Originally Posted by
gnomey
yeah i understand the rules here. but at the same time curious whether would the computer system detect immediately such that as you say, the companion will be pulled off the plane before departure.
i am just not seeing any (hidden) benefit where [full price tix + $99] is paid but only one person, presumably, the primary, fly. i doubt the companion can earn miles by being absent from the flight. perhaps i am not seeing something here yet.
I don't understand what you're asking. You started the thread asking if the two passengers on the reservation have to check in and board together; the answer to that question is no. Are you simply asking about convenience, or are you trying to find some way to game the rules?
Originally Posted by
gnomey
so basically the cardholder needs to be the one making the purchase, and not just pass on the code to someone else. in this case, the way the system verifies it is that the name on credit card used to pay for the tickets would need to match the name of the person having companion pass benefits (within their AS account)?
To book, the primary cardholder must either
- be on the reservation with his/her name and associated AS frequent flyer number in the reservation or
- pay for the reservation with the credit card the discount code is associated with.
If the primary cardholder is traveling, you can pay with a different credit card (which I have done). In this case, the primary cardholder need not be the "primary" (ie full fare) passenger on the reservation.
I think those rules set it up so the system is awfully hard to game. If the full-fare traveler no-shows for a flight, you're out that traveler's fare. I don't think AS really minds if you pay full fare + $99 + taxes on the companion for the companion to travel without the full-fare passenger, and you obviously wouldn't be able to get any refund or have any value left on the ticket after no-showing.
The only potential issue from AS's point of view is if you try to cancel the full-fare passenger's ticket and use that value for a different flight (or get a refund). In that case, obviously, an add-collect would be due, but there's no need to prevent the companion from boarding at any point.