Hello everyone,

Long time lurker, but first time poster!

I'm in the middle of a fairly terrible experience with an airline, and was wondering if anyone had any tips or advice for dealing with my situation.

In short, my situation is:

Booked a flight for four people (my girlfriend and I being two) for next year. I'm now emigrating to the country the flight is to next month (short notice and unplanned!), and obviously wont be able to make it on that flight. My girlfriend's parents have suggested they could use our tickets to come visit us instead. I called customer services and got shot down immediately because my tickets are "non-transferable". I've explained the situation to them, and asked whether the restriction could be waived. No, it can't. Could I pay to waive it? No, I can't. Spoke to more senior staff, no exceptions.

My situation doesn't seem to be exceptional enough to warrant any sympathy.

This is a long distance flight, and it's cost me quite a bit of money. Nowhere does it say my tickets are "non-transferable", though it does say they're non-refundable and non-changeable, which I can appreciate probably means the same thing. All I want is for them to change a couple of names on e-tickets that haven't even been issued yet, for a flight that's in over 5 months time.

Does anyone have any advice? Is this a lost cause?

Cheers