Ticket Name Changes

Hi All,

Hopefully somebody can help.

A friend of mine has recently parted company with her partner, and they were due to fly to LAS on Vigin later this month on holiday.

Clearly they won't now be going on holiday together and she wants to change a name to a friends name so that she doesn't have to go by herself.

She's more than prepared to pay a change fee but when she spoke to Virgin about it they said it couldn't be done and that she'd have to pay the fare for the flight again.

Is there any way around this? It seems crazy and somewhat unfair that Virgin aren't able to do this!

Regards

[Nottingham Nick]

Welcome to V-Flyer.

If you search the forums, you will find that this has been discussed quite a bit before. This is one thread, but I am sure there are others. Edit This is the other one I was thinking of... Nick

The answer to you question is sorry, but I am afraid that there is probably nothing that can be done.

Cheap, non refundable, non-changeable, and non-transferable air tickets are just that.

If it were easy to change names on tickets, people would buy them in bulk in advance and sell them on EBay at a profit.

There are ways that travel agents can sometimes change names on holiday packages, but that doesn't seem to apply in your case.

Nick

But don't forget that as a last resort, even if the ticket is non-refundable, you can reclaim the tax paid if you cancel.

And please, please, please call Virgin Atlantic - they do have rules but do have people who can break them for special circumstances. Probably best to ask for a Manager when you get through and see if they can help.

Good luck

[preiffer]

Originally posted by MarkJ
And please, please, please call Virgin Atlantic - they do have rules but do have people who can break them for special circumstances. Probably best to ask for a Manager when you get through and see if they can help.

I think you'll find Mark, that this is one rule they won't break.

Always worth a try!!

[Nottingham Nick]

With due respect to the OP.'s friend I can't see any way that splitting from a partner would be considered reason enough for VS to break an almost unbreakable rule. They would, in effect, be refunding a non refundable ticket. I accept that the ticket would immediately be 're-bought' by another passenger, but they still have no reason to do it IMHO.

As soon as they set any sort of precedent like that, then people will be even less likely to buy flexible tickets.

Nick

I do agree with both you and Paul that it is highly unlikely that anything can be done, save a refund of taxes minus the unfair handling fee - but I always feel that a call is worth it "just in case" and if the call is made with the expectaion of a "no" then any other result is a bonus.

"Nothing ventured nothing gained"