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Change the name with Southwest
I had purchased 4 tickets from Southwest to a FL on huge sale for $150 and I need to change the name on one due to the change of the traveler.
I want to take my dd's friend and since I will lost the ticket anyway I wanted to ask her mom to pay for the name change only(I figured $75 is affordable for anyone.) I had called Southwest and they said I will have to pay $300 to exchange the ticket. I am shocked. Is there way to change the name for less? I can not tell her mom to pay $300. I know it is probably the way it will have to be. But I am still hopefull. |
How did you lose the ticket?
Do airlines even issue paper tickets any longer? You bought the tickets during a huge sale. Huge sale=Highly Restricted Ticket. Probably no way around the $300 unless you find a sympathetic reservation agent. Keep calling and asking. |
I think it is not that are charging you per se to change the name. what you are really doing is canceling the original ticket, getting a credit for the $150 you paid and are trying to get a new ticket, which is probably at a much higher cost since all of the cheaper seats on that flight are gone.
To be sure, I would go to southwest.com, and plug in the dates of the flight and find the same flight number and see what seats & prices are available. I am pretty sure you won't find anything less. They were good helping me recently with an issue, but it did not involve name change. Hope this helps [or at least gives you insight] Debi |
I had not lost tickets. I have them.
It is $450 now. So like I said I need to change the name wich you right involving cancelling and buying the one for the higher price. But I do not feel it is fair. I had paid for 4 tickets. What name change is actually changing for airline? How do they suffering from it? I will try few weeks later maybe. |
Was it a "DING" fare.
These can get confusing because the booking agent really has no control over DING fares. On an up note, if you just book a new ticket, Southwest allows you to keep the money you paid and apply it to a future flight...so you havent really lost the money. Just remember to keep your confirmation #. |
Just wondering Fedora, are you someone zainy we know under a different name? Just call it serendipity or looney of me to think this if I am wrong.
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Fedora, I think you are asking for something ("name change") that the airlines just do not do.
Tickets are issued for specific travelers; when one decides not to travel, that ticket may (if the ticket terms permit) be redeemed for credit toward another ticket, for the same traveler on a different flight or for a different person on the same flight. The airline then sells a new ticket at whatever price is available at that time. |
OMG!!
Good call Debi! It is LoonyZiana! I remember when she bought the tickets cheaply then yelled at us because she couldn't find reasonable accommodations during peak season in South Florida! |
The reason you can't change the name is to prevent "scalping" of tickets.
If you could change the name on a ticket then brokers would buy up all the fares as soon as they were offered. They then could sell the tickets to whoever they wanted at inflated fares. |
How about:
- The person changing his/her name to travel, and then change back? - Fake ID? ;) |
Yeah, fake ID is a great idea; all the kids know where to get one.
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You can't change a name on a ticket. It has more to do with security than "scalping".
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Gretchen please explain because I don't see how security has anything to do with this issue.
The name on the ticket must match the name on the official identification. It is just as easy to create a fake document for John Doe as it is for Jane Doe. Fedora (i.e. Looney/Ziana) is not saying she plans to just show up at the airport with the old ticket and the new ID. She is trying to get the airline to change the name on the ticket. I don't see how security is impacted at all by this. |
If I were you, I'd call their customer service line and explain the situation. They have helped me numerous times. # 214-792-4223, Monday - Friday 8-5??
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saps has given a very logical reason why airlines don't allow name changes on tickets. Listen to him/her!
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I don't know why this can't have to do with "scalping", or basically just reselling tickets. After all, if they have a rule that you can buy a ticket at a cheap price and then just change the name to anyone for a minimal cost (even a nonrelative, in this case), that would seem to allow any agency to do that. Fedora is basically selling the ticket to someone else that she bought in a different name because she decided she couldn't use it. So Southwest can't encourage this by making it easy or cheap for other people to be selling Southwest tickets.
I don't know about the security issues, but I have read that (although don't know if it's true, as they are basically allowing it but charge a lot more). I could see that might pertain if the airline has to send lists of passengers with info way ahead of time and have it checked. I didn't think they did that until very close to departure, though. Maybe it's just a suspicious thing to be doing, buying tickets and changing names, as if you can buy one for someone else to begin with (some name other than your own), I don't see the security issue, either, but it's also possible it is a govt-imposed security rule that doesn't really make sense (would that be a first), but it does make it more expensive or difficult to do such a thing, anyway. |
Christina,
I am not selling a ticket. I am giving it away if they agree to pay for name changing. I think it use to be $75 with USAirways. Thanks |
That's why I book with initials instead of names. Just in case my husband can't go, I switch it to another family member. I have my own way of making duplicate names. Either making a double last name so when they show id it's Jones Smith, so it can go for Jones or Smith. hehe.
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What I am saying is that the stringent rules on changing names on tickets occurred after security measures were tightened years ago. I can't and don't want to bother to go through some scenario.
