Booked a friend's flight now she wont pay me for it. What can I do?

[drron]

I'm with dk4.Even if she does not pay she will have the non compliance with a court order noted and will have problems getting any sort of loan.
Sure you might get satisfaction cancelling her ticket but still be out of pocket.The letter of demand can certainly put the frighteners on her and in my experience a good percentage pay up then-I used this for non payers.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

As the daughter has already paid you and you have no issue with her I would call up QF & divide the booking so the daughter can still travel as she's paid you for her ticket. You wouldn't want to be in the position where you looked like the bad guy because the daughter has paid you $2000.00 & you'd cancelled her ticket as well.

As the mother's pnr is now different to the daughter, call up QF reservations & make it a restricted booking & put a password on it eg "restricted booking/absolutely no changes/refunds to be made by passenger/any changes to booking must be made by (your name) quoting password". This would stop the mother ringing up and changing the date etc.

Quite a few companies put restrictions on bookings for their employees if they don't want them fiddling with them so they can keep track of who's going where.

IMHO you need to make it a cut and dried situation between yourself and the mother & the fact she hasn't paid you $2,000.00 for the ticket you have booked and paid for. If she's still in the booking with the daughter it makes it more complex that one has paid and one hasn't & that you've received partial monies which could be misconstrued as both of them having paid you $1,000.00.

Get a paper trail happening & issue an official looking receipt made out to the daughter stating that you have received payment in full from the daughter for her airfare only so you have it in black and white what the money is for and for whom.

You would now have a separate booking for the mother so issue an invoice for the outstanding full amount of her ticket then I would do one of two things depending on how close the impending date of departure is.

a) if you have several weeks before the date of departure & their is sufficient time to proceed with a claim through the small claims tribunal as mentioned in DK4's post leave the booking as is & find out from QF the last possible date you can ring up and cancel the flight (to avoid forfeiting the entire value of the ticket) so you know the deadline for putting the booking into a credit shell to be used for further travel.

b) if the travel date is in the very near future I would notify her in writing if you do not receive full monies eg 7 days prior to travel she will forfeit the booking but still be liable for the outstanding amount. Then put the booking into credit but still pursue her through the small claims tribunal then if and when she pays you she could then be given access to the credit shell to rebook when she's ready to travel.

Make sure you clarify with QF when the credit has to be used by & when all travel has to be completed eg she may have until 01 Mar 2013 to avail the credit however the travel may be for 01 Sep 2013.

 

[rechoboam]

As the daughter has already paid you and you have no issue with her I would call up QF & divide the booking so the daughter can still travel as she's paid you for her ticket. You wouldn't want to be in the position where you looked like the bad guy because the daughter has paid you $2000.00 & you'd cancelled her ticket as well.

As the mother's pnr is now different to the daughter, call up QF reservations & make it a restricted booking & put a password on it eg "restricted booking/absolutely no changes/refunds to be made by passenger/any changes to booking must be made by (your name) quoting password". This would stop the mother ringing up and changing the date etc.

Quite a few companies put restrictions on bookings for their employees if they don't want them fiddling with them so they can keep track of who's going where.

IMHO you need to make it a cut and dried situation between yourself and the mother & the fact she hasn't paid you $2,000.00 for the ticket you have booked and paid for. If she's still in the booking with the daughter it makes it more complex that one has paid and one hasn't & that you've received partial monies which could be misconstrued as both of them having paid you $1,000.00.

Get a paper trail happening & issue an official looking receipt made out to the daughter stating that you have received payment in full from the daughter for her airfare only so you have it in black and white what the money is for and for whom.

