FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - 2015 Alaska Airlines *FLAME-FREE* Q&A thread: all welcome, new and old!
Old Jan 19, 2015 | 5:11 pm
  #125  
baliktad
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Originally Posted by jimmayz
Hi there... I booked two award tickets, SEA - PHX on 30Jan - 02Feb. One is in my name and the other is my wife's. The great news is the Hawks made it and are Phoenix bound!! The bad news is that something came up and now my wife can't attend. Does anyone have suggestions or strategies for being able to rebook my wife's award ticket to a friend's name? I'm wondering if I call, will they likely not be able to immediately rebook to another name since the flight is likely oversold?

If it helps at all, I'm 75k. Would appreciate any tips or suggestions that I can communicate to the agent.

Thanks.
Since the ticket is in your wife's name, your status doesn't really mean anything in this case.

AS tickets are nontransferable, which means there is no such thing as a name change. If your wife will not be flying on this trip as ticketed, the next step is determining how to recover the value of the ticket. By paying the $125 cancellation fee, you can obtain AS credit in the amount of the original ticket to purchase a new ticket at current availability and prices. As you've noted, since the Super Bowl flights are sold out/oversold, it's unlikely you'll be able to secure a confirmed seat on your desired flight.

Unfortunately, possessing a ticket in someone else's name doesn't give you the right to assign who will occupy the seat - that's why you need to supply a name at time of purchase. I know it's logical to assume that you've purchased a seat on that flight and can use/assign it as you see fit, but that's not how the airlines see it.

Your other option (if you don't really care who you go with) is to pull an Elizabeth Gallagher... For such a popular trip it just might work!
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