Flight predicament LHR – HND

[bomba]

Hello,
I have a little (big) problem with some flights tomorrow and Sunday. My mum and I fly tomorrow on Qatar but my sibling flies out on Sunday on BA. I unfortunately have a work issue next week on 27th and I’d rather be at home than trying to do it on the move and fly out on 27th instead. I have asked Qatar to name change the redemption seat from me to my sibling but they don’t allow this. My mum doesn’t want to fly by herself / be in Japan by herself for a day and I want to move her to my sibling’s flight on the Sunday instead but there is no redemption seats yet and cash price is insane ~2.5k£ one way which I am not willing to pay. I only have until roughly 7pm today to cancel my Qatar flight tomorrow without too much of a penalty, it would cost 25 USD per person rather than 100 per person.

Are there any other options that I am not considering? My mum definitely wants to fly with someone. Worst case I do have to fly tomorrow but I’d preferably not. Thank you 🙂

[e14]

bomba wrote:

Hello,
I have a little (big) problem with some flights tomorrow and Sunday. My mum and I fly tomorrow on Qatar but my sibling flies out on Sunday on BA. I unfortunately have a work issue next week on 27th and I’d rather be at home than trying to do it on the move and fly out on 27th instead. I have asked Qatar to name change the redemption seat from me to my sibling but they don’t allow this. My mum doesn’t want to fly by herself / be in Japan by herself for a day and I want to move her to my sibling’s flight on the Sunday instead but there is no redemption seats yet and cash price is insane ~2.5k£ one way which I am not willing to pay. I only have until roughly 7pm today to cancel my Qatar flight tomorrow without too much of a penalty, it would cost 25 USD per person rather than 100 per person.

Are there any other options that I am not considering? My mum definitely wants to fly with someone. Worst case I do have to fly tomorrow but I’d preferably not. Thank you 🙂

You are flying tomorrow – name changes are a no no for QR, BA and in fact across most of the airline business unless on group tickets.

I wouldn’t expect BA to be releasing any award seats for Sunday both flights are almost 100%.

[bomba]

Damn, yeah I’ve checked and theres 4 economy tickets available I am hoping they release some today but I doubt it

[Ihar]

I’m sure the answer is “no”, but it’s not an outrageous request to swap 2 tickets around. It’s not like you’re re-selling a ticket or anything. But rules are rules… I’m struggling to find a reason why it can’t be allowed…..

[NorthernLass]

I know what you mean, but airlines would be inundated with these requests if they permitted it, and I also think there are genuine issues with things like supplying info for API to destination countries.

[John]

The API doesn’t have to match the ticket name though.

While HMPO won’t allow it with a British passport if they find out, and require you to tell them, most countries don’t mind their citizens holding another country’s passport in a (slightly) different name and then it’s just up to the airline whether they accept the passenger’s alternative name.

[NorthernLass]

OP isn’t asking to amend the name on the ticket though, they want to swap it to a different person.

[e14]

NorthernLass wrote:

OP isn’t asking to amend the name on the ticket though, they want to swap it to a different person.

Which is still a name change to a ticket, regardless of how it is phrased, and still won’t happen.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

e14 wrote:

NorthernLass wrote:

OP isn’t asking to amend the name on the ticket though, they want to swap it to a different person.

Which is still a name change to a ticket, regardless of how it is phrased, and still won’t happen.

Quote

No they are different.

Many airlines will allow an amendment but not a wholesale name change^

An amendment would be correcting a couple of letters mistyped. A name change is exactly that – a wholesale name change.

Example

Amendment (permitted) would be correcting a mistyped ‘e41’ to ‘e14’ as long as all other details matched such as DoB

Name change (not permitted) wanting to change it to to ‘sw1’

^ many airlines will permit a name change for example you got married (or divorced) between booking and flying and your documents such as passport had your updated name. You have a paper trail to prove this change and your the same person.

[NorthernLass]

Yes, and all the API information, once supplied, would refer to an entirely different individual.

But I get that the main motivation might be airlines not wanting people to buy loads of cheap tickets then sell them on when the price goes up!

[bomba]

Thank you all for the comments, looks like I’ll have flying today 🙁
And for clarification yes I wanted to do a wholesale name change to a completely different passenger (my sibling) but they didn’t allow it

[Ihar]

Sad. There are rules, and there are the “spirit” of rules. These rules are designed to stop on-selling of tickets (at least originally). Swapping tickets is exactly NOT that. Very sad.