Flights booked for 7 passengers, can the non-paying passenger cancel it?

Question

We are a family of 7 going on a holiday to Florida. The flight is with British Airways and was booked by my brother, and he paid for all our flights with his credit card.

The British Airways Login Page shows his wife's name and email as contact details even though he paid for everything through his credit card.

They have separated now, hence his wife has threatened to replace his name with someone else's. Can she change or cancel his flight in any way i.e can she tamper with the tickets in any way?

Answer 1

The best you can do to be in the safe side in this case is having your brother login to his BA account and change the contact numbers and optionally remove her from the reservation.

If for some reason the reservation was not made from your brother's BA account then have him visit a BA office and show his credit card and then change the contact name and number. This way he will be in total control of the reservation. Usually airlines match the last four digits of the credit card used for the payment and/or contact information for any changes.

Answer 2

In short, no, at least in theory, and assuming the booking was made from his account. British Airways' General Conditions of Carriage state:

10a2) Unless we say otherwise, we will only make a refund to the person who paid for the ticket.

10a3) You must, if you want a refund, prove to us that you are the person who paid for the ticket.

In practice, this does not necessarily stop the wife from calling British Airways and trying to cancel or alter the ticket, especially if she can pull off a bit of social engineering. However, most airlines require PINs etc specifically to stop this, and pretending to be him or to have his permission would qualify as fraud.

If your brother is genuinely worried, have him call the airline and ask them to add a note to the ticket record (PNR) saying that he must be contacted before any changes can be made.