When you take a plane to a sit do you always spend the extra money on a ticket that allows cancellations?
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I decide on a case-by-case basis, usually making a decision based on the cost of the airfare and the likelihood of an interruption. As well as the airline and the policy. On some airlines the difference between nonrefundable and changeable is only $150 or so, and that is worth it to me - this is typically the kind of fare where you can reuse the ticket value within a year. With other airlines the price difference is so exorbitant that I just take my chances. Only 3 times in maybe 20 years of travel have I lost a ticket, and I just consider that one of the costs of life.
I also maintain an annual travel insurance policy that came in handy when a family member had a medical emergency; I got a full refund of my airfare for that one thanks to the specifics in the policy.
In general I only do sits where I was planning to visit anyway, and where I can afford to stay if the sit falls through, so even if a sit cancels I’m still going to use my ticket.
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We never go for more expensive flights that allow for cancellations.
1- Because, in our experience cancellations are rare and as the destination is the most important factor in our booked sits, if a sit ever did cancel, we would attempt to book another sit in that same destination or if that was not possible, we would be happy to book ourselves an Airbnb.
2 - In Europe, we are blessed with competing budget airlines so a lost airfare would be annoying, but would never break the bank.
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Same as above - if it gets cancelled, we would still go and book somewhere to stay - it’s important to always have a budget for that.
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I am the same as @Colin and @botvot
I have done dozens of sittings by plane and have never had a sitting cancelled. If it ever was cancelled then that throws up another exciting opportunity.
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My backup plan is to stay at a hotel or Airbnb. If I couldn’t afford that, I wouldn’t take the sit.
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@Rat_and_Bear, welcome to THS Forum. Great question.
Like @Colin, we rarely book cancellable ticket unless there is a specific reason and/or a perceived high risk. In Europe, we use EasyJet flights and there are all non-cancellable.
It’s perhaps worth a tangential question … if a Pet Parent cancels housesit then would you still complete the flight? Worth noting that one of the quirks of THS Sit Cancellation Insurance is that alternative accommodation is within 20 miles of the housesit location. So if you don’t take flight then THS Sit Cancellation Insurance is probably void.
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We never travel somewhere for one specific sit so no I would not make cancellation policy a priority. If a sit was cancelled we would still travel for all the others we had booked and stay in rented accommodation if we couldn’t find another sit.
We are in a very lucky position that sitting is not essential to the cost of our travel. I enjoy the company of dogs and sitting is a good way to experience the country as a local instead of an outright tourist.
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I don’t know if I have ever bought a refundable plane ticket in my whole life. I have been sitting for 11 years and have never had an international sit cancelled.
While anything can happen, I do think that cancellations are relatively rare in the grand scheme of things. In my experience, the vast majority of my international sits have been for hosts who were taking big international trips of their own that they probably would not cancel unless they absolutely had to. By the time they list, their dates are firm and flights have already been purchased.
Cancellations are always a possibility and if a sitter buys non-refundable tickets strictly because that is the only way to make the trip affordable–as opposed to simply taking advantage of the savings-- they have to be willing to accept that risk.
Even if the host cancels a trip for the flimsiest reason, that a sitter booked non-refundable fares is their choice and they have to take responsibility for it.
Again, I think cancellations are pretty rare but for people who are really concerned about them, and have the means to buy more expensive refundable fares, that could be the way to go if it gives them more peace of mind.
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I am kind of going against the grain. Unless the sit is very happening very soon, I ALWAYS get a ticket that allows changes (at least) if not refunds. In my pre-retirement life, I travelled a lot for work, and this policy saved me a lot of hassle and the company a lot of money. There is one caveat, however…this is OVER time. So I rationalised it thus: if have to cancel a non-refundable/ changeable ticket that cost 500 Euro, once a year, then I have 500 fictional Euro to use on getting a changeable ticket for the other trips during the same year. Say the difference between changeable and non-changeable is 80 Euro then I can do that for around 6 fights. I know this is not strictly mathematical logic, but it works for me. And every time something happened that meant I had to change my flight (and it did an annoying amount of time) I thanked my plan that I’d paid that little bit extra.
The other tip I discovered was that sometimes buying the cheapest business class flight means you get changes and refunds included, and that ticket price can be less than buying a refundable economy ticket. This depends on the airline of course, but I found some airlines where this really worked out to offer long term savings.
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In the US, unless you are flying a budget airline or booking the supereconomy on one of the big 4, then cancelling a ticket gets you a credit good for a year (at least post-Covid). So I don’t pay the extra for a fully-refundable ticket.
And for me, at least, given my ff status with Delta - supereconomy usually ends up costing more with the various fees. (With 2 MM lifetime miles on Delta, I’ve got ‘lifetime’ platinum status - so automatic upgrades to the extra leg room seats on booking and occasionally to FC and 2 free checked bags which I don’t ever need.)
In fact, if booking flights more than 6/8 weeks out I usually check the ticket every few weeks because the fare may come down resulting in a credit for the difference.
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Most American carriers allow some kind of cancellation even with a fee attach. Usually it’s a credit not a refund and I always look for that not just with THS but always. If I was cancelled, I wouldn’t expect the homeowner to pay the fee.
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I sit for fun, and a sit would be somewhere I would like to go anyway for my vacation or would like to go and work from home.
So if sit is cancelled I would book hotel or other, as said by @KittySitter @Colin @botvot @Maggie8K etc. It feels important also to get a good sit to not be too dependent on a specific host - one might be more likely to overlook red flags, it seems?
I look closely into tickets when going by air, not only looking at price but also what I get. True story - once I booked tickets the business class was cheaper than the Economy in same plane. Probably caused by dynamic pricing and won’t happen much.
What I have done a couple of times with cheap non-refundable tickets is using the right (at least in Europe?) that if the airline changes the time of the flight, you are entitled to cancel the whole flight for a full refund (also return tickets if one way is changed). I had some trouble with alterations of a meeting in an upcoming trip and had a rather expensive, but non-ref. ticket. I just waited it out, and suddenly the opportunity knocked - the airline changed time of departure. So I cancelled for a full refund. Took a few days, but the alternative was a loss.
Another option is to sell the tickets when name is changeable for a fee. As ticketprices often go up closer to departure it might sometimes be possible to get at least parts of the money back this way, depending on country and flights.
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In addition, it’s not always the sitters that have to change flights because of cancellations of sits. I had sitter cancel at the last minute before I was scheduled to fly around the world. I couldnt get new sitters for a month’s sit over Christmas at such short notice so I was very happy that I had booked flexible airline tickets.
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