Does anyone understand why the airlines do not let a passenger tansfer a ticket that one cannot use to another person since there is a fee of $75. or $150. to rewrite the ticket.
Any comments on the fact that the airlines shoud pay the ticketholder if the carrier cancels a flight because it is not profitable after they have sold seats.

Thank you for your post, I had been wondering the same, regarding airlines being charged a fee for making changes to ones ticket/cancellations.

I've always seen it as extremely unfair in that the airlines can charge you a fee for changing making changes to a ticket, however, when the reverse it true, we as passengers cannot do the same.

Any comments or has anyone ever pursued this with a carrier?

Basically, I suspect the answer is "because they can." The way it is now, they lock you into a future ticket, as well as sell a new ticket to me. If you could transfer your ticket over to me, they lose that "lock." And I suspect that a lot of these unused tickets disappear unused due to the non-frequent flying of most of the population (we're not exactly representative on this board! ).

I was sitting in my T/A's office the other day and she was saying that the airlines only give her $25 dollars of the change fee when a client makes a change in their itinerary. But unless the original ticket was more than $500 she actually made more for the change than her original sale for the airline. But johna has hit it on the nose "because they can"

I will tell you the reason as to why they don't let you...You purchased transportation from point A to point B, you gave them your credit card and that is the final sale. Basically you signed a contract. If you do not fly that causes spoilage, and so on. Meaning they have a seat left open that you were supposed to fly in. So in order to make up the money they have the right to charge what ever they want just like any other business, right? I think so, its a fair trade. Look back remember when ticktes were either use it or lose it.....

Depends on your fare paid, and your flyer status. Buy a full "J" or "Y" ticket and they'll leave you alone pretty much. On any airline. Be a top tier flyer even on a cheap ticket and often the same story.

Combine the both and you are home free. Be on the cheapest ticket, and a non tier flyer and you are in big trouble.

I think the real issue here can be posed with the following question - why is an airline ticket not like a theater ticket? If you buy a theater ticket, it is not refundable, but it is transferable. You can give it (or sell it) to whomever you wish and the theater doesn't care who uses it. The reason airlines care is because of the incredible complexity of airline fares compared with simplicity of theater ticket prices. In a theater, seat 19D on July 12 costs X dollars, no matter who buys it or when they buy it. That is not the case with an airline ticket, as we all know.

An airline ticket purchased two weeks in advance is a lot cheaper than a ticket purchased one day in advance. If the airlines allowed tickets to be transferred, they would lose a lot of money. Last minute airline tickets are expensive because they are usually purchased by business people who often must make last minute decisions. They have no choice and must go, and the airlines take advantage of that fact and charge a lot more money because they know the business person must go and will pay the higher fare.

The advance purchase tickets are a lot cheaper because they are designed to attract the discretionary traveler and fill seats that would otherwise go empty. It is all part of the complex issue of yield management - attempting to fill as many seats as possible and generate the maximum revenue per trip.

If tickets were transferable, individuals (or brokers) could purchase them using advance purchase rules at low fares and resell them at a mark-up that would still be a lot less than the usual walk-up fare.

However, all of this may change this fall with the initiation of a new web site - hotwire.com. Please see recent posting In The News by mileageman (sorry, I couldn't get the URL correct).

[This message has been edited by JerryFF (edited 07-05-2000).]

[This message has been edited by JerryFF (edited 07-05-2000).]

[This message has been edited by JerryFF (edited 07-05-2000).]

The airlines are full of it. What started as a convenience charge has become a line item profit center. Before TW 800, it was common practice to sell unused return tickets (Florida newspapers had pages of them in season, in their classifieds), or give them to other family members. In the aftermath of that tragedy, in the ensuing "heightened security" checks that were instituted, they caught masses of folks using other people's tickets. Limiting this practice has been a bonanza, witness the continuing requirement to produce photo ID (trains, ships,and buses don't seem to need this). It's kind of like the way they deal with using cell phones in the air. The Wall Street Journal recently ran a front page article on that, saying that no one has ever been able to show that such transmissions interfere. Meantime they have no problem with you using the $3.00 per minute onboard mobile phone system.

Thanks for the answer. I think that you are absolutely correct. They certainly could allow me to transfer the ticket to someone using the same time frame of the original purchase of ALLOW ME TO HAVE ANYONE I SELECT USE THE VALUE OF THE UNUSED TICKET TOWARDS ANOTHER PURCHASE.

Airlines started checking for ID after the Unibomber made a threat at the LA airports for a 4 day period in the early 90's. When the threat was made, three things happened: 1)no mail was allowed into/out of these airports, 2)All air freight was diverted to other airports, and 3)all passengers were asked to produce valid ID. The airlines realized upwards of 15% of all passengers were flying with different names on their tickets. Some of the name differences were OK(John/William) but everyone else was forced to buy a new ticket. Over the four day period the airlines saw a big revenue jump from the LA Airports, so they decided to keep the ID rule in place.

Whenever an Airline asks for ID (on a domestic flight) for security reasons, I tell them you really mean for revenue enhancment---most of the time they just smile back.

I have flown domestic flights in many other countries (some with many more security concerns than the US)---not once have I been asked to produce any form of ID.

If airlines allowed tickets to be reissued under another passenger's name, I suspect that a ticket broker industry would grow similar to concerts or sporting events. Often the cheapest tickets ons sale are more than $75 cheaper than the "normal" price; a smart ticket broker could buy virtually all of the cheapest seats, leaving few or none for the general public.

vikinglova and JerryFF,

weak arguments. Not only does Southwest have -NO- change fees, but funds from a flight itinerary can be TRANSFERRED to another flyer, for no additional charge.

It's almost too easy - if you have the 6-digit reservation # you can use those funds for booking any other ticket for any flyer.

A flimsy excuse: I suppose they expected Ted Kaczynski or whatever his name is to present an ID that said "I made a threat against the airlines and need to get arrested" ???

SW may not have change fees, but try flying stand-by on a discounted ticket on SW ...

I wasn't trying to justify the policy - just explain it. I agree it is a huge ripoff.