A passenger whose father passed away is railing against United Airlines. His parents were supposed to travel on the airline to London. Without her husband to fly with, his mom still wants to take the trip with her daughter. They have two tickets, and want to use two tickets, but the airline wants an additional $1,000. Is that fair?
Mom & dad booked flights to London. Dad dies. Mom still wants to go on trip with my sister. I call @united to see my options & they are telling me the only way I can get my sister on the flight is If I pay the new fare which is $1000 more. Is that not absurd?
— Matthew Bové (@Matt_Bove) August 17, 2023
They stopped talking to me and said there was nothing else they could do. We’ll be in touch, @united. Can’t wait. pic.twitter.com/46ZOwEW6sS
— Matthew Bové (@Matt_Bove) August 17, 2023
When JetBlue first launched they permitted name changes for $25. United partner SAS used to allow name changes for a similar price if you certified that your trip was or leisure purposes rather than business. However they’re no longer so flexible.
United Airlines, like most U.S. airlines, does not allow you to change the name on a ticket. And the government helps them out with this by verifying the name of travelers going through security. You have to show ID at the security checkpoint, and your name has to match travelers on file for the day or your boarding pass. That’s one reason airlines are supportive of ID requirements to fly.
Some carriers allow travel credits to be transferred to other customers. That’s better than saying that the customer is stuck. They may be more flexible transferring travel credit when the traveler dies as well.
Meanwhile reporter Chase Houle shares that he tried to get United to offer a refund when he couldn’t take a trip while a family member was dying in a hospital.
And THEN @united decided not to give the full amount in credit and proceeded to charge $99 per person for canceling the flight. It's trash.
— Chase Houle (@chase_houletv) August 17, 2023
“Rules are rules” and at some level when a passenger buys a ticket they’re taking away the opportunity for the airline to sell the seat to someone else. There’s a real cost to the airline, and the airline shouldn’t take it on the chin when a customer’s life gets in the way. But United led the way in eliminating change fees on most fares, so customers can in fact cancel their travel and fly themselves later on most fares. Just avoid the cheapest (basic economy) tickets. An express condition of those tickets is that they’re less changeable and you agree to those terms implicitly during purchase. You may not realize it, or have buyer’s remorse, of course.
If you can change the name on a ticket, you can sell tickets to someone else, and you can undercut airline pricing – buying cheap tickets in advance and selling them last minute when airlines are trying to charge more. That undercuts airline price discrimination strategies. But there’s also compassion. At the end of the day, when a passenger wants to travel in place of their father that’s passed away, why not let them?
Agreed on your conclusion. It’s only logical. Why not let 2 passengers fly, instead of risking having to refund both tickets (well; at the minimum 1 of them – of the passenger that died. But, many airlines in this case would also refund the other passenger if under the same booking).
Problem is getting a hold of someone empowered / competent enough to get that done. I imagine that a straight up name swap in their system is something no agent nor supervisor would be willing to do. But, cancelling the Dad’s ticket, and issuing a new ticket under the sister’s name using historical fare data to match what was paid originally – can be done. Just need to get a hold of someone that would do that.
Of course this is not fair. Why is UA so insensitive to this family? Do they really need the money? Is so, I don’t think I would suggest flying this airline.
Sounds like the price differential for a new ticket at the last minute. I guess this is why we have to buy travel insurance. I’ve been buying it for years, just in case my elderly parents die while I’m traveling or planning to. The only time I ever needed it was when the airline cancelled the flight because of Covid and then the insurance wouldn’t cover it. My parents are still elderly and I’m still buying travel insurance… But only for pricey trips where the kids would be significant if I couldn’t travel.
Agree with Dude26. And, of course, the wife could help the UA power-at-be to make this rare change by emailing him/her a scanned copy of her husband’s death certificate.
Check the fare rules of the ticket. Maybe it’s a thing of the past but most non-refundable fares could be refunded in the event the tickted passenger passes away prior to travel. It may mean starting over with a new and possibly more expensive ticket for the daughter but might be worth looking into. United displays the full fare rules for tickets on their website and I always download a copy each time I purchase a ticket. One time my itinerary had a major schedule change for a completely refundable fare but when the agent rebooked it /non-ref was added to the fare calculation. I called back and because I was able to provide a copy of the original fare rules they were able to change it back.
Few years back, I had a Europe trip on Delta. My wife couldn’t go
And not only did Delta change her ticket to put my mother (95) on in her place, but changed the routing to make the trip easier for my mom.
So this is a United issue, not TAS, FAA or anyone else. Only issue would be trying to change names few days before travel.
