N.Y. General Business Law § 116: Redemption of unused passage tickets

§ 116. Redemption of unused passage tickets. Every person who shall

have purchased a passage ticket from an authorized agent of a railroad

company, which shall not have been used, or shall have been used only in

part, may, within thirty days after the date of the sale of said ticket,

present the same, unused or partly used, for redemption, at the general

office of the railroad company which issued said ticket, or at the

ticket office where said ticket was sold, or at the ticket office at the

point to which the ticket has been used. If said ticket wholly unused,

shall be presented for redemption at the ticket office where sold, the

same shall be then and there redeemed by the agent in charge of said

ticket office at the price paid for said ticket. If said ticket, partly

used, shall be presented for redemption at the ticket office where sold,

or at the ticket office at the point to which used, the ticket agent at

either of said offices, upon delivery of said ticket, shall issue to the

holder thereof a receipt, properly describing said ticket and setting

forth the date of the receipt of said ticket, and the name of the person

from whom received, and shall thereupon forthwith transmit said ticket

for redemption to the general office. It shall be the duty of every

railroad company to redeem tickets presented for redemption, as in this

section provided for promptly and within not to exceed thirty days from

the date of presentation at the general office or from the date of the

aforesaid receipt. A wholly unused ticket shall be redeemed at the price

paid therefor. A partly used ticket shall be redeemed at a rate which

shall be equal to the difference between the price paid for the whole

ticket and the cost of a ticket of the same class between the points for

which said ticket was actually used. Mileage books shall be redeemed

within thirty days after the date of the expiration thereof in the same

manner. Provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be deemed

to prohibit the requirement by tariff of advance notice of cancellation

as a condition to the redemption or use of passage tickets in connection

with which reserve accommodations have been obtained; provided, further,

that nothing herein contained shall be deemed to prohibit the

establishment by tariff of a service charge for the redemption of wholly

unused or partly used tickets. Every railroad company which shall

wrongfully refuse redemption, as in this section provided for, shall

forfeit to the aggrieved party fifty dollars, which sum may be

recovered, together with the amount of redemption money to which the

party is entitled, in an action in any court of competent jurisdiction,

together with costs; but no such action can be maintained unless

commenced within one year after the cause of action accrued.