Originally Posted by
BearX220
Welcome to Flyertalk, although you're not going to like the verdict arising from your first post here.
It is firmly established policy that air tickets are not transferable and there is no such thing as a "good enough" reason to grant a special waiver. Your complaint reminds me of the Everglades tourist who walked off a trail, right past a sign warning of dangerous alligators, and into a swamp where she was promptly attacked by alligators. Recovering in hospital, she was asked by sheriff's deputies if she hadn't seen the sign. "Oh, yes," she said, "but I didn't think that meant me."
Your career changes are of no impact /interest to the airlines, I'm afraid. A name change is indeed too much to ask under standard ticketing rules.
Your best bet is to cash the tickets in and keep their value on account with the airline -- it's good for one year -- using the sum, less change fees, for future travel for the originally booked parties. Your relatives who want to visit you in Country X will have to buy new tickets.
Thanks for the candid response! Much appreciated.
I don't pretend that I'm in any way above the rules or that they don't apply to me, I knew what I was buying when I bought it. So that's fair, I don't expect them to deviate from our agreement any more than they'd expect me to; however, I was *hoping* someone in the airline might have a bit of empathy and offer a gesture of goodwill for the sake of public relations. Out of all things I could ask for, refunds/cancellations, itinerary changes, upgrades, a change of name on an as-of-yet not printed ticket didn't seem to be beyond the realm of possibility; especially as I've offered to pay for any administration costs (or whatever they want) to do it. Nevermind then!
Regarding the idea of cashing in the tickets: that's not something I've done before. Have you got any links I could read for understanding what I can and can't do? Could I cash in only my ticket and my girlfriend's, leaving the other two and then book an additional two passengers on the same flight? (Effectively giving me a 50% refund in credit for later use). Or is it all or nothing?
If I can't change the names, which sounds likely, then I'll be looking for the cheapest way to achieve the same goal of getting all my relatives over at the same time for as little additional expense as possible.