A new website based in the Netherlands is promoting a new idea for airline customers who have run into delays and cancellations, allowing them to sell tickets they cannot use.
The website explains that about 40% of all airline tickets are transferable, as long as passengers pay a fee of about $43 so they can be issued under a new name.
Re-ticket.com is essentially an online marketplace that helps would-be passengers, tour operators and transport companies looking plane, train, coach or ferry tickets. All sellers need to do is include the price they would like to be paid, and a time limit for the auction period.
Buyers then search for tickets according by departure, destination cities, dates and prices. When the auction is closed, the highest bidder wins, and then they transfer their payment to Re-ticket.com. The seller than makes the required name change with the airline company and sends the ticket to the buyer.
Re-ticket.com transfers payment to the seller within two weeks of the departure date.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
