Using points for someone else's flight

[nana0216]

If I book a flight for someone else using my Rapid Reward points, do they have to have a Rapid Reward account? 

[TheMiddleSeat]

Nope. You just need a name that matches an ID, their gender, and date of birth. 

[rokath]

I am trying to book a flight for my wife but I keep getting the message that points don't match person. I know I have done this before, but can't figure out why it won't let me this time. Please help. I had booked a roundtrip flight for myself but didn't have enough points to book her with it so I was booking a oneway flight for her using my points and then was going to book paying for the flight home for her. Can you help me.

Roland Fields

[chgoflyer]

Points don't have to "match the person." You can use your points to book a flight for anyone. Can you tell us the exact error message you're getting?

[catherinettphan]

I got the same message and had to transfer points instead. Which I thought was an instaneous transfer but it's taking longer than expected.

Message: 

The Rapid Rewards Account Number for the following Passenger does not exist or does not match the Member Name on record: ---. Re-enter the Account Number. (SW102001-9V1nTW8oS6G0nZQlz3mFeA)

[DancingDavidE]

This sounds like an error on their Rapid Rewards account - i.e. the name you typed in didn't match the look up name of the RR account.

It ironically might have worked if you just left off the RR information, but then they lose the ability to login and make changes themselves which is nice to have.

Can you have them log in and verify the name as shown in RR account?

[Poquetaces]

I know exactly what error you're dealing with.  The reason you're getting that error is because you have to delete your rapid rewards number from the reservation.  When you go in to change the name of the passenger on the ticket, you can also delete your rapid rewards number from the ticket as well.  Hope this helps.