Question: If I'm holding airline tickets for an upcoming Costa trip — the Concordia, which collided with rocks and ran aground on Jan. 13, was scheduled to sail again from Rome (Civitavecchia) on Jan. 20 — will Costa give me back my money? 
 
 Answer: It should, but whether it will remains unclear. 
 
 The issue for passengers on upcoming cruises is this: If they bought an air-sea package — that is, their cruise fare and airfare together — from Costa, they might have some recourse. But if they booked their airfare separately and now must cancel those plane tickets, they may not get their money back ("may not" being key words because we don't yet know what Costa will do) because most fares are nonrefundable. They won't lose the value of the airfare, in all likelihood, but they probably will have to pay a change fee when they rebook their flights. For international flights, that could be as much as $250 a ticket. If four of you were going, add a grand onto airfare that was more than $800 for a nonrefundable coach ticket purchased about four weeks in advance. (That fare, for a March 1 departure, may no longer be available.) 
 
 Cruise lines have narrowly defined contracts of carriage and are loathe to assume responsibility for events outside their control. When the 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile in February, cruise lines sailed anyway, albeit a couple of days later. Many passengers couldn't get to their ships because of difficulties with airline connections. Those who did not have travel insurance did not get refunds from the cruise lines. 
 
 But the Costa sinking is in a different category, said Al Anolik, a Bay Area travel attorney. This is not an issue of contract; it is an issue of negligence, and Costa should be liable, Anolik said, explaining it this way: "You [Costa] allowed this to happen through your negligence; therefore, you have to compensate me…. Your negligence is costing me money." 
 
 If Costa doesn't volunteer to refund the price of those airline tickets — and it's unknown whether it will at this point because company representatives did not return phone calls asking for an explanation — Anolik, who also is a Small Claims Court judge in Marin and San Francisco, suggests suing in California Small Claims Court. Costa is, he says, responsible for all "consequential damages," and Small Claims Court is the right vehicle for claiming those. 
 
 This may be one instance where travel insurance will not help you. As regular readers know, we often urge travel insurance if the amount you've invested is more than the amount you can afford to lose. But this time, even insurance might not help you, said Sarah Byrne, marketing manager for Squaremouth, a travel insurance comparison site based inSt. Petersburg, Fla. Insurance might reimburse you for a mechanical breakdown, she said, but this sinking isn't that, and although a couple of insurers have said they would cover this loss, most will not, she said. 
 
 As the story unfolds, the answers may become clearer, but for now, it appears the consumer will have to seek redress on his own through the courts or through Costa, which has many things to worry about in this seafaring and public relations disaster. 
 
 Have a question? Write to travel@latimes.com. We regret we cannot answer every inquiry. ||||| Pier Paolo Cito/AP Rescuers on Sunday resumed searching the above-water section of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner, but choppy seas kept divers from exploring the submerged part, where officials have said there could be bodies on Jan. 22. 
 
 Survivors of the Costa Concordia wreck are being offered 30% off future cruises with the company — a sales pitch that was not received with much gratitude Sunday. 
 
 “It is a ridiculous and insulting offer,” survivor Brian Page, a retired British accountant, told The Telegraph of London, which first reported the discount offer. 
 
 “The company is not only going to refund everybody, but they will offer a 30% discount on future cruises if they want to stay loyal to the company,” said a spokesman for Costa Cruises, a subsidiary of industry leader Carnival Cruise Lines. 
 
 But survivors want considerably more than a third off another cruise. 
 
 They plan to file a class-action suit Wednesday in Miami, where Carnival is based, seeking $160,000 a passenger — or almost $513 million if all 3,206 passengers were to be paid. 
 
 Pier Paolo Cito/AP Rescuers on Sunday resumed searching the above-water section of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner, but choppy seas kept divers from exploring the submerged part, where officials have said there could be bodies on Jan. 22. 
 
 The cruise line blames hapless Capt. Francesco Schettino for running the luxury liner on to rocks off the Tuscan coast on Jan. 13, holding him fully responsible for killing at least 30 people. 
 
 But Schettino told a judge last week that his bosses not only knew he was going to sail perilously close to the island of Giglio — they told him to do it as a form of “advertising” for the cruise line. 
 
 “The Giglio salute on Jan 13 was planned with the company before we departed from Civitavecchia,” Schettino said, according to leaked excerpts from his 135-page statement published Sunday in the Italian newspapers La Repubblica and Il Messaggeo. 
 
 “We meant to do it the week before, but it was not possible because of bad weather,” he said. 
 
 Giacomo Aprili/AP Rescuers on Sunday resumed searching the above-water section of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner, but choppy seas kept divers from exploring the submerged part, where officials have said there could be bodies on Jan. 22. 
 
 Meanwhile, prosecutors were hunting for the laptop Schettino took with him when he abandoned ship and that he hastily handed to a mystery blond moments before he was arrested. 
 
 La Repubblica said prosecutors had identified the woman as a lawyer, but that it was unclear if she was working for the cruise line or not. 
 
 In his statement, Schettino also denied bringing a young Moldovan dancer onto the bridge to impress her with the “sail-by” of Giglio. 
 
 “She wasn’t on the bridge because I don’t let anyone go there,” he said. 
 
 hkennedy@nydailynews.com
– The cruise line that operated the doomed Costa Concordia has a strange way of compensating the victims of its shipwreck—30% discounts off a future cruise, provided survivors stick with Costa Cruises, reports the New York Daily News. “The company is not only going to refund everybody, but they will offer a 30% discount on future cruises if they want to stay loyal to the company,” said a spokesman for the cruise line. There's been no word of any refunds for flights customers have bought for future Concordia cruises. “It is a ridiculous and insulting offer,” says one survivor. Instead, lawsuits are being launched against Costa Cruises in Italy and the US, with 100 survivors expected to join a class action suit against the company this week in Miami. Passengers in the Miami lawsuit are seeking about $160,000 each, which would total $513 million for all 3,206 passengers. Costa Cruises also denied yesterday reports it had unregistered passengers on the Concordia, according to the New York Times.