Why is name change not allowed in a ticketed booking?
 

What are the implications to an airline company if they allow changes in passengers for a ticket? Why is it not allowed?

I am not certain but i've read it has something to do with reselling the ticket at a margin by brokers who would buy in advance.

It's basically to defend their profit margins. If it was a security issue, which they sometimes claim, they wouldn't sell tickets to people who walk up to the counter an hour before a flight leaves. They do, so apparently that gives them enough time to do whatever security checking they do. If that's enough time, changing a name a week before a flight can't possibly create any problems in this regard.

Because almost all T&C's do not allow transfers and a name change could be engineered to really be a sale/transfer and en-mass could be a lucrative way for grey re-sellers and brokers to buy low and sell high.....

Brokers would buy cheap, advance-purchase fares and resell them, removing the profit from last-minute business traveler sales, and driving advance-purchase fares up.

Price sensitive leisure travelers would stop traveling and business travelers would pay less, greatly impacting revenue.

Allowing ticket resales would permit customers to essentially evade the change fees and nonrefundability of airline tickets.

Airlines could still charge a fee for name changes.

If the fee was low enough to be attractive, the resell market would still flourish. A discount EU-NYC return ticket in Y is ~380$. A last minute EU-NYC return ticket can reach 1,000$ or more. If the fee was 100$, it would still be attractive enough for a resell market.

If however, the fee is high enough to eliminate a resell market, the fee will be unattractive.

And, of course, for full fare tickets, the issue is moot, since you just cancel and rebook in a different name, with no fees.

However, the fare could have gone up in the meantime and you might need to pay the difference.

There are some LCCs that allow it at a charge. E.g. Easyjet and I think Air Asia.

That's because the the fares on those LCCs are so low it doesn't make sense to arbitrage.

Fares can vary quite widely - e.g. on Air Asia long haul and Norwegian.

I agree! Thanks for this.

It's easy to board a flight with someone else's ticket. Buy a refundable ticket to get through security. Then refund that ticket and fly on the other one. They don't check ID at boarding.