HELP!! Easyjet's Crazy Charges for Name Change!!!

ClaireGosport

I booked flights to Sharm at the beginning of them month for myself and four friends for my hen weekend. Unfortunately now one friend has a new job contract starting and cannot come with us. She offered her ticket to a friend of mine who wasn't originally able to come due to finances which was really lovely of her. Great and all sorted, or so it seemed.

Easyjet are asking for £35 each way PLUS the difference in the cost of the flight from when we booked to what it is now. As the flight has gone up they want £199 from us JUST TO CHANGE THE NAME!!!!!

Does anyone have any idea if this can be got round? I really don't want to be out in Sharm in a room on my own on my own hen weekend, and will be such a waste of the flight.

Gutted............and as for my poor friend who thought she was coming, she can't possibly afford the £200 they want and is so upset :-((

Caz3121

No way round it (unless the other friend wants to change her name by deed poll and passport to match the ticket name)
The is all in the Ts & Cs and all low cost airlines do this to stop people buying up cheap tickets then selling them on for a premium....the fees mean it will probably be cheaper for someone to just buy a ticket for the flight from scratch and your friend that can't go can maybe see if she can reclaim some taxes

robpw2

you may find it cheaper to book an new flight

ClaireGosport

I've had a look but it's still coming up around £150 each way for another flight. We really struggled to do this and there's no way that we can cover the extra £199 so looks like a £340 holiday will be wasted :-(((

richardw

With easyJet when you change a name you don't lose the amount already paid, but there are extra costs to benefit from this. If you can get flights that are less than the extra cost then go for that.

peterod1

Interesting article here

http://airpassengerrights.blogspot.com/2012/01/ryanairs-excessive-fees-to-change-name.html

Not exactly the same scenario but was interesting to see that Ruinair backed down to prevent a substantive court decision.

Might be worth raising the stakes and quoting European law (Article 3, Directive 93/13/EEC on unfair terms in consumer contracts) a contract term is unfair if it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations to the detriment of the consumer. The annex to the Directive says that a term may be regarded as unfair when it requires a consumer who fails to fulfil his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation (sub e).

alanrowell

This isn't a name change, it's a change of passenger.

With most airlines you wouldn't be able to do it at all, low costs allow this but charge substantially to prevent people buying the cheap seats then reselling them on.

mikebh

Similar situation here - for medical reasons I am having to replace my wife on a trip she had booked. I can see the logic for the £35 charge per flight (or £40 by telephone) to discourage speculative flight buying and resales but was surprised to find, and fail to see the logic behind, the charge for the increase in flight cost between the booking and time of change which in this case is £59. This seems palpably unfair to me. Only partial saving grace is that on production of a Doctor's letter certifying unfitness to travel Easyjet may refund the £35 charge (well £40 because you have to do this by telephone) leaving only the increase in fare to be paid so in this case it will be £59 (plus new admin fee of £9????).

Fundamentally they ought to be making their money on the basic ticket price and not hidden extras such as this. At least Squeezyjet are not as bad as Ryanair's cabin baggage size police force. So far I have avoided their traps of charging for oversize cabin bags and printing out boarding tickets mostly by not using them in the first place.

Mike

Caz3121

mikebh wrote: »

Similar situation here - for medical reasons I am having to replace my wife on a trip she had booked. I can see the logic for the £35 charge per flight (or £40 by telephone) to discourage speculative flight buying and resales but was surprised to find, and fail to see the logic behind, the charge for the increase in flight cost between the booking and time of change

The logic is

you buy cheap return flight for £50
closer to the time the flights are now £300

currently it would be £35 to change the name each way + £250 no incentive for anyone to buy up flights and try to sell on as it would be cheaper for someone to buy a new ticket

if only name change fee was charged
£50 ticket + £70 = £120 v's current fare of £300...could sell on for profit...that is what they are trying to avoid

Full service airlines tend not to allow name changes at all, just a case of binning the ticket or trying to get some taxes refunded (unless you buy a fully flexible ticket then get a full refund) they are the ones that "make their money on the ticket price" but the prices reflect this

mikebh

I see the argument and I am almost persuaded of it but if Easyjet expected the price was going to rise to £300 they would never sell it for £50 in the first place. I cannot see how anyone would manage to make a better prediction of the price rises than the operator themselves so I cannot see anyone making money from this if the increase in flight cost was not charged. And BTW do Easyjet refund the difference if the price has gone down - I doubt it. Thanks for your explanation.

Mike

apt

EasyJet will refund the difference if you notice that the price has gone down, but they have a get out that this does not apply to sale/promotional fares. If you cannot use the ticket easyJet does at least refund the APD in full which is £60 to Egypt.