Why change a ticket can cost more than the original flight | Trip

AIn the midst of all the problems related to family outing for the summer holidays, it may not be important to forget about a bag, essential medication or leave the window of the open kitchen that causes the biggest headache, but rather simple mistakes when booking tickets.

Having to change your name on a ticket can cost nothing at £ 160, depending on the airline – and may even mean getting a new ticket.

If your travel plans change, it can cost you £ 150 to change dates, which is a useless addition to your bill in addition to what can be one of the most expensive periods of time. year for families.

Calling a Ryanair call center and changing your name can cost £ 160 – or £ 115 if you do it online, the highest cost of a survey conducted by the site Compare Travelsupermarket.com. The budget carrier allows for "minor errors", such as incorrect spelling of a name, to be corrected for free within 48 hours of booking.

EasyJet will cost you £ 30 if you want to change your name more than 60 days before the trip and £ 55 after if you contact them via a call center. At Jet2, it costs £ 35, while Wizz Air charges £ 40 for each leg. Flybe between £ 50 and Aer Lingus £ 80. Rates are so high for cheap airlines that the website says it may be cheaper to simply book a new flight rather than pay extra money.

The costs have attracted the attention of the authority of civil aviation. Its managing director, Richard Moriarty, said in May that airlines should make the rules more transparent.

According to Travelsupermarket, many airlines will forgive typos and change bookings for free, as would be the case in cases of name change due to a wedding or divorce. Transferring a flight to someone else will, however, involve significant costs, and British Airways refuses to transfer tickets.

In the past, airlines and travel agents were notoriously ruthless typos. In 2015, one student changed name by survey because it cost less than half of the £ 220 requested by Ryanair to change the name of his father-in-law, wrongly used in a booking.

In 2016 a Observer Readers complained that they were told they would have to pay £ 230 to cancel and buy a new ticket after adding an extra letter to a name on a Hainan Airlines flight reserved for Shanghai by BudgetAir. BudgetAir has finally changed the name at no cost to the consumer.

Having to change a flight time or cancel can also raise the bill. Ryanair charges between £ 35 and £ 65 one way in case of online modification and between £ 65 and £ 95 through a call center or the airport. airport.

EasyJet charges £ 25 or £ 30 and the fare difference if the change is made more than 60 days before the trip, while the change costs £ 55 by calling a call center when there is less than 60 days, and you have to pay the price difference.

According to research conducted by Travelsupermarket, most airlines charge similar fees. Some airlines charge for cancellation. It may be easier to skip the flight and start again, depending on the price.

"Excessive fees charged by airlines for items such as name changes, registration and refunds of air pbadenger rights (APDs) naturally cause a lot of anger," said Emma Coulthurst of Travelsupermarket. "Some of these charges are very shady and exploit the misfortune of people who can no longer travel and want to pbad the ticket – which they have paid – to someone else."

"In addition, pbadengers are legally entitled to a refund of the rights of airline pbadengers if they do not travel, and I find it outrageous that the administration fees charged by some airlines exceed the amount claimed. This must be stopped. If people can not take the plane, they should be able to recover the ODA – which they have paid in full – and not face charges exceeding the purported amount for do it. "