Question about change fees
 

I will be booking a Caribbean trip soon but the possibility exists that the identity of my traveling companion will change before I depart -

I'm a bit confused about how the airline "change fees" work in this situation.

If I paid for both tickets, then do I have the right to change the identity of one of the passengers (assuming I pay the fee)?

If I change the name and the date at the same time, do I just pay one change fee, or two?

I've been looking at some of the airlines' websites and can't figure out the answers to these questions.

To be safe, I'd call your airline and ask.

I'd guess the answer is that the change fee applies to changes of times and dates, but that a ticket is not transferrable. That person for whom you bought the ticket could use it at another time with the amount, minus the change fee, applied to a new fare. (Assuming the terms of the fare permit that.) I'd bet that if it were a completely new person, you'd need a completely new ticket.

Change fees generally refer to change of itinerary, not traveler.

No you can't change the name of the traveler on a ticket. You'd have to cancel the reservation for the person that's not going, and get a new ticket for the person that is. If it's a nonrefundable ticket, they'd let you apply the ticket value (less the change fee) to the new ticket.

You can always ask your new travel companion to change his/her name to match that of the one on the ticket.

:)

Well, probably not worth it for a Caribbean trip, but if it's an expensive RTW ticket in first/business class, it may be worth the money and trouble. Hehe.