Originally Posted by
DDResq
I don't know if this is the correct thread for this question, and I apologize in advance if this is in the wrong place.
My girlfriend and I booked award tickets to Colombia several months ago, but she just found out that she can no longer go on the trip. I know that I cannot change the name on her ticket, but is it theoretically possible to cancel her ticket and immediately rebook a new one in another person's name? Is there any guarantee that the newly-available seat that I just canceled will be available to be booked as a new award, or am I essentially at the whim of United's award availability?
Since there's not a "set" number of award tickets offered on a given flight, and since there's no clue as to how and when they're added (other than often in the last day or two prior to flight), it's not the case that "returning" one automatically adds to the inventory. But, if you're drawing from the X bucket (non elite), which is zeroed out, but there is inventory in the XN (elite) bucket, it's always possible you might get an agent to over-ride the elite-only restriction. I've seen this happen for my brother (a non-elite) at least once. But if XN is zeroed then I wouldn't get my hopes up. In any event, you're going to get hit with the redeposit fee (unless Plat-level elite or above). Hope this helps-