I think you will find it harder today to get travel agents to "plate away" than it was several years ago. When most airlines first put a $50 cap on travel agency commissions several years ago, agencies began "plating away" on America West, who didn't have a cap. This circumvented the cap and obviously, the other airlines were upset and began invoking what had previously been a seldom-used rule against "plating away" - and threatened to "pull the plates" (i.e., cancel ticketing authority) of any agency that continued that practice.

As a result, today agencies are reluctant to do what they would gladly have done several years ago.

It may be a European thing, but I just don't have a problem with this.

Nick

In the US, there is no requirement that a carrier has to put you on another carrier because of delays. The most any airline will have to do is to book you on a later flight or to offer you a refund (even on non-refundable tickets. Hotel rooms, meal vouchers, travel on other carriers are done as a result of the carrier's customer service initiative.

If you are travelling on a discounted ticket and it is endorsed, I believe the carrier transporting you will charge the original carrier the lowest non-restricted one-way fare for the route. Thus, the fare charged is not necessarily a full Y fare. Also, from my experience in the US, at no point does the transporting carrier charge the passenger an additional fare collection if the passenger was travelling on a discounted ticket to begin with.

Merry, that is a very smart trick.

As for plating away, you can ticket travel on wholly with another carrier at www.united.com.