United screwed me over years ago. I’ve never flown them since nor used them for any business ticketing I controlled
This is why we get travel insurance. So sad for the family though.
Just buy a refundable ticket to wherever (or a Mileage Plus ticket) to get through security. Cancel the random ticket and get the refund or redeposit the miles. Travel on the late traveler’s ticket. Done.
Strangely, the European discount carriers allow name changes:
Easyjet: https://www.easyjet.com/en/terms-and-conditions/fees#:~:text=24hrs%20of%20booking)*-,Name%20change,-(per%20passenger%2C%20per
Ryanair: https://www.ryanair.com/us/en/useful-info/help-centre/terms-and-conditions/termsandconditionsar_1713394128#:~:text=one%20way%20flight.-,Name%20Change%20Fee,-Per%20Passenger
Wizzair: https://wizzair.com/en-gb/information-and-services/booking-information/changing-your-reservation#:~:text=Change%20the%20name%20of%20the%20passenger%20online%20up%20to%203%20hours%20before%20the%20scheduled%20time%20of%20departure!
Hi Gary. Is there a limit on length now when leaving a comment? Twice just now when I’m closing off my comment, I get cut off and my writing is gone! And, the comment wasn’t very long compared to some here. Maybe it’s just something going on today. ??
Did they by trip insurance? its always offered for same! its always to late when something uninspected happens….. it would be like buying a car is someone buys a car and they die who pays? does the car company pay or absorbe the loss
@ Gary — Absolutely fair.
Forget about travel insurance and etc. Although it is a must these days for sure.
Thing is, you buy a ticket to travel. But these companies want to nickle, dime and trap you into losing your funds you gave that company! I don’t care who your are or how you see good business, it’s just bad business period. The day is coming the airlines will be reckond! Unfortunately though, it means aircraft will become mere BUSES in the sky.
Back in the day, 1990s, when someone couldn’t fly, another person would simply use the other person’s ticket since no one checked IDs. This was on a domestic .ski trip.
Call corporate HQ … not some customer service. Tell the operator / receptionist / whoever that you need to be transferred to the office ofthe VP for Customer Relations (they’ll argue and avoid, of cost, and ask you why, and you simply it’s in regard to a pending lawsuit (which you should be fully ready, willing and able to do). Explain that the situation is far too complicated for anyone lower in the company’s hierarchy will be unable to assist you due to the potential financial implications. Keep pressing, endlessly, for a living human being in that office to respond.
You’ll hopefully wind up with the AA (administrative assistant) to that VP and you’ll explain the situation in full, agonizing detail to them. Be prepared before this to have some idea of what you expect them to do, and be even more prepared to NOT ask for the moon, the sky, and the stars … you only want that one single thing, the forgiveness of that $1000 they want. Don’t be over beariing … “see” their side … and negotiate if necessary.
You could explain to them that you sought some advice before calling and that the legal representative you spoke to suggested that this would be the best way to settle this issue.
Then pause, let the person get their act together, their notes in order, and ask them for a precise date that you expect a response, if it’s less than 2 weeks, tell them that you will call them in 15 days.
Be pleasant, say goodbye, and hang up.
Worst case … you’ll hear back within 15 days, they’ll tell you, nicely of course, to shove it. You say thank you, and you let them know that you’ll be contacting the advisor you spoke to previously. Then, do it.
2nd Best case, you’ll get some satisfaction, even if not a full solution to every thing you wanted. In this case, be happy, and let it go.
BEST case … because you handled the situation with grace and reasonable demands, you’ll get MORE than you even hoped for.
About 15 years ago, I had an issue with AA regarding a flight one of my kids was booked for to Tokyo where she was toing to be starting a new job on Monday. The flight was to depart a US east coast city on Saturday before the new job was to start, and was cancelled due to issues with the aircraft while it was in Canada. They offered no compensation or other arrangements except to schedule her for a flight on that Monday, meaning she’d have missed her start date. She did get hold of her new management, explained the situation to them, and they were OK with it.
In the meantime, I followed the basic path I outlined above, because I was ticked off, I requested that at the very least, if they could give her an upgrade to business class to compensate for her troubles, we would be more than happy with that result.
Sunday afternoon, the AA called me back. AA had upgraded her to 1st class and full use of the passenger lounge at her 6 hour, IIRC, layover in Toronto. They arranged for a concierge to meet her at the gate in Toronto, escort her to the lounge, meet her at the lounge on Monday AM, escort her to the gate, ensure she was processed through promptly, and upgraded to an available 1st class seat.