You would now have a separate booking for the mother so issue an invoice for the outstanding full amount of her ticket then I would do one of two things depending on how close the impending date of departure is.

a) if you have several weeks before the date of departure & their is sufficient time to proceed with a claim through the small claims tribunal as mentioned in DK4's post leave the booking as is & find out from QF the last possible date you can ring up and cancel the flight (to avoid forfeiting the entire value of the ticket) so you know the deadline for putting the booking into a credit shell to be used for further travel.

b) if the travel date is in the very near future I would notify her in writing if you do not receive full monies eg 7 days prior to travel she will forfeit the booking but still be liable for the outstanding amount. Then put the booking into credit but still pursue her through the small claims tribunal then if and when she pays you she could then be given access to the credit shell to rebook when she's ready to travel.

Make sure you clarify with QF when the credit has to be used by & when all travel has to be completed eg she may have until 01 Mar 2013 to avail the credit however the travel may be for 01 Sep 2013.

That is very sensible advice

 

[ermen]

My view is to take this through the Small Claims Tribunal asap and not worry about the booking date for the mother

• If she flies and pays you, then it will only look better for your case in my view (i.e. proof that the said person wanted to travel and has reneged on promise to pay you). Otherwise, she could say she did not authorise anybody to book the tickets, hence not liable. Provided she is solvent, you should be able to get an order to seize her assets.
• If does not fly, ticket lapses and goes into credit mode anyway so you would have achieved the same outcome - ticket into credit.

 

[opusman]

7 pages of suggestions and no follow-up from the OP on what Qantas has said.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of those threads where we never find out what happens...

 

[Julesmac]

7 pages of suggestions and no follow-up from the OP on what Qantas has said.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of those threads where we never find out what happens...

Indeed opusman - but it's raised a very good warning flag for us all to consider when doing 'favours' for friends or relos hasn't it.

 

[Leumas]

I haven't been in an exact situation like that as with the OP, but I've been in a similar. As mentioned by some, sales fares have lots of restrictions. Even if it's your credit card, cancel the booking will only result in a credit to that other person. When I questioned this (it was my card and my money), QF said it's a sales fare and so no name change. I suspect it's still some sort of booking in QF as your reference is your PNR.

It is the same whether that booking is that person alone (e.g. I bought you a ticket) or if the booking also other people that will still travel (e.g. I bought us a ticket and you can't go).

 

[anat0l]

7 pages of suggestions and no follow-up from the OP on what Qantas has said.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of those threads where we never find out what happens...

I don't think we necessarily need to demand a response - let alone a quick one - from the OP in this situation, unlike perhaps other kinds of threads.

For what we know, they may not have immediately contacted Qantas instead of some other resolution paths (there are several here that do not involve contacting Qantas immediately).

If we never find out what happens, well, so be it in this case. Perhaps unsatisfying for some, but overall IMO it is not something we can attack the OP about.

 

[spudseamus]

As the daughter has already paid you and you have no issue with her I would call up QF & divide the booking so the daughter can still travel as she's paid you for her ticket. You wouldn't want to be in the position where you looked like the bad guy because the daughter has paid you $2000.00 & you'd cancelled her ticket as well.

As the mother's pnr is now different to the daughter, call up QF reservations & make it a restricted booking & put a password on it eg "restricted booking/absolutely no changes/refunds to be made by passenger/any changes to booking must be made by (your name) quoting password". This would stop the mother ringing up and changing the date etc.

Quite a few companies put restrictions on bookings for their employees if they don't want them fiddling with them so they can keep track of who's going where.

IMHO you need to make it a cut and dried situation between yourself and the mother & the fact she hasn't paid you $2,000.00 for the ticket you have booked and paid for. If she's still in the booking with the daughter it makes it more complex that one has paid and one hasn't & that you've received partial monies which could be misconstrued as both of them having paid you $1,000.00.

Get a paper trail happening & issue an official looking receipt made out to the daughter stating that you have received payment in full from the daughter for her airfare only so you have it in black and white what the money is for and for whom.

