Most of us have been there; you buy a flight to your dream location, you start to count down the days until the trip and then….you can’t go anymore. Life happens, plans change – trust us, we know! This is quite unpleasant on its own, but gets extra painful if your flight reservation and hotel are non-refundable and you lose everything you’ve paid for the holiday. Each year, millions of people around the world lose money on their unused travel reservations, whether it’s airfares, hotel reservations, or holiday packages. While your travel provider won’t refund you, you can take matters into your own hands. Not many people know this, there is a way to get at least some of your money back. Many of the travel reservations are transferable. You can change the name of the passenger for your ticket and sell it to someone else. This allows sellers to recuperate some of the money spent on their unused travel.
How does it work?
There are secondary travel marketplaces who can help you resell your holiday. Think StubHub or Viagogo, but specifically for the travel industry and without the ticket touters. They connect people who have bought flights, holiday packages or hotel rooms but can no longer use them, with people seeking discounted travel options. That way sellers can recover the money they’ve spent on their holiday, whilst the people buying can often save as much as 40%-50% of the current live price. A win-win situation for the buyer and the seller!
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Flight reservation – Selling an airline ticket
There are over 60 airlines which allow name changes. They are mainly European low-cost airlines such as EasyJet, WizzAir and Ryanair. Airlines always charge for name changes. The fees vary from £25 to £115. If you’re looking to sell an airline ticket, you have to be sure that the specific airline through which you bought the ticket will allow for a name change. This name change makes it possible to transfer the ticket over to a buyer. Changing the name takes place for your online airline account and takes less than 1 minute. You then give the booking reference to the new passenger and they can check in themselves and enter their advanced passenger information. They won’t have access to your account, so your personal details are safe.
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Selling a hotel reservation
Selling your hotel reservation is even easier. Most of the hotels don’t even charge for name changes, which means there will be more money for you to recover. This makes transferring hotel reservations that much more convenient. All you have to do is make a call to the hotel, inform them that you are changing the main guest name, and voila! Your reservation is now ready to be transferred to your buyer. If your booking was made through Expedia or Boking, you can change the name directly from your online account.
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Selling a package holiday
Whether you’re traveling to Italy, Greece or Amsterdam, it can be very upsetting letting go of a package holiday. Especially considering the great sum of money you will lose if it is non-refundable. The terms and conditions which govern the name change rules depend on each individual travel agent. Most charge a small administrative fee to assist with the change. Always check with your travel agent to confirm whether or not you are able to change the name on the package and if they would charge you any transfer fees. If the travel agent is based within the EU, then they have to give you the option to change the name on the reservation, by law, thanks to the European Package Travel Directive.
