quick basic gate pass/refundable ticket q
 

Hi, if this is in the wrong forum, apologies, and feel free to move it.

My mother is transiting JFK (in from CDG, out to RDU) soon, and I'd love to go out and meet her to keep her company during her long layover. I understand that basically no one offers gate passes anymore, and so I'm thinking about buying a fully refundable ticket so I can get through security to the concourse.

a.) Is it true that gate passes are essentially a thing of the past?
b.) if I go the refundable-ticket route, by when would I need to cancel to get a full refund? If I check in, is it too late? Or when I clear security? Or would I just have to cancel by the time boarding ends and they close the door?
c.) or is this a bad idea and should I skip the whole thing?

Thx.

Doesn’t need to even be refundable just cancel once you are past security using the 24-hour free cancel. Don’t do it too often and you should be fine. I would not count on any gate pass.

Thought about this, but this will be within seven days.

What's the 7 day limiter? Regardless, the refundable ticket will work. You don't even have to cancel by the time of departure, though it would be a jerk move not to, or to select a good seat, or request an upgrade. I think you have a year or something similarly long to request a refund on a fully refundable ticket.

How long is her layover? Perhaps taking her somewhere out of the airport is an option.

She's going to have to clear Immigration and customs and end up landside anyway,

I'm really not a fan of people buying tickets just to get airside (and as an aside this is illegal not just against the airlines conditions of carriage n some countries)

Delta offers a more generous risk-free period than DOT’s that I believe is valid even after your flight departs (if your timing is aligned).

24-hour free cancel overrides the 7-day. Just call and say you booked the wrong date by mistake.

this x1000 ... if nothing else, go check out the TWA Hotel, which (other than having to schlep back to T4 to clear security) probably beats the SkyClub hands down

Just buy any ticket the morning of her arrival (a ticket for later that night) and you can cancel it free after going through security.

DOT rule exempts tickets purchased less than 7 days before from refund rules. However DL imposes no such cutoff.

Agree with other poster. Shell be landside after CDG flight. Goto TWA hotel or elsewhere.

Good to know about the DL exemption. I hadn't realized. (Also, the DL terms say that "Cancellation request must be made before travel commences for the first flight" but I didn't know how they define when travel "commences", or if checking in would be too late.)

I also haven't transited JFK from intl to domestic so I wasn't sure if it would dump her out to landside (which makes this easier!) -- couldn't remember if there was a separate routing from Customs for transit pax with their own checkpoint, like you see some places. She wants to see the TWA Hotel anyway so I agree that it sounds like the best option.

Thanks, all.

No need to engage in ticket fraud. Just meet her after CBP, go wherever you wish and drop her back off for her departure.

Seriously?

Not in the US, which is where this thread is about.

Oh my. TSA requires a ticket to cut down on the number of people they need to process. Let the guy go see his Mom.