Can I prevent an escort from changing a plane ticket I purchased?

[+ cougar]

This is pretty straight forward. What would you recommend I do to safeguard the plane ticket I will purchase myself for flying an escort to me for the weekend. I have heard before where some guys have actually changed the itinerary and went to a different location with the purchaser unaware of the scam that was just pulled over. 

Yes, I have seen this escort before, so not someone new to me, just trying to protect my investment. 

[Kevin Slater]

My understanding that the ticket is controlled by the name on the itinerary, not the purchaser.  He can change or cancel the flight and redirect the purchase dollars as he wishes, especially as most airlines have waived the fees for doing so post covid. 

My only thought is you could call the airline claiming to be the ticketed passenger-- how would they know?  Not sure what that does to protect your expense, tho, as those dollars would likely have to be used on travel by someone with the same ticketed name (or not, depending on the airline).

Kevin Slater

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

You can't easily safeguard anything other than a ticket you purchased with your own mileage.

On mileage, you can cancel it out and redeposit.  Pretty cut & dry. 

On money, it's automatically the escort's ticket once bought.  The only sidestep for future meets is to buy a full-fare Y ticket- which are fully refundable- and then call in posing as the escort if you need to cancel.

If you've seen this person before and are flying him to you now, why the inherent mistrust? 

Edited March 28, 2023 by BenjaminNicholas

[Guest]

You might consider calling the airline directly to see if there's a way to prevent the passenger from accessing the $$ inherent in the ticket, or at least let you cancel the ticket if the passenger changes the route. Other than that, as others have suggested, if you can pay for the ticket with miles, that's the safest. 

[RadioRob]

Depending on the airline, it's possible to add a "code word" to the reservation to make changes to it.

How To Prevent Unauthorized Changes to Your Flight - The Points Guy

THEPOINTSGUY.COM

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Some airlines offer special precautions to prevent a stranger from changing or canceling your flight.

While it's not a perfect system, it's at least increases the level of difficulty and reduces the chances of someone just changing the RSVP without your knowledge.  

[+ cougar]

Thank you for the responses. The reason I am cautious with this guy is that he does not advertise and therefore doesn't have the risk to his biz if he did advertise. I know this a gamble, the first and last time I did this, I was shafted and lost my ticket and money. That's why regardless of who the guy is I am just recalling my bad experience about 20 years ago. 

[+ ThroatCummer]

You're right. There is definitely a risk, and we all want to protect our investments in anything. 

But try not to let your prior bad experience rule here. It can be hard not to have those flashbacks about the prior experience where you were burned. We would all feel the same way in your situation because we've all had them on some level.

Look at it this way:  Not only have you seen them before, but they are comfortable enough with you to give you their real full name. That means there is a level of trust on their side that is being shown. Keep that in mind, please. 

You'll have a great time. ENJOY!  

[Rudynate]

It is taking a risk - one that I have never taken., so I'm speaking theoretically.   But a very high level of mistrust would seem to contaminate the relationship in a way that couldn't be good.  I

I know  that not every body can fully be trusted, but I have always approached hiring with the attitude that I was dealing with guys about like myself - mostly honest, mostly reliable and trustworthy and just about all of them have turned out that way.