Changing names on bookings - HELP NEEDED!!!!

njc12

Hi All

I wonder if you can help me. My sister booked a holiday with 2 "friends" and was due to go at 3pm today. She suffers from claustrophobia and felt that she couldn't get on the plane.

She has now found out that the lead name on the booking has changed her name without her knowledge to his sisters name.

My sister is upset 1) because they have changed it without her knowledge 2) it will impact her chances of getting any money back from her insurance.

Please can anyone give me some advice re if there is any course of action she can take and whether her so called friend should have been able to do this?

Thank you
njc 12 xx

dzug

Well yes the lead name on the booking can do this - in fact only s/he can. Should really have consulted though.

Presumably the 'changed name' went on the holiday? If so then she should pay your sister for it.

Don't see where insurance comes in - disinclination to travel, which is how they will view it, is not grounds for a claim. Nor is a pre-existing condition - another way of looking at it.

unsure

Have to agree with DZUG; surely if someone else took her place that person will pay her for the trip. Nothing to do with insurance. Possibly not wise of her to book a holiday with others without knowing that she could manage the flight, but at least if someone has takne he place she ought to get her cash back from them!

njc12

thank you for your responses!! We are just trying to convince the people who have taken the holiday that they really should pay her back for it!!!

debs66_2

please don't take this as insensitive, because i am only playing devil's advocate.

if your sister was going to let her 2 friends down with this holiday, would the cost of their holiday have increased? not flights, but room/transfers etc etc. if things were split between 2 rather than 3, then your sister might have put the others in an awkward position, and the other person who stepped in might have helped somewhat - and no doubt they would have had to pay a fee for the name change, and possibly even a difference in the cost of the flights.

i do understand you sister's predicament, but she booked a trip - in good faith obviously - but declined to go. if it had been a package holiday she would have lost the lot.

perhaps she can discuss a fair amount to be refunded from her friends, if they did actually get some money from the other person for the trip. have you considered that the other person only made up the numbers because it was being offered at transfer of name costs plus extra on flights, so that the others could go? she might not have stepped in if it was to be the full amount plus the costs of the amendments...?

budgetflyer

She was after all going to be a last minute "NO SHOW" and wouldnt get any money back.
I doubt insurance would cover it for refund as if it was a pre existing condition, then she would have to notify them b4 hand, they would (maybe) cover her at extra cost or possibly not at all.
Possibly as a goodwill gesture, the "name change" may decide to sling her some of the cost

Incapuppy

I find this situation really confusing. When did your sister change her mind and feel that she couldn't travel? Was it today, on the departure day and if so, what would have happened if she had turned up at the airport to travel as planned?

baileysbattlebus

If sister was a "no show" then no extra charges would be applied to the other 2 travellers. This happened to us, our son decided not to come with us a few weeks before we were due to travel on a package holiday, i duly rang the travel agents and fully expected them to remove his name from the booking with no charge to us except for an administration charge. The holiday was fully paid, but they told us they would have to recalculate the holiday cost based on 4 travellers and not 5 and we would have to pay under occupancy supplements for the apts we had booked. I was quite shocked as it had already been paid. We would have lost the price of his holiday altogether and the under occupancy would have then been applied to 4 travellers. The travel agent told us just to turn up at the airport and when we checked in to tell them he wasn't coming, which we did and there were no extra charges. And no insurance claim either as he had changed his mind as the OP's sister has done.
I do feel morally the person taking her place should repay the cost of the holiday though and it's very naughty to have had her taken off the booking without telling her and then have the cheek to give her ticket away.
Did she decide today that she couldn't go or was it a while ago ?
Some airlines don't allow name changes and treat such requests as a cancellation and you have to pay for a new ticket, though ThomsomFly allow them up to 3 hours before the flight, I'm not sure what the charge is.
Some tour operators apply cancellation charges if the change is made within 56 days of travel.