Help: Stopping the resale of a flight booked for someone else?

Em_ster

Here's the scenario

My colleague is in the early days of seperating from her partner

They had intended to holiday in July and had booked 5 Jet2 return flights for the family's use.

Tickets were paid for by my friend using her Visa Debit card from her account (not joint), booked in the name of each traveller. The confirmation email address provided was that of her partner

He has now decided to sell these flights on an auction site

My friend had hoped to used the flights to give herself and the kids a well earned break

Does her partner have any right to sell these flights? Is there any kind of 'legal' path which would prevent him from doing so?

She has contacted her travel insurance provider but they were unable to offer assistance

Sorry to ask but she is in a pickle with this place is generally able to provide a sensible answer

TIA

benjus

Regarding the legal position, unless someone on here has authoritative advice I'd suggest going to the Citizen's Advice Bureau. She could also check if she can get any free legal advice, e.g. via home insurance or her employer.

In terms of actually stopping him from selling the flights, the simplest thing would be to check in online (if the date of travel is in less than 4 weeks). She could then leave him his ticket to sell if he wants to. If checking in online is not an option, I think it would be sensible to contact the airline and explain that she does not want any changes to be made to the flights. Is she the lead passenger on the booking?

richardw

Em_ster wrote: »

Does her partner have any right to sell these flights?

Did pay for his flight or anybody else's either directly or indirectly?

If he hasn't paid for anybody else's, try the on line check-in, even if the outbound is only available.

Other wise, perhaps call the airline to change the contact details if she paid for some of the flights.

The auction website's terms and conditions may prevent him from selling stuff that isn't wholly his to sell.

dmg24

Has he paid her for the tickets?

(Crosspost!)

bagand96

Has she spoke to Jet2? I suspect that if it was her card that was used, then she is probably the "lead" passenger, in which case any changes will need her consent, regardless of who's email address was used. If her partner was lead pasenger, then it may be different. She should speak to Jet2 ASAP to clarify this, they may be able to help.

Also, Jet2 flights, being a low cost airline, are not particularly cheap to change. It will cost an admin fee, as well as the fare difference on the day, so the buyer and the seller would have to come to an arrangement on this - basically I'm saying they might not be as easy to sell as he thinks.

Finally, what auction site is he using? If its eBay, then I'm sure there is a rule that in order to sell flights on there, you must be an ATOL bonded travel agent. I presume your friend's ex is not? This might be an avenue to stall him short term.


EDIT: This advice is based on the pure mechanics of the booking with the airline, and selling of the tickets. Richardw and dmg24 raise a very good point of who actually paid for them, as that could be a whole other can of worms if the ex partner decides not to play nicely.

Em_ster

Thanks all - Sort of fixed

Ex partner has the ‘unique identifying reference’ which must be quoted to make a change, my friend doesn't.

She happened upon a helpful chap at the airline who advised her to email J2 urgently, stating that access to the email account to which this identifier was sent is no longer possible.

Apparently she will the be given a case reference and the helpful chap said she could contact him as soon as this is received. He would then use this to access the booking and password protect it, meaning that only my friend is authorised to make changes.

Seems a bit convoluted to me but hopefully it will work. As if she hasn’t got enough on her plate than to be dealing with this nonsense….

(No idea where the ex has listed the sale. He most certainly is not ATOL bonded and she bought the tickets)

spiro

One person paying and another person being the lead passenger (in this case the email recipient) is always open to problems if the parties 'go their own way'. because unfortunately the 'lead passenger' has all the rights. This is obviously worse when it involves a family that is splitting up.

Hopefully the 'helpful chap' at J2 will be able to get her control of the flights.