This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Is there a way to trade plane tickets for profits? Can you book a plane ticket and then like, maybe the fare is low and then later if the fare rises, go and sell it to somebody else who benefits, but you also profit? I think that's kind of a scenario here. We've got a listener with a creative idea. They also have some sky high problems to solve just because of how names and IDs work on plane tickets, both in the US, but also internationally.
You know how when you book a plane ticket, you got to provide your information and the idea is that this is for security, but you know, some of it is, but a lot of it is also to make more money for airlines because most airlines do not allow you to change the name on a ticket. Now there are some updates here. We first recorded a version of this question years ago and so I've got some updates in the answer. There is a service that does this. So we'll talk about it from a side hustle perspective, but it is still a bit difficult.
Nevertheless, I respect the creativity, so let's look at some options. I'll also give them some other business ideas. So if this one doesn't work, I'm going to give you a couple others and not just for our caller, but for anybody else out there as well, feel free to steal any business idea I ever mentioned. There's so many of them on the show and I want you to take action. All right, detailed question and my answer coming right up.
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Hi Chris, this is Jazlyn from Baltimore, Maryland and I've been following your work since the art of nonconformity and I have a travel related question. When you fly in the US, the TSA checks your ID with your boarding pass so that no one else can fly with your ticket. But after the security check, you put your ID away and don't need it to board. A couple of years ago, I was in Australia and noticed that there's no ID check at all. To get through security there, at least on domestic flights.
You scan your boarding pass and you put your bags through the X-ray machine, but there's no identity verification. So whether here or there, is it possible to have some kind of side hustle that puts people's unused plane tickets to good use? The airlines must be making a lot of money on those since they don't allow you to change the name on a ticket after a reservation has been made. Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you. [Music]
Well, the reason in the US why your name is matched to your boarding pass is so the airlines make more money.
As I said, it's got very little to do with security, but that said, as much of an injustice as this is, the airlines mostly have the upper hand because they can set their contracts of carriage, which are basically like the terms and conditions of the airline industry. And they can say like, no name changes. Now there are a couple of businesses, specifically one marketplace, Spare Fair, which has started up. I forget exactly when it started, but they do allow people who have purchased flight tickets or hotel reservations to list it for sale to someone else. And you're only allowed to do that if your flight ticket is from an airline that allows name changes.
So there's various terms and conditions there too. But somebody actually has done this, at least as a marketplace. I tend to think, like my general response here, when I hear the idea is like to redirect it. And I would say, what you could do instead is to be a travel concierge to manage bookings. You could do travel education.
We've had lots of stories of travel blogs and courses and YouTube and so on. Actually have a story later this year about a woman who started a travel blog and used the funds to buy a house. Like that's how well her blog did. She was able to buy a house. There are other ideas as well, but generally I think something else might be easier.
Also some good news. These days, a lot more tickets are changeable or refundable. Most of the time, at least in the US, if you don't use a plane ticket, you can get a credit and use that anytime in the next year for another flight. So that is a big change from the pre-pandemic days. So that's good.
Listeners, let me know what you think, what you're working on. I hope you were taking action today on an idea that's important to you. Just one step, one small step. Of course, the archives of the podcast, sidehustleschool.com, 3,300 plus episodes, all free. New episodes out every day, seven days a week.
Thanks for being out there. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
