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Old 10-21-2015, 06:55 PM
 
Location: Silver Spring, MD
2,051 posts, read 1,744,039 times
Reputation: 2216

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It would be great if more airline would allow you to pay to change the name on a ticket. I'm sure you could find someone to take over the ticket and possibly even give you some of your money back. Wow airlines allows you to pay a reasonable fee to change the name of a ticket and I was lucky enough to be able to take advantage of their policy when someone in my travel group wasn't able to use their tickets to Amsterdam so I was able to take over their reservation for $172 round trip for a trip in less than a month away.
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Old 10-21-2015, 08:18 PM
 
17,492 posts, read 15,086,108 times
Reputation: 22777
Quote:
Originally Posted by Retriever View Post
Many years ago, a friend of mine was able to get a refund on a non-refundable ticket by presenting a letter from his MD stating that he had a serious medical condition that made it medically inadvisable to fly.
Yes, it was a lie, but it worked!

Now, the trick for the OP is to find an MD--like the one that my friend used--who is willing to lie.

And this is why people now with LEGITIMATE medical issues can't get a refund on a non-refundable ticket.

Tell your friend "Thanks, ass"

Quote:
Originally Posted by shellymdnv View Post
It would be great if more airline would allow you to pay to change the name on a ticket. I'm sure you could find someone to take over the ticket and possibly even give you some of your money back. Wow airlines allows you to pay a reasonable fee to change the name of a ticket and I was lucky enough to be able to take advantage of their policy when someone in my travel group wasn't able to use their tickets to Amsterdam so I was able to take over their reservation for $172 round trip for a trip in less than a month away.
But, then the airlines wouldn't make any money. I've heard horror stories of airlines not allowing a name change for obvious fat-finger mistakes or using a middle name vs first name type situation.

Airlines are nearly a scam nowadays. Southwest is in business and makes money because they're almost the anti-airline. People will fly with them just as a big Eff You to the legacy carriers.. What's left of them, at least.

You want a stone wall to beat your head against.. Fly Frontier or Spirit. If you die, they'll fight refunding the money to your estate. Spirit has had several bad PR issues on not refunding a ticket when soldiers get deployed, or someone is diagnosed with a terminal disease.
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Old 10-21-2015, 09:06 PM
 
Location: Silver Spring, MD
2,051 posts, read 1,744,039 times
Reputation: 2216
Quote:
Originally Posted by Labonte18 View Post

But, then the airlines wouldn't make any money. I've heard horror stories of airlines not allowing a name change for obvious fat-finger mistakes or using a middle name vs first name type situation.

Airlines are nearly a scam nowadays. Southwest is in business and makes money because they're almost the anti-airline. People will fly with them just as a big Eff You to the legacy carriers.. What's left of them, at least.

You want a stone wall to beat your head against.. Fly Frontier or Spirit. If you die, they'll fight refunding the money to your estate. Spirit has had several bad PR issues on not refunding a ticket when soldiers get deployed, or someone is diagnosed with a terminal disease.
The airline did make money by allowing a name change. They have the money from the original ticket holder and they have an additional $350 from me. Even if the original ticket holder wanted to be paid for the ticket, I certainly wouldn't go past what it would cost me buy the ticket on my own
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Old 10-21-2015, 09:08 PM
 
473 posts, read 847,035 times
Reputation: 740
Don't mess around with medical scams and phony letters - however WAIT until the day of departure to cancel your ticket, because if you have time that day, watch for these two things which would allow refund:

1- If there's a weather delay (day or or leading up to it), albeit not likely on Thanksgiving (especially not Miami but perhaps Chicago), they'll allow free changes. Use that to reschedule your trip down the road. No charge.

2 - If your flight is significantly delayed that day (90 minutes is the norm) you can request a refund, commonly known as "trip in vain". For example if you had an event or appointment the evening of the 26th you obviously won't make it. This is used often by business travelers on short flights (sometimes flying and returning same day for meetings). It's not a scam - just politely tell them you won't want a refund for not getting there the 26th. (Again only for a long delay or canceled flight. An hour or two delay won't cut it.)

Both of those are legit.

If neither of those happen, then call (before departure), cancel the ticket, and you'll at least have the balance to use minus the fee.
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Old 10-21-2015, 11:09 PM
 
Location: Niceville, FL
13,258 posts, read 22,752,433 times
Reputation: 16414
Southwest is great if you fit in their neat little boxes, not so great if you don't. Apparently an attempt to fly from here to San Francisco or Oakland (or many other such obscure places I might wish to visit) breaks their ticket booking system because it's impossible according to them, and the workaround involves buying two open jaw tickets with very precise routings and if you can get that to work, it will cost you 50% more than a ticket on a legacy carrier. They're also not great in IRROPS since they don't have alliance partners or mutual aid agreements with other carriers.

If they will actually let me buy a reasonably priced ticket to my travel destination, they're often a perfectly adequate domestic economy product but I really don't get their cult-like following.
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Old 10-21-2015, 11:50 PM
 
6,438 posts, read 6,893,197 times
Reputation: 8742
Thanksgiving fares are often high, so if you rebook and pay the change fee, you may find you're buying the new flight at a lower price. If that is the case, you will pay the $200 change fee MINUS the fare difference. Good luck.
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Old 10-22-2015, 07:23 AM
 
Location: 49th parallel
4,596 posts, read 3,271,309 times
Reputation: 9566
Have you investigated your company's travel plans department? They are just people too, like you and me, not some faceless company policy wonks. They might be able to sympathize with your problem and try to book your Tokyo ticket on AA (if they fly there, probably do) and do something about getting the credit from the Miami ticket. It wouldn't hurt to ask.
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Old 10-22-2015, 09:28 AM
 
Location: Verde Valley
4,374 posts, read 11,202,972 times
Reputation: 4048
Quote:
Originally Posted by papafox View Post
If at all possible FLY WITH SWA in the future!
I don't believe they fly to Miami.
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Old 10-22-2015, 09:33 AM
 
Location: MMU->ABE->ATL->ASH
9,317 posts, read 20,955,366 times
Reputation: 10443
They go to nearby FLL, WPB, Ft. Myers/Naples
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Old 10-22-2015, 10:28 AM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
19,397 posts, read 27,703,839 times
Reputation: 36050
Quote:
Originally Posted by flyonpa View Post
They go to nearby FLL, WPB, Ft. Myers/Naples
And from certain departure points, they are rarely the cheapest option. We used SW a lot when we lived in Phoenix. Now in Raleigh, we nearly always get better fares and schedules/non-stop flights on Delta, Jet Blue or even Frontier (gasp).

SWA is a good airline, but it ain't all that. As others have said, we don't drink the Kool-Aid.
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