price difference. Commented Jul 3 at 7:36
  • @quarague good catch, thx! Commented Jul 3 at 14:05
  • Taxes are subject to going up and down (or at least up), so if you move to a different date, the tax may have changed. If the destination, route, distance, etc changes then there may also be variations in tax. But tax rates are publicly available and generally billed and paid separately. Commented Jul 7 at 12:30

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Looking at a random short-haul journey, London to Paris, the Air France website quoted me this, which suggests the Economy Flex ticket is "Refundable at a GBP 15 fee if you cancel before the 1st flight in your trip" as well as being "Changeable (only pay possible fare difference)", so there is a fee if you want a refund.

However, a flight in the opposite direction, Paris to London, from the same website for the same day, there is no mention of a fee for the refund.

Other Economy options are non-refundable and less flexible but substantially cheaper. The change fee for Standard fares seems to have changed from UKP to EUR depending on direction but is the same order of magnitude.

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    Thanks, great to know! Are Flex tickets the same as economy Flex tickets? Does "Refundable at a GBP 15 fee" mean full refund minus 15 GBP? And is the refund issued as a voucher, or is the money actually returned to the customer? Commented Jul 2 at 18:57
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    Another question is whether the fee is 15 GBP for all tickets, or if it varies (e.g. scaling with the ticket price). Commented Jul 2 at 19:22
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    @NateEldredge I looked for some longer distance trips but could not see a fee, so rechecked my original choice and have edited my answer for a further peculiarity. Commented Jul 2 at 22:17
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I recently bought a round-trip Flex ticket from Miami to Geneva and cancelled it last week. I got the full amount I paid for it credited back to my card.

I don't know if different rules apply depending on your country of origin and destination, but at least in my case (United States and Switzerland), the ticket was fully refunded.

Edit: Yes, this was a flight with Air France.

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    Can you please confirm in the answer that this was an Air France flight? (Just to make sure, as different companies will have different policies) Commented Jul 3 at 13:16
  • Thanks, great to know, did you cancel within 24 hours of the ticket purchase? Commented Jul 3 at 14:04
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    @FranckDernoncourt Yes. I canceled weeks ahead of the flight. Commented Jul 7 at 6:57

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