Changing the Passenger Name on a Purchased Ticket to Allow Someone Else to Travel?
 

Sorry if this has been discussed but I couldn't find anything on the UA site or here. Long story short my ex and I had a trip planned to Hawaii but for obvious reasons she's no longer going. Is there a way I can change the name on her ticket to someone else and if so how much would that fee be? It's a nonrefundable T fare if that matters.

Long story short, No. Tickets aren't transferrable. There is a way to hack this however...

No. This is what's known as "revenue protection" and the airlines are very good at it. You either need to find someone else with the same name, or kiss the ticket goodbye.

I believe you can cancel the flight for future credit? Would that credit be only in her name or just a general voucher I could use on anyone?

E-tickets: You can make changes to your e-ticket on united.com anytime prior to your original departure date. If you are unsure of the new travel dates, call to cancel the reservation by the first flight date to retain the value of your electronic ticket for 1 year from the purchase date. Additional restrictions apply for international travel e-tickets.

When you buy a ticket, you are basically signing a contract - the terms of the contract can't be changed - the contract is between the carrier and the person on the ticket. That's why name changes aren't allowed.

Ticket credit is good only for the person who was supposed to fly. Basically, they do it as a ticket re-issue. The pax can book another flight and they get ticket value minus change fee (typically $150) to use on another flight.

The only way to get any of that value to someone else, is to buy a new ticket to somewhere, as cheap as you can find it. The balance left will go into a voucher, which anyone can use. Though I believe it does have the original ticket holders name on it, and they need to authorize it for someone else's use.

airlines are smart
 

of course, if you could do this, then people would be selling their seats on e-bay all day long. airlines know that once you bought it, you bought it (unless it's refundable).

Yes, you can cancel the flights and the value for future travel is the price of the original ticket minus $150 change fee. The credit is in the name of the original traveller only. So only your ex can use the residual value for future travel within one year of orignial date of purchase.

As long as the smurfs aren't doing ID/BP checks in the jetway :)

This is a great example, and a case where it could otherwise happen would be with a ticket (though not on UAL) that I bought to travel to AUA. Since I've bought the ticket the flight has gone up over $300 r/t. No way the airline wants me making that money.

NO, you can get around all of this really easily.

If I assume correctly about your method, you'd also best hope the smurfs don't do a 2nd ID check at the gate--yeah, I know that's rare, but it happens occasionally. And you'd best hope you're the same gender as the person whose name the ticket is in unless the name is pretty gender-neutral when the GA scans your BP. :)

Well, if you see them at the gate, you can just turn back and choose not to fly, right?

I don't recall seeing any sort of BP/ID confirmation at US airline gates in years, either by authorities or the airline. Bag searches, yes; document checks, no.

The vast majority of gate agents don't really look at the names on BPs, just the status if it's one of the early boarding groups. That said, I wouldn't want to be called up to the podium for a complimentary upgrade.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...rrrhhhggg.html

That thread has an active list of ongoing TSA gate searches ID checks through as recent as last month.

You missed my point (read the sentence before the ones you quoted), and that thread doesn't completely distinguish bag searches from ID cheks, but whatever.

Unless you're traveling through Canada, but that opens up another can or worms anyway. CATSA there scans the BP and makes sure name on BP = name the scanner picked up.