You would now have a separate booking for the mother so issue an invoice for the outstanding full amount of her ticket then I would do one of two things depending on how close the impending date of departure is.

a) if you have several weeks before the date of departure & their is sufficient time to proceed with a claim through the small claims tribunal as mentioned in DK4's post leave the booking as is & find out from QF the last possible date you can ring up and cancel the flight (to avoid forfeiting the entire value of the ticket) so you know the deadline for putting the booking into a credit shell to be used for further travel.

b) if the travel date is in the very near future I would notify her in writing if you do not receive full monies eg 7 days prior to travel she will forfeit the booking but still be liable for the outstanding amount. Then put the booking into credit but still pursue her through the small claims tribunal then if and when she pays you she could then be given access to the credit shell to rebook when she's ready to travel.

Make sure you clarify with QF when the credit has to be used by & when all travel has to be completed eg she may have until 01 Mar 2013 to avail the credit however the travel may be for 01 Sep 2013.

+1 AAA way to go!

 

[Travel Guru]

• If does not fly, ticket lapses and goes into credit mode anyway so you would have achieved the same outcome - ticket into credit.

If she doesn't fly and just no-shows, it doesnt 'lapse into credit mode', it's forfeited as a no-show.

It would need to be cancelled prior to date of travel to go into credit shell.

TG

 

[ozbeachbabe]

My view is to take this through the Small Claims Tribunal asap and not worry about the booking date for the mother

• If she flies and pays you, then it will only look better for your case in my view (i.e. proof that the said person wanted to travel and has reneged on promise to pay you). Otherwise, she could say she did not authorise anybody to book the tickets, hence not liable. Provided she is solvent, you should be able to get an order to seize her assets.

• If does not fly, ticket lapses and goes into credit mode anyway so you would have achieved the same outcome - ticket into credit.

Be extremely careful here because if you don't advise the airlines of your intention not to travel & the pax is a noshow for the booking, you could forfeit the entire airfare. A ticket won't automatically go into credit mode, you have to call up & have res do it as they put a pseudo flight in the booking eg for 9 months time so the pnr stays live otherwise you won't be able to retrieve the pnr approx 48 hours after the last flight was due to depart.

 

[Justinf]

They say if you give someone $50 and never see them again, then it's money well spent. Not sure if that applies to $2000 though.
Chalk it up to experience. Sorry if this sounds harsh, but don't give anyone anything.

 

[Foreigner]

7 pages of suggestions and no follow-up from the OP on what Qantas has said.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of those threads where we never find out what happens...

I too was wondering what's OP doing. Someone suggested he call 13 13 13 and the no. operates 24x7.

Assuming all this indeed is factual, many posters will be interested about QF stand. Regardless, one needs to be careful in booking and paying for someone else.

Reminds me of bringing into Australia package for someone given to me by another. And the problems I had with customs.

 

[drron]

Reminds me of bringing into Australia package for someone given to me by another. And the problems I had with customs.

So you were the one in the next room at Long Bay!

 

[Foreigner]

So you were the one in the next room at Long Bay!

Fortunately it was prescription drugs, not the other variety. I was red- faced!

 

[JohnK]

Too many sensible responses in this thread and I do no want to read anymore responses.

If someone did that to me and they refused to pay the money I was owed immediately then I would ensure that they did not receive the services that I paid for out of the goodness of my heart....

 

[Reggie]

Too many sensible responses in this thread and I do no want to read anymore responses.

If someone did that to me and they refused to pay the money I was owed immediately then I would ensure that they did not receive the services that I paid for out of the goodness of my heart....

Beautifully summed up

 

[bat21]

As Opusman wrote earlier, there has been 3 days and umpteen pages of suggestions, some good, some indifferent and some downright evil yet we have heard nothing from the OP even if they have phoned QF and asked their advice. Methinks we will not hear nothing as it may simply have been a hypothetical to test the forum's skills ( and it's worked)

 

[MAX_1]

Methinks we will not hear nothing as it may simply have been a hypothetical to test the forum's skills ( and it's worked)

Maybe OP has a ticket purchased for him/her by another and is trying to figure out if the ticket is not paid for what will be the consequences (apart from losing a friend)

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Me thinks OP may have done what he should have done in first place - trotted off and sought determination by Judge Judy.