Software company saves US$4.4M with non-refundable ticket recovery during COVID-19

Challenge

Prior to the COVID-19 shutdown, the client held 2,500 non-refundable tickets, worth US$1.8 million. Due to the pandemic, the client was left with an additional 4,800 tickets from cancelled flights, worth US$3.1 million, totaling US$4.9 million on file for future use.

Approach

BCD Travel’s agents refunded or extended as many tickets as possible, but were left with many that couldn’t be refunded, exchanged or extended. Then BCD established a dedicated COVID-19 recovery team, who worked with the airlines to convert the remaining unused tickets, get fee waivers and extend expiration dates even further.

Result

Through the combined efforts of the agents and the recovery team in 2020 and 2021, BCD achieved a total cost avoidance of US$4.4 million in refunds, exchanges and extensions, representing a 90% savings to date.

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