I'm always serious. And don't call me Shirley

February 19, 2009 11:29 PM

Can I book a round-trip flight with different passengers on the initial and return flights?

Five of us are going to Ohio, but live in New York. One wants to fly out with us, but stay longer and drive back to New York later. Another will already be in Ohio, but needs to fly back to New York with us. Am I allowed to only buy four tickets and have the two people share a round trip flight? If I'm not allowed, is there a way to do it anyway?

posted by Jon_Evil to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

No, you have to have the plane ticket issued to a specific passenger and now that they check IDs for security purposes, they will catch you. I assume that you do not want to use a the other's ID to get on the flight - illegal and risky.

However, these days many one-way tickets cost the same as half of a round trip so you may find flights where you can buy exactly the tickets that you need at no penalty for buying two one-ways instead one roundtrip.
posted by metahawk at 11:57 PM on February 19

No they won't sell you a round-trip ticket with different names on the legs. You also can't buy a round-trip ticket in one name and then change the name after the first flight (because you can't ever change the name on a ticket).
posted by w0mbat at 12:13 AM on February 20

At many airports, you need a ticket and ID to get to the gates, and so you could buy the cheapest one-way or round-trip ticket for passenger A flying from Ohio to somewhere, have them show their own ID at security, and then show passenger B's ticket at the gate and fly with you back to New York.

If caught, however, they'd certainly not be allowed to fly or, if caught en-route, continue on a connecting flight, never mind the airline referring the incident to the TSA or airport police.
posted by zippy at 12:58 AM on February 20

"need a ticket and ID to get to the gates ... but only a ticket to board"
posted by zippy at 12:59 AM on February 20

You don't need ID to board a flight (example), although you can expect considerably more hassle trying to fly without it. So you could probably just buy the ticket in one name and have someone else (who does not produce ID) use it for the return trip. Other than having all their bags searched, it's probably not terribly likely your two ticket sharers will have any problem getting on the flight.

That said, the consequences if they do get caught could be severe (or, at least, lead to major inconveniences like appearing on the "No Fly List" forever, if not being detained by TSA or something) so it might not be worth even the small risk.
posted by Fuzzy Dunlop at 2:39 AM on February 20

If it's two different people, then, by definition, it's not a round-trip flight in the first place.
posted by Airhen at 4:33 AM on February 20 [1 favorite]

I've always been required to show photo ID when boarding a plane as well as when checking in, at least in Toronto. Unless they're twins, and willing to end up on the no fly list, I wouldn't risk it.
posted by nprigoda at 4:34 AM on February 20

Fuzzy, you actually do need proof of ID to board a flight. They just have ways to get around it if you don't have state or federally issued ID. I was able to board a flight with my checks and some prescription medicine when I totally forgot my wallet at home. The holidays were so packed they did not want to put me standby on another flight. Security asked me a lot of questions to verify my identity that your friend posing as another friend would not likely know. (Mother's maiden name, first credit card opened up, previous addresses.)

Do not try and pretend and use the round trip ticket for different people.
posted by politikitty at 7:19 AM on February 20

It would not be hard to alter a home-printed boarding pass to show the name on the ID. There was a bit of a kerfuffle a year or so ago when a UMD student created a web-based boarding pass generator as a practical demonstration of how moronic the ID requirement is.

Theoretically, one could do the online check-in and use something like PDF995 to print to a PDF rather than a printer. Open that PDF in a PDF editor or Photoshop and change the name, then print.

Use the original pass to board the plane, where IDs are not checked. Hell, you could use the modified one in all probability, so long as the barcode was unchanged. Chances are they don't care.

I am sure someone is horridly offended by this concept, but really, the non-transferability of tickets is purely an airline business decision in order to maximize return through the use of yield management. It's their right to make those demands, but years ago - before they managed to ram through process challenges to make it impossible - it was common for people to resell tickets in the newspaper classified ads.

As a practical matter, though, this is likely not going to work if you try to check any bags. Every time I have flown in the last few years and checked a bag they've wanted to see my ID at the airline counter as well. If your returning leg passenger is unable to present there, they won't be able to proceed. I suppose at that point you could have the original passenger come and do all that but now you're really getting into serious pain-in-the-ass territory.
posted by phearlez at 1:46 PM on February 20