Pregnant pause causes change-fee standoff

— -- Question: In March 2008, my wife and I purchased Continental tickets for a November trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We were going to spend Thanksgiving there with friends.

We found out in September that my wife is pregnant. Her doctor strongly suggested that we not take any risks by going to Mexico. I called Continental and asked it to refund our tickets. We also faxed in a note from the doctor.

Continental denied several refund requests. One airline agent stated that pregnancy is not an illness but a "state of the body" and refused to refund our tickets or waive the $100 per-ticket change fee. Also, since we purchased the tickets so early, we only have until March 2009 to use their full $1,800 value. Given that my wife is five months pregnant, she's not looking forward to air travel any time soon. At this point, we'd appreciate just getting the change fees waived. Can you help?

—Sherman Brown, Clearwater, Fla.

Answer: When a visit from the stork prevented the Browns from flying south, they contacted Continental to ask for a refund. But the airline agent's illness versus state-of-the-body quibble was downright baffling. Continental doesn't dabble in definitions about pregnancy, nor does its medical-waiver policy specifically mention it, or any other medical condition.

In theory, the carrier's medical-waiver policy is broad and straightforward. If a doctor indicates that a patient is unable to fly for medical reasons, and that customer provides medical documentation, then airline policy generally provides for a waiver of change fees, according to Continental representative Mary Clark.

In reality, however, broad policies can be subject to interpretation by individual agents, and it seems the representative handling Brown's request decided to create a distinction that doesn't officially exist. Not only that, the agent made a second error by failing to notice that the fare rules for Brown's tickets allowed for a refund due to illness. When such policies overlap, Continental agents are supposed to apply the most liberal—so Brown should have gotten the refund he requested, rather than a debate over semantics, particularly since he had a note from his wife's doctor.