It sounds more like a question of whether or not a this family can switch user of the seat or not. They bought tickets for the mom, dad, and a teenage son. They had planned for the two toddlers to sit in the parents laps. The teenage son decides to fly on a different flight. We are not told whether or not he trades in his original ticket for the ticket on the new flight or if a whole new ticket was purchased, so we do not know if the parents still actually have a ticket for a third seat on their flight. And even if the teenager did buy a whole new ticket, it now becomes the question of can a different passenger (his baby brother) use the abandoned ticket? I seem to remember that there is a hard rule that ONLY the person named on the ticket at purchase may use that ticket.
I agree - it may have been a scam attempt by the family. That’s what happens when you you make heroes out of nutcases like that felon-doctor. Either we let the airlines run their businesses as they see fit, or we can expect to fly on flights that are never more than 70% full, and pay double on our tickets for doing just that.
“It sounds more like a question of whether or not a this family can switch user of the seat or not. They bought tickets for the mom, dad, and a teenage son. They had planned for the two toddlers to sit in the parents laps. The teenage son decides to fly on a different flight. We are not told whether or not he trades in his original ticket for the ticket on the new flight or if a whole new ticket was purchased, so we do not know if the parents still actually have a ticket for a third seat on their flight. And even if the teenager did buy a whole new ticket, it now becomes the question of can a different passenger (his baby brother) use the abandoned ticket? I seem to remember that there is a hard rule that ONLY the person named on the ticket at purchase may use that ticket.”
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Where do you read about a teenage son in this story? I only read about them and two small children. From what I read they bought all parties involved a ticket but once again like United it was over book so the children were told to get off. They were not given a refund for their tickets and had to stay at their location until another flight was available.