Do Airlines Let You Book Two Seats for One Person?

From my earlier post in this tread:

"A number of years ago, a friend from work booked a flight to Europe for
himself and his wife. She ended up canceling the last minute. The airline
refused to refund her fare, and they refused to allow our friend to have the
seat that he paid for empty next to him."

Key points...

They paid for the ticket.
The airline wouldn't refund the ticket.
The airline wouldn't let my friend keep an empty seat next to him, even
though he paid for it.


While I don't agree with what the airline did, I can understand their
point. The airline had two contracts for passage, one with the husband
and one with the wife. When the wife canceled it negated only one contract.
The airline was free to sell the wife's seat to somebody else. The husband
was not entitled to the wife's seat even if he paid for it. By the same
token, if an employer buys a seat for one of his employees and that
employee quits, I doubt that the airline would allow the employer to
substitute another employee on that ticket.

In my case, I will to have a contract to carry one person in two seats.
I just hope they will be two adjacent seats.

The airline had two contracts for passage, one with the husband
and one with the wife. When the wife canceled it negated only one
contract.
The airline was free to sell the wife's seat to somebody else. The
husband
was not entitled to the wife's seat even if he paid for it.


Without refunding the wife's fare, the airline was unjustly enriched.
It got two ares for one seat a concept not acceptable in contract law.
The husband could take the airline to small claims court and prevail
easily.

wrote:

The airline had two contracts for passage, one with the husband
and one with the wife. When the wife canceled it negated only one
contract.
The airline was free to sell the wife's seat to somebody else. The
husband
was not entitled to the wife's seat even if he paid for it.


Without refunding the wife's fare, the airline was unjustly enriched.
It got two ares for one seat a concept not acceptable in contract law.
The husband could take the airline to small claims court and prevail
easily.

Probably not if it was a non-refundable ticket i.e.cheap. If it was
not, the wife could book another trip on that ticket (and probably
could do the same by paying extra even if it was non-refundable).

My husband had a ticket to fly to Miami, and decided not to go. I
cashed in his ticket later on another one. They do charge a rebooking
fee.

In general, airlines do not refund ticket money. You have to get the
value from the ticket by flying to someplace. It's in the rules.




grandma Rosalie

Thanks to everybody who responded to my question. I have
decided that I will book two economy class tickets for myself.
I know that there is a slight risk that when I get on the plane
the airline will not let me have two adjacent seats. But, I'm
willing to take that risk.

From the research I have done it appears to me that I will pay
the fares as if two people were flying but
I will only get one meal (this will be an international flight).
I will only get the luggage allowance of one person.
I will only get the frequent flyer mileage of one person.

This sounds like it is very profitable for the airline. Since I am
small, they won't even have the fuel cost to fly around extra body
weight as they would have to if a person of size booked two seats.

This morning I checked with a check-in agent, a counter supervisor, 2
duty managers and 2 airport service coordinators at LAX on the question
of EXST as posed in this thread as it pertains to international flights.
(Don't know diddly about domestic US flights.)

The response was consistent and unanimous. The airlines (at least most
reputable international airlines) would not and could not confiscate an
EXST when sold as such no matter what the reason for the booking be it
for a skinny person, a large person or an inbetween sized person. If
they were to confiscate the seat, it would be a violation of the
airlines' IATAN agreements and a penalty would be imposed to the airline
of an amount far greater than the value of the seat booked and the
potential additional revenue gained from the replacement passenger. The
seat would not even be confiscated for a Y1/P1 passenger - MUST GO
accident investigation.

If, for whatever reason, the airline were looking for extra economy
seats, they might offer the EXST passenger, on a VOLUNTARY basis, to buy
back the seat, or offer some other compensation or upgrade to first or
business class. Again, this would be strictly voluntary.

Most airlines actually "require" an EXST passenger to prebook the seat
assignments -together, of course- to ensure they are booked in a proper
row, i.e., not an exit row, a stretcher row, an unaccompanied minor
position or a bassinet position.

As far as the CBBG situation, the same rules and procedures apply except
a bass violin is not allowed as CBBG as it is too large. A cello is
acceptable.

Cheers,
Daniel
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Do Airlines Let You Book Two Seats for One Person?

Group: rec.travel.cruises Date: Mon, Sep 26, 2005, 1:18pm (PDT+7) From:
(Odysseus)

Thanks to everybody who responded to my question. I have decided that I
will book two economy class tickets for myself. I know that there is a
slight risk that when I get on the plane the airline will not let me
have two adjacent seats. But, I'm willing to take that risk.

From the research I have done it appears to me that I will pay the fares
as if two people were flying but

=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0I will only get one meal (this will be an
international flight). =A0 I will only get the luggage allowance of one
person. =A0 I will only get the frequent flyer mileage of one person.

This sounds like it is very profitable for the airline. Since I am
small, they won't even have the fuel cost to fly around extra body
weight as they would have to if a person of size booked two seats.