Can Airline Tickets Be Changed To Another Passenger

If y'all miss your flight, don't stress out. There'southward more than one way to salve your vacation or business concern trip.

That's what Laura Coletti discovered when she didn't make her recent flight from South Bend, Ind., back to New York.

"I slept through my alarm and woke upwardly in a panic when I realized that my flight was taking off in five minutes," she recalls.

United Airlines' policy seemed unbending. She risked losing her entire return fare if she didn't show upwardly for the flying.

Missed flights may be one of the biggest air travel irritants. Depending on where you're headed, anywhere from 2% to eight% of passengers miss their flying. Simply there are ways to gear up the trouble and get to your destination. If you act quickly, know your rights and stay polite, y'all'll exist on your way.

What to practise if y'all miss your flight

If you retrieve yous're going to miss a flight, call your airline immediately, experts say. The sooner your airline knows that y'all'll be late, the more than options it has to fix information technology. Coletti, who works for a marketing agency in New York, phoned United the minute she woke upwardly and let a representative know that she'd overslept.

"An amanuensis rebooked me for a slightly later on flight from S Curve to LaGuardia with a brief stopover in Chicago," she says. "I was back in New York merely a few hours after I originally would accept been. I have no idea why I wasn't charged for that — I certainly was expecting a toll — but I wasn't, and I was glad about that."

Although airlines frequently accuse y'all for a new ticket if y'all miss a flying, there are important exceptions. But to find out if you qualify, you need to act fast. Calling the airline earlier your departure tin significantly increase your chances of getting rebooked on the next flight at no additional charge.

How to fix a missed flight

It helps to sympathise what's happening behind the scenes. When you miss a flight, it also puts your airline in a hard position. Chances are, your seat has flown empty. Rebooking yous on the next flight ways giving yous a free ticket. That'southward why letting the airline know you'll be late is so of import; information technology allows the carrier to release the seat and maybe resell it, offsetting the lost revenue.

Your reasons for missing a flight matter.

"If you lot are at the counter, be polite, explicate why you are tardily," advises Peter Vlitas, a senior vice president for airline relations at Travel Leaders Group. "Was the airport exit congested? Did it take too long to get to the counter? Make the case that you were late as a function of trying to get to the airport or counter or running to the gate."

Most airlines accept an breezy "flat tire" dominion that allows them to book you on the next available flight if you have a good reason for getting to the airport late, similar, say, a apartment tire. Those may include a medical emergency, an accident on the way to the airport or some documentable effect beyond your control. Typically, sleeping through your alarm doesn't count, but agents have some flexibility in how they tin apply the flat tire rule.

Airlines tend to throw the book in your face if you don't have a good reason for being late and you tell them later the flight leaves. That'southward when you ordinarily have to buy a new ticket. But a piffling politeness can overcome this obstacle, too. Fourth dimension and again, travelers say that being squeamish instead of demanding has gotten them on the next flight at no additional charge.

What are your rights when you lot miss a flight?

If you missed a flight because y'all were tardily to the airport, you don't have any real rights. Almost airlines will classify you as a "no-testify" and keep your coin. Note that your return flying will as well be canceled automatically. If you contact the carrier before the flight departs, you may be able to become a partial ticket credit depending on the kind of ticket you accept.

But if you miss a connecting flight, you're not out of luck. Under near domestic airline policies — which are outlined in the contract of carriage on the airline website — if yous miss a connection, it will rebook you on the next flight at no charge. If that ways staying at the airport overnight, the airline will cover a hotel stay. For case, American Airlines will pay for a hotel if the delay is "inside our control or you were diverted to another city, and we don't board to your terminal destination earlier 11:59 p.m. local fourth dimension," according to its contract.

If you lot miss a connexion on a flight to Europe, you might be entitled to even more. For certain missed connections European consumer regulations provide up to 600 euros, plus rerouting or a flying back to your point of departure at no extra cost. "When you're on an international flight going to Europe and miss your connection because of the delay or counterfoil of the starting time flying, you have rights," says Thomas Busson, a spokesman for ClaimCompass, a service that helps passengers obtain compensation under European union Regulation 261/2004, the European consumer rule.

But hither's the best communication of all: Don't be tardily. Prepare an alert and don't forget to plough up the volume on your telephone. Set a calendar reminder with your flight itinerary. And give yourself plenty of time to get to the aerodrome. Airlines such as United even publish check-in processing times to allow for ameliorate planning.

Tips for handling a missed flight

• Know the rules. Go on a re-create of your airline'southward contract of carriage (available from its website) or European union Regulation 261 on your smartphone for quick admission. Yous can find a total copy of EU Regulation 261 on the EU website: eur-lex.europa.european union.

• Hire a travel agent. A trusted travel adviser can assistance you schedule your ground transportation to ensure you lot become to the final on time. In-the-know agents can also quickly discover the next available flight and employ their connections to rebook you with a minimum of fuss.

• Recall outside the box. There's more than one manner to get to your last destination. When David Nico missed a flight from Washington to Norfolk, Va., he rented a machine and made the four-hour drive dwelling house. Problem solved. Lesson learned? "Consider other travel options if there is going to exist a long filibuster to get to your final destination," says Nico, a professional speaker and author.