Changing the name on a ticket, without fees

I shall name all my future pets and children after you, good sir.

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Disclaimer from my legal team (a.k.a., the voice inside my head that’s see one too many episodes of The People’s Court): I heard the following story from a friend. I don’t condone any of the behavior of these parties, nor recommend it to you to try. I simply think that it is awesome, and deserves our attention and admiration.

What you choose to do with this information is up to you.

A few weeks ago, a friend of a friend booked a ticket to Europe on a major airline carrier. He needed to go for work, and his spouse decided to go along, so they booked a ticket for her as well (they have different last names, so let’s just assume they’re unmarried and living in sin, shall we?).

After the tickets were booked, the young man’s spouse realized she couldn’t make it. When he called to cancel his girlfriend’s ticket, he was told he’d only receive a 50% refund on his ticket price. Considering it was an international ticket, that was quite a hefty fee to pay.

So the young man got to thinking … it was a work trip, and his gal couldn’t make it. But one of his other co-workers needed to go, anyway, and they hadn’t booked her ticket. Coincidentally, both the coworker and the girlfriend shared the same first name – one of those lovely monikers of European extraction that many gals in the U.S. have – like Broomhilde and Hortense. So the young man confirmed that his co-worker needed a ticket, devised a brilliant plan, and double-checked with his company before picking up the phone again.

He called the airline, and explained that he had booked two tickets a few weeks ago (they looked up the reservation, and found the tickets – originally purchased for him and his girlfriend). He explained that he had made a mistake when making the reservation- he had listed his travel companion’s maiden name on the ticket. Could they change it?

And they did, immediately and free of charge … to his co-worker’s last name.