But the rule is the rule. That is why before I hit "buy" on an intenet ticket site I carefully check all the names on the tickets. |
Fedora,
It doesn't matter that YOU are not selling the ticket; the point is that if they make it cheap/easy for you to transfer a ticket, they also have to make it cheap/easy for anyone else (ie, scalpers) to transfer a ticket. There's no way to prove your intentions. Like several people have said, that's unfortunately what comes with buying a restricted sale fare. Trust me, it seems unfair, but think about how expensive it is to get tickets to a sold-out concert. It is not uncommon to pay 1000% (10x) above face value. Now imagine ticket scalpers had the means to buy an already-pricey airline ticket and transfer it easily. It would limit the travel industry to a) those who have time to watch for sales and buy tickets the *instant* they go up, and b) the extremely wealthy. "Security" may just be the official line on this. Like others have said, you can make a fake ID for any name, so it prevents little. It's more of an economical concern, not only for the airlines, but for the travelers. |
It is down to a $365 so we are $200 short. I had put this one on hold but should i wait few more weeks? Maybe it will drop some more? If it is less can I exchange? Forgot to ask them...
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Airlines don;t change names on tickets once issued. It MUST be used by the person for whom it was bought.
If teat person is no longer going and you want to buy a ticket for the person who is going you can probably put the cost of the unused ticket towards it. That is realistically your only option to use the value of th ticket. (And the person who is added later needs to undetstand that since they are buying later the cheaper tickets are gone.) Airlines don;t change names on the same ticket - as explained above several times. This is just the way the industry works - and they're not going to change it for you. So - either use the ticket value towards a high price ticket - or throw it out. Those are your only 2 choices. |
Why such a rant? What have I done?
This is very frustration to be slammed just because reader did not read correctly. I do understand all the above but what does it have to do with my last post? I said I found lower fare then before. Now my neighbor will have to pay me $200 not $300 which is great! I asked should I wait or buy now hoping that people who travel by Southwest often might know that prices are going down closer to a travel date or not. That was it, no need to shout at me. Thanks |
I've never flown SW and never will, but my friends who must have been calling it <b>"Southworst"</b> for many years.
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Gekko,
thanks, now i am feeling much better. This IS kind of advice I was looking for. take care. |
"Southworst".....guess that explains why Southwest is the Number One carrier of domestic passengers in the Gold Ole US of A, huh??
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Yup, I flew "Southworst" for the first time a couple of months ago. Newer planes with roomier seats, snacks served and overall great service at an amazing price than what I've been flying out of my home market. I sure wish they flew into my city - I'd fly them all the time.
I agree with BeachBoi. |
Fedora: Gekko knows absolutely nothing about WN (Southwest) since, as he says, he has never flown w/ them. "Southworst" is just a lame attempt at a joke. He has offered the same sort of non-advice before. WN is a fine airline - good service, good to great fares, one-way tix w/o any penalty -- and more.
What you wanted to do would not be allowed on any airline -- not just WN. |
First of all -- Southwest does not hold seats or reservations; so not sure what you meant by that. You have to pay for them when you make them.
If you wait to get a cheaper seat, it may or maynot happen. Going to Florida during Spring break, it's a busy time and sure folks do cancel reservations, [just like you will have to do with your extra ticket] I am not sure how long that seat would last and if it even goes back to being the cheap seat it started out as. I canceled 2 seats and then had to rebook them; the cost originally was $98 each; second time they were $200. That's just the way it goes. Suck it up to life's experiences. Why did you buy a 4th ticket in the first place if you didn't need it? Second -- I have just had to go through several flight changes on Southwest as a result of my medical appointments being changed frequently. They do not a charge any fee to cancel, rebook a ticket. When you cancel, you get a credit that is good for 1 year and can be applied towards another ticket. All you need to know is the confirmation number and the name that was on the credit card that was used to make the original purchase. The new ticket can even be made in someone else's name. That alone makes Southwest GREAT in my opinion. The overall experience on the plane, the A/B/C thing not withstanding adds to it. I have learned to checkin online 24 hours in advance; be at the airport early enough to get through security and to the waiting area in plenty of time to get my choice of seats. All this causes less stress too. I am glad that I am able to fly Southwest as much as I do. Don't knock it if you haven't tried it! |
Ability to assign seats? No.
Individual TV's for all passenger? No. <b>"Southworst"</b> No thanks. Since I'm fortunate to have options, I'll never fly "WN." :) |
Well, that's a plus!
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For us...
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:-D
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No opinion given here on Southwest/worst, but if thats the kind of response you were looking for from the posters here....
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I will write 'joke' next time. Sorry.
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Southworst. Northworst. AmericaWorst. Useless Air. All the carriers have these"nicknames". They mean nothing.
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Next time when someone starts an airline, don't use word "West" in its name.
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Fedora - to answer your second question (which I now see is a week old) I think you should jump on the $200 ticket instead of waiting. The cheap seats on Southwest are the first to go; and that fare is more likely to go up than down.
The good news is that your original traveller who can no longer go will have a $150 credit to use on Southwest. |
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