Originally Posted by
physioprof
Am I recalling correctly that in late 80s early 90s there was something called "torquing", where you could just show up at any airline counter in the airport with a ticket on a different airline and if space was available standby on the same route same day they'd take the ticket and put you on their plane?
Once upon a time, an airline ticket was as good as cash and they had no problems exchanging them -- but that was also why you were in serious trouble if you lost your ticket. The book and movie "Catch Me If You Can" show how exploitable that situation was.