I ask because I remember when airline tickets were transferable-you could give your ticket to somebody else, and they could use it.
Now 9of course) this is not allowed. So, if they are a form of contract, why are your rights so restricted?
Generally you can buy tickets that are refundable, exchangable and transferable. But you pay more, in most cases quite a bit more for them.
There is no really good reason for it. I worked with the major airlines back in the late 1990s (with them not for them) and everytime I’d ask about a regulation, like not changing name, the answer was somewhat weak. Like in this case the answer was “to prevent fraud.”
The answer to this, according to the airlines, is to either buy transferable tickets or to buy “vactation insurance,” that various companies sell.
It’s like why can banks charge ATM fees. Why do banks charge me for my checking account? The answer is, because they can. Of course there are alternatives and you have to look for them.
But if the choice is between buying a $199 non transferable ticket or a $599 transferable one, well it’s better to hope it works out and take the loss.
Because a contract doesn’t have to be flexible or particularly fair – all you have to do is agree to it. So if you buy the ticket, you’ve agreed to the conditions specified by the airline. And, in general, you will agree to the conditions in order to get a lower price on the ticket.
As for why would an airline restrict your rights, the answers are fairly evident. If the ticket is non-refundable, non-exchangeable, and you can’t use it, then it represents pure profit for the airline (at least if they manage to re-sell your seat). In a time when very few airlines are making a profit, it doesn’t behoove them to be nice.
Here’s a WSJ article on why airlines don’t allow transfer of tickets. It’s not any TSA regulation; rather, they cite the fear of scalpers buying up cheap tickets and reselling them at a higher price close to flight time, thus collecting the profits that the airline otherwise would obtain for itself.
If they are contracts, they are awfully one-sided. For example, you are certainly not guaranteed a seat if the flight is overbooked. I once heard a desk clerk explain to an overbookee that they were seating them according to how high a price they had paid. That wasn’t entirely true. I had arrived almost two hours early (this was in Feb. 2002 and they were still instituting security arrangements and we were asked to come early) with very cheap tickets and got my boarding pass immediatly.