I actually objected … seriously … when the AA told me all that … I explained again, that all we wanted for her was an upgrade to business because of the length of the flight, and that, really, 1st was overkill The AA refused, rather strenuously, to do so, and basically said that it WAS due to their problems, that they understood the concerns about starting that new job late, and that was their way of apologizing. I thanked her and I offered to her an assurance that for any future international travel that we needed to take, we would fly AA unconditionally as long as they served the route end to end.
And we did on the only other time since then that we needed to fly to Tokyo. We’ve since given up international travel due to age and Covid, but even today, if we had no choice but to fly international, I’d still call AA.
That was a win for both them, and my daughter.
Travel insurance wouldn’t have solved the problem. It would have paid the fare the husband paid (of course). The issue is that fares have gone up in the interim and United is insisting on the new fare to reissue the ticket. Unthinking, uncaring bureaucracy at work.
Good analysis of the pros and cons. The airlines don’t have a team of people to investigate hard cases and come up with one-off solutions. If name changes were allowed, anyone could come up with a sad story (though I’m confident in this case it was truly valid) and try to circumvent the rules.
You allude to two of the issues with name changes – businesses that know they’ll be flying people from A to B on a given date, but don’t know who, could snap up cheap tickets in advance; and, with name changes freely allowed, brokers/scalpers could snap up the cheap seats early and hoard them for resale at a higher price closer to the date of the flight.
Here one possibility would be to accept the refund for the deceased passenger and request a flight credit for the surviving parent. Then make new plans at a time when seats are available for a more reasonable price; using the flight credit for the parent and buying a new seat for the daughter.
I agree it does suck for the family but it would be a nightmare for the airline, everyone would be trying to exploit…
@Larry I agree 100% and depending on the airport setup you don’t even have to purchase it on United. As long as you can access security and get to the united gates, it could be on any airline and then cancel it and fly. Problem is most people are sheep and can’t think outside the box.
If United made an exception, then everyone would start dying just to get better fares. Or killing their spouse. Nice try but United is a step ahead of you. Corporate said to nip this in the bud.
How long before people realize they don’t really need to fly to London or any place else? All the airlines are equally bad. All play these same games. Why? Because apparently people put up with all the abuse that comes with air travel. There are other travel options and travel providers that haven’t forgotten the meaning of the word “hospitality.” When stuff like this happens to you, you should not be surprised. You are asking for it.
Gotta hand it to someone at United for coming up with this punitive, fiendish rule that creates vast amounts of revenue without effort. How hard is it to require some proof and have someone review the proof to stop any cheating? The expense might cut .0000001% into profits, God forbid.
So what if these policies create vast waves of ill-will? Nobody will stop flying United because they’re mean to their pax. Yawn, back to business as usual.
Back before the NW/DL merger, my parents booked some late September/early October flights in late July – one set of flights to visit me in the Twin Cities exurbs and one to visit my brother in New England. Since they flew into MSP to visit me, they booked NW – not an airline we’d used much otherwise in our family before my move to that part of the world – and United for my brother’s trip. United was WAY more familiar to my family as my Dad was a business road warrior at that point, and he’d held high-level membership status for years.
Unfortunately, about 10 days later, my mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and her initial prognosis was measured in days and weeks, not months or years. (She lasted a little over a year. #f**kcancer) So my Dad called the airlines to cancel the tickets.
He called United first, explained the situation, and asked if he could cancel with a refund, considering the tickets weren’t even two weeks old and the flight over two months away. The phone agent gave him a huge runaround, saying they would not refund him at all, only give him credits to use within the next 12 months. To which my Dad replied, “Yeah, I don’t think my wife will be flying within the next 12 months, so that doesn’t work.” He said he’d call back later.
He then called NW, and explained the situation again, trying to regain his composure, but he admitted he failed and his voice broke. THAT phone agent must have also lost someone to cancer, because she immediately told my father, “Of course we can refund your tickets. Let’s face it – the flight is six weeks from now, it’s a popular flight and the seats will get filled inside a few days. And if your daughter needs help getting tickets to get home, here is how she can contact me directly – I’ll do what I can to get her on a flight that won’t cost her an arm and a leg.” (I ended up driving, but we were really appreciative of that.)
My Dad hung up, took a few deep breaths, called United back. He got a different agent this time and he started over, but this time telling them that NW – an airline he’d only flown a handful of times – had been incredibly accommodating. As he spent six-figures on business airfare for them annually, he was sure they would also be equally accommodating to him. Refund was quietly given.
