Ethiopian Airlines is heartless

My family and I were meant to fly to Israel on December 22nd. My wife recently contracted pneumonia and suffered a pulmonary embolism. I have letters from specialists to verify both illnesses. Her pulmonologist also gave us a letter, which indicated that long distance travel was ill-advised. I had no choice but to cancel our trip. I went through to the Ethiopian Airline offices in Randburg to explain the situation. Initially, I requested a refund and I was told by Edith that I had purchased non-refundable tickets. I then requested to change the dates. Edith told me that I would need to pay $150 / passenger and the fare difference between the initial tickets purchased and the new tickets. I asked what the cost would be to change the dates to December 2020 and Edith told me that those tickets were not yet available. She recommended that I travel without my wife! In other words, use the tickets or lose them. The attitude of Ethiopian Airlines was heartless. In the end, Edith agreed to refund me less than 10% of the value of the tickets. I will never fly with them again, and I would caution anybody thinking of flying with Ethiopian Airlines to think carefully before buying a ticket. Their fares are low but there are hidden costs, which you may never be able to recover.