Can I check if there is a boarding pass or airline ticket in my name?

Question

In my company we have a Xmas trip every year. These trips are organized by the CEO. Every year is a new place and no one knows the destination. What happens is we have to pack thigns for winter session and summer session.

I'm trying discover the final destination based on the time of we leave from the airport. This doesn't work because we might change planes somewhere on the way.

I would like know if there is a place where can I check if there are an airline ticket or boarding pass in my name?

I don't think there exists a international place with this information, at least in Europe. This look likes it would be more CIA/FBI information.

Answer 1

No, you cannot.

This information is not available to the public nor is it obtainable from the airline(s) without some court order.

I would imagine it is near impossible for even normal law enforcement to get it as there is no "show me anyone who has a flight booked on this date" query possible (as far as I know), since this information is distributed between the global GDS systems.

I would not put it beyond the reach of some clandestine intelligence organization though.

Even when law enforcement wants to know if someone has booked a flight, they usually have their name and another variable - such as a credit card or bank information against which to check; and then they work the way back to the airline.

However, I can imagine a scenario at a local airport where there are a handful of airlines, that law enforcement can compel them to reveal their bookings for that day - but that would have to be under court order and not without serious implications.

For the boarding pass, it gets even more difficult.

Just keep the surprise a surprise. :)

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If you really do want to get to know this information; it is highly likely your boss used a travel agent to book these tickets (as group bookings are commonly done through agents - because online sites generally have a limit on the number of tickets; and agents usually give better discounts on such packages).

So, I would do some low-tech sleuthing and try to find out which travel agency the company uses. Chances are high it was the same one that was used last time.

Answer 2

One of the provided answers is wrong, at least in the UK (and probably throughout the EU). Under the Data Protection Act you have the right to request any and all data that a company has recorded about you (with some exceptions) and even in some cases, data which is not about you but has some direct effect upon you.

Taking the legal route, you would have to put the request in writing (a "subject access request") and cover the company's admin costs (up to a statutory limit of £10). They have up to 40 days to respond, after which they are breaking the law. It is highly unusual for a company to dispute your identity for SARs, but attaching a copy of your passport should lay any such concerns to rest.

It's not necessary to take the legal route however. Virtually every company you contact by telephone in the UK will provide any information they have to hand about you, so long as you can convince them that you are that person. This will usually consist of two or three simple "data protection" questions, such as asking you to verify your address, date of birth, account number, etc. In the context of an airline they might ask you for your booking reference number or some such similar information. You probably don't have that info.

Even if you are unable to answer all of the data protection questions, that isn't the end of your options. Most companies will have a process for resolving queries where a customer forgets or cannot locate certain details. This might involve emailing a copy of your passport, for example. If it were me, I'd simply call up the airline and tell them the truth - "someone else has booked a ticket; I don't know the destination or booking reference, but it's in my name and I would like to know the details".

The fact that you do not know the airline is not an issue, because you can simply contact them all. Yes, it is time consuming, but a time constraint wasn't part of the question. A mass email to all of the might net some responses straight off the bat, reducing the number of calls you need to make.

It's worth noting as well that a lot of companies are quite lax when it comes to this stuff. I've been able to get past data protection questions with answers that anyone else purporting to be me could easily give. Just today, as part of my job, I needed to contact a utility company and I failed a data protection question. I was able to get past it by simply sending them a blank email from my work email address, and the fact that the name on the account was a partial match to the domain name of my email address, was sufficient. It is trivially easy to fake such an email.

Answer 3

Your name is not a unique identifier, and as such is insufficient to identify you.

However, it is likely that your organization has provided either your Identity Card number of Passport number when it reserved in your stead, and THIS is a unique identifier. Likewise if you have a frequent flyer number.

The next hurdle is that there is no central repository of all flights; there are some large GDS (Sabre and Amadeus), however not anybody may query their database for obvious reasons.

That being said, most companies only work with a subset of airline companies: it is likely that one of the airline used in the trip (if there are several) will be a "usual" airline for your company. Check the airlines used for business trips and the past Xmas trips.

Then, once you have the airline(s) to check, find out their reservation websites on Google and try to identify yourself with your ID card number, Passport number, Frequent Flyer number... (whichever is available). Most websites allow identification without the reservation number or e-ticket number simply because you may have lost it.

Answer 4

Tackling the real issue of finding out the location instead of getting the information from the airline… Have you attempted to grab the information from the intermediaries?

For instancem the company may be booking through the same intermediary every year. In that case, you may be able to know from them which weather to expect by asking the "right questions".

Answer 5

In USA, if you know the departure airline, you can call them, persuade them of your identity, and find out what they have on you.

Answer 6

I'm trying discover the final destination based on the time of we leave from the airport. This doesn't work because we might change planes somewhere on the way.

I would like know if there is a place where can I check if there are an airline ticket or boarding pass in my name?

If you know the exact time of your flight, you can call the airline, and they can locate your itinerary by looking for your name in the manifest for that flight. (They will likely ask for personal information to verify your identity.) Once they find your itinerary, then should be able to tell you the connecting flights or the locator (PNR) which you can usually use to see your itinerary on the airline's site.

However, be aware that the itinerary in the first airline's system might not be your complete itinerary: if the trip was booked by an airline or travel agency that uses a different reservation system (GDS) from that of the first airline, then there may be subsequent flights that do not appear in the itinerary as it is in the reservation system of the first airline. For example, if the first airline is BA, but the trip was booked by a travel agency that uses Sabre, then the itinerary as seen by BA might only be, say, AAA-BBB, even if there is a connecting flight on another airline BBB-CCC.