I cannot see anything like that happening now. Any vestige of decent customer service from airlines has vaporized in recent years.
Like others, if you allow name changes, lots of peole will try to exploit it. Similar to how lots of people had emotional support animals in order to avoid paying to transport their dogs. Airlines fly people as cheaply as possible from point A to B. They are not staffed to handle a lot of one off instances.
Airlines have at least made progress by removing change fees.
United taking advantage of dead and dying customers. How am I not surprised?
Isn’t it obvious, because we can’t have nice things and people would abuse this if they allowed it.
If that’s the rules, it’s fair! Quit compaining and abide by the rules.
I was 30 minutes from leaving for the airport to fly to visit friends in SEA.
The doorbell rings, and it’s a detective from the next town over, the town where my brother lived.
The detective informed me my brother had been found deceased in his home.
I call my friends in SEA to let them know that we are not coming up.
While driving to my brothers home, I called Alaska Air to let them know that we would not be using our tickets. They were basic economy tickets, so I asked the agent if I could send Alaska Air a death certificate at a later date to get a travel credit.
The agent said she was sorry to hear that I had lost my brother, and finished the refund to my cc before I got to my brother’s place.
I realize that Alaska exposed themselves to being “played”, but you can imagine the goodwill I have for them.
Not to sound uncaring but people today use their sorrows as justification to demand corporations to give them what they want.
Tickets are either transferable or they are not. Fees and cost are disclosed at point of sale. Anything United does is goodwill and if they choose to say NO, there should be no hard feelings
@Sam Nathanson: What you suggested, e.g. requesting the agent to transfer you to a high level officer of United, is only in theory. What they will do immediately is put you on the phone for another 55 minutes then hang up. Try it to see if you get to speak to any VP. Stop daydreaming; wake up and smell the United coffee.
Boy, that’s a tough call and one would think that the airlines would be sympathetic…and in reality, they should be. Every case is different but having worked in RES, I now see why bereavement fares have gone by the wayside. I took one call where the caller wanted a bereavement fare but then asked how to carry his golf clubs. I checked with the “funeral home” and that was a fraudulent funeral home. Another caller gave me the name of the “funeral home”. I placed him on hold and called. “This is XXX with YYY airline.” Before I could get my question out, “Oh, yes. she’s here.” “Who are we talking about?” “Oh (then the “home” really blew it), my friend ZZZ’s mother.” I then googled the “funeral home” and…non existent. So…there is so much fraud that most airlines just quit offering bereavement fares and/or refunds. It’s a shame that so many people try to defraud the companies at the expense of those who really are in need of help and sympathy. The best that I could offer now is a WRITTEN (not email) letter, mailed to customer service along with real supporting details and ask for consideration. Sometimes polite honesty will work much better than fraud.
@Loophole Larry
That will not work for an international flight as passport info has to be verified to check in and board.
The digital world takes humanity out of the equation which is what I loathe about it.
The article mentions that your ID must match the name on the ticket. I almost couldn’t fly once because my last name is Mercon Smith, but the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles didn’t recognize the space at the time I got my license. Therefore, my license said Merconsmith, and I almost was denied access to the plane.
Hasn’t this site run multiple stories about the 30 people with fake disabilities that manifest when it’s time to jump the line on every Southwest flight? Until there’s a better solution for the fact that shameless lying to gain any advantage has become so normalized, you have to frame this as “United should allow anyone to change or cancel any ticket without penalty at any time,” because that’s what you’re really advocating if you allow for changes based on claiming someone has died.
I feel for the family loss but isn’t hevacting brand new not knowing all tickets are non transferable?
Firstly, of course I would offer my condolences to the family. It’s simply tough, and emotional.
That being said, I’m with UA on this one. Without accusing the family of anything, they’re ultimately following policy. I agree that you shouldn’t have to get travel insurance, but as it is, if you don’t opt to buy TI and get a non refundable fare, then this is where you land (no pun intended). People would absolutely exploit this – coming from someone who has worked in call centers that involve flights, people absolutely try and use stories like this. It can be difficult for a company to take the customer at their word (again, not accusing the customer), so they have to play it safe.
Bottom line, I think the despicable few ruin it for the many, but I don’t blame the airline for protecting itself from that.
There is a word ‘goodwill’ which is magic word for any business, especially, the airlines. If, really a passenger is dead, to avoid misuse of the goodwill, UA can ask for a death certificate and provide next logical steps – refund, or allow a kin to travel. I do not see where is the fraud involved in this case. UA is my primary and preferred airline and wish they would have a bit of common sense.