Last week I was checking in for a NW flight at SLC. The guy in front of me had no ID. The agent said he could not take the flight and that he could get a refund of his ticket.

Is this the (unethical?) way to get a non-refundable ticket refunded? Anyone forgotten ID? What happened?

The catch 22 is that he needs ID to get the refund.

The other thing that will supposedly get you a refund of a non-refundable ticket is to refuse the security inspection. If you actually tried to do this, I'd bet you'd end up with an interesting story to tell :-)

The only time I've run across this was a few months ago in Milwaukee. A woman (with small kid in tow) was trying to check in for a CO flight. HP runs the counter and wouldn't let her check in because she didn't have her drivers license. They also told her that since she had a nonrefundable ticket she was out of luck.

Three years ago I was flying to Canada, ORD-SLC-Calgary. I had my driver's license, but they wouldn't let me on the plane without "proof of citizenship" (i.e. passport or voter card.) I'd driven to Canada many times before without any such proof, but I guess the flying requirements are greater. Anyway, they confirmed me for a flight the next day. I've always wondered if someone could do this on purpose to get around a Saturday night stay.