With regards to losing your job this is normally covered by travel insurance. As to changing name on ticket, virgin is very good on this unless it is last minute change or a special offer fare booked in advance. The reason the cheaper fares tend not to be changeable is the amount of work (tax refund claims, administration, fees to central ticket tracking agency’s and governments for change of information) all tend to mean it costs almost as much to cancel the ticket as change it. In peak season when these tickets are 600 pounds it seems unfair but in low season when they are 199 it just does not make sense to the airline. If you take a flight UK-USA return the government taxes/fees add up to over 130 and will take the airline several months to reclaim, in the mean time they have to pay the new passengers taxes.

The Airline brought in these cheaper tickets because of demand and set the rules so people had the choice. Pay less get more rules, pay more get less rules.

As I always say Darren you pay your money and take your choice.

However when it comes no frills they have different rules.

Report this comment

I think the fee should be capped to a reasonable administrative charge, coupled to the actual time it takes to make the change. Maybe £25 to cover a wide range of situations, taking different amounts of time to resolve?

Report this comment

We looked at a range of airlines in May, and, surprise surprise, Ryanair came out worse, charging £70 per booking to change details of a ticket!!! I’m flying to Spain this month, and my return flight cost less than that!! Some airlines can do it from as little as £15, which I think is a pretty fair price.

On top of this in all cases, except Easyjet and Thomas Cook Airlines (where its possible to make changes online), youhave to phone a call centre to make your name change.

Call prices vary between 8p and 65p per minute.

Report this comment

Sympathy, eh? While in theory, I think the idea of a softer touch from airlines is much needed, in practice I think there’s a snowball in hell’s chance of us getting it. In a broader sense, I think the airlines need more than sensitivity, they need a customer service boot camp. I have come to think that customer service is really the art of war, in which the rep stonewalls the customer – who only wants to move the flight up one day, or has made some silly error, or whatever – until they give in. I’d love sympathy, but at this point, I’d settle for a cease fire, know what I mean?

Report this comment

Actually, according to IATA regulations, you are allowed three letters in a name to be wrong (if that is the correct English). Indeed, Emirates told me once that without such, they would never get an aeroplane off the ground in the Middle East, what with there being so many variations of spelling on certain Middle Eastern names. BUT with certain destinations (eg the New World Colonies) I do not like pax to rely on this at all.

With regard to name changes, you will never, ever get airlines to permit whole name changes. The ramifications of that are too great. Wholesale booking of cheap booking classes and then just changing them later, speculative bookings and heavens knows what; so there are valid and real reasons while whole name changes are out of the question. For those that suffer misfortune, then there is travel insurance – which people should really have (see previous articles here!) Now, what Darren does have a point about, is airline “taxes and charges” which really should be refundable in any event. After all, you cannot be taxed for something you did not use (I thought the Magna Carta said something about that) and charging a hefty admin fee for refunding these is really beyond the pale – reasonable, one can understand.

Airline fare rules are very difficult and frankly, what you have to do is get behind what they are telling you. They are invariably ambiguous, often use AIRIMP (airline speak) and usually written by someone who was clearly asleep at school during English lessons. British Airways, however, are one of the best. BA rules are usually clear and if there is a need to clear something up, their staff are knowledgeable and on the ball. From a trade point of view, Lufthansa are one of the worst (hopeless and assume problems only happen Mon to Fri twixt 0900 and 1700 as do Amadeus) and British Midland, who employ ill-equipped parrots who seemingly need to call a supervisor for anything more complicated than “What is your name?” (A bugbear – it’s high time they moved their call centre back to the UK – or at least, Europe) I very often have to re-read a rule several times before grasping what they are on about and have had heated debates with check in staff about rules (usually about the “before” and “after” departure bits) So, yes, rules should be made clear and unambigous.

Report this comment

I disagree with the comment about paying for a budget airline, and getting a lesser service. I completely agree that with a low cost airline you can expect less leg room, no inflight meal, having to check yourself in (as is the case with some budget airlines now). But, what we should expect from all industry, whether it’s travel or other, and whether you have paid £50 or £500 for a ticket, is good customer service, and a fair deal.

On top of this, some routes leave no option but to travel with budget airlines – believe me, i would never fly with some of the budget carriers if there was the choice was there! people should not be penalised for having to fly budget.

The charges made to change names on tickets should cover administration costs, not for airlines to profit from. If some of the airlines can do it for as little as £15, why does Ryaniair need to charge £70?

Report this comment

Darren,

The reason the airlines make hard is that they do not want advance purchase offers being sold cheaply last minute.

You buy a ticket now for august @ 199 (excluding tax) and then in June the prices are 499 and you offer the ticket at 299 (with the change fee of 25.00 included) you make 75 and the airline loses money. (all figures are made up). But gives you an idea why…same for all airlines big/small/no frills.

Report this comment

I would like to ask a question – (genuine, I do not know the answer!) what is the cost of getting a Airbus A320 (or similar), loaded with 200 passengers, off the end of the runway, flying to Paris from, say, Luton? Rather like the “on the road” price charged for a car. So, I am Mr Easyjet and what would be the final bill, I wonder? I would like to know as it would give another prespective to the “cheap fares and what one gets for it” debate. I know that a Challenger 604 (which takes about 12 passengers) on a one or two week round trip to, say, Larnaca costs pushing £80,000 – £6,500 a head – but what about a commercial airliner on my “cheap” example above? We all talk about £50 or £10 being expensive/ cheap/ whatever – if we knew the cost, it may sharpen the mind…. and make us realise how much margin for the customer care bit, may be available at some of the prices people are paying…..

Report this comment

Darren

As flights fill up they get more expensive to get people to book early. I chose a destination I had watched last year for my own trip and the prices I quoted 199 and 499 are based on what I could get in December and the June.

299 (or even 399) is what someone could sell a ticket for in June on a 499 flight if the airline allowed changes as being suggested. Buy at 199, sit on it for 6 months, pay the airline 25 to change the ticket and sell it for 299. With the internet these days that would be easy to do. Hence the why the airlines do not allow changes.

Report this comment

@ Nick: That’s actually a very solid reason for not allowing name changes for anyone but the purchaser. I.e. the ticket buyer could correct the ticket for spelling, things like using the maiden name, etc, but not to another person’s name.

From a business standpoint, making changes expensive and/or difficult would limit losses from arbitrage.

Report this comment

A problem with a relatives name caused me to cancel one ticket @ £889 (no refund) and purchase a replacement (same flight @ £1721) Travel Agent advised no chance of claiming, however have received £1170 refund so far and going to Court for remainder as pursuing claim via ABTA and attempting abitation etc

I was advised through Abta that the arbitration company would not accept my request as it was outside of their time frame. Travel Agents average response time was 80 days not as suggested by ABTA rules of 28 days!, when this happens ABTA allow another 28 days for response and so on and so on.

Travel Agent has admitted that Quote (it was a simple error and should have been treated appropriatly at the time) unquote.

However different department of the same Agent argued differently.

It has taken 16 months so far and I intend to see it through to a satisfactory conclusion. OFT comment reference Unfair terms of Contracts, “Contrary to the requirements of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance to the parties rights and obligations under the contract to the detriment of the consumer “

Report this comment