Paying for an out of town escort's airfare

[Guest jackboy51]

How do you go about paying for an out of town escort's airfare??? I am trying to make arrangements with an escort that I have never met, but he does have a good reputation and has been very easy to deal with so far (maybe too easy?). Am I being set up for the cost of the ticket? It will be issued in his name, so he will probably be able to get a refund or a credit and could just leave me high and dry. Am I being too paranoid, and should I just wait and see...if he shows up, great, if he doesn't, oh well? Or, does he pay for the ticket and is then reimbursed? He could then be the paranoid one, waiting to see if I meet him at the airport. I suppose that all of this concern could set up a dark cloud over the event, but I really hate getting ripped off.

[Guest ibimusbtms]

As a travel agent, and someone who hires escorts, I will be glad to share my suggestions with you.

1. If possible, use your frequent flyer miles! The ticket will be in the escort's name, but if he "no shows" you can call the airline, cancel the reservation, and have the miles re doposited in your frequent flyer account.

 

2. If you have to purchase a ticket, purchase a non refundable ticket. If the escort no shows, he may be able to change the routing of the ticket for his own, future, personal travel, but he will be responsible for any additional fares if he tries to reroute himself on this ticket. My suggestion if you have to purchase the ticket, purchase it yourself by calling the airline directly and making the reservation. You might have to do the call in the name of the escort (don't mention YOUR name and don't tell them you are making the reservation for someone else. Depending on how you want to handle it, you can try and dispute the credit card charge by calling the credit card company and claiming that your credit card number was used without your authorization. Drastic, yes, but you might have spent $400-$500 on a nonrefundable ticket. If you get a credit back, it could take several months for the credit card company to research this. If you choose this course of action, then I suggest you DON'T involve a travel agent and/or his company, as it could get complicated.

[Traveller]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-04-01 AT 01:57PM (EST)[p]You've never met the escort, which kinda implies you've never tested him out face to face for integrity (as well as other minor things like compatibility) and you're purchasing an airline ticket for him. Enjoy your money, you'll soon be parted.

 

Later.

 

PS. We've been over this time and again people. What ever drugs you're doing, I want some because they're certainly giving you some powerful hallucinations.

[Rod Hagen]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-04-01 AT 02:20PM (EST)[p]Normally I encourage cynicism; but My O My Traveller. You're so jaded some ancient Chinese artisans should carve you into a vase. :-)

 

Trust the reviews. If according to the reviews other clients weren't cheated by the escort in a travel arrangement, do you really think you will be? (well, yes, maybe). On the other hand, if you buy a ticket for a guy outta HX or Frontiers with no reviews here and you've never met him before (maybe just because he's over 6' tall), DANGER DANGER Will Robinson.

 

You have much more leverage than you think. Apart from sending cash to an escort so that he can purchase the ticket himself (something many escorts insist on, but I would be hesitant to do if the roles were switched) the only way to purchase a ticket for someone else, escort or not, is to buy a ticket for a name and billing/mailing address which matches the Drivers License/passport of the traveler. THEREFORE it is impossible for anyone to travel with an assumed name (which is why that worthless film "Random Hearts" with Harrison Ford was ALL WRONG). This means that you have the escort's REAL name and address. If he cheats you, he's only inviting trouble. And boy, now you can REALLY mess with him! Nez Paz?

 

-Hagen

 

p.s. Matt Adams suggested in his book that a travel agent could broker the deal without the client ever knowing additional information, name or address, of the person traveling. This is border line legal (if not outright illegal) and I have NEVER found a travel agent willing to do this. Kudos to those who have successfully.

 

http://www.rodhagen.com

[Matt_Vancouver]

Trust what you've read here, that is the reason for this site. I agree in some cases it is a mistake to have someone travel to you sight unseen, but I'd honestly have to say that a big part of my business is sight unseen travel, so what can I say? Check the reviews, ask lots of questions, trust your gut.

A non refundable ticket is the best idea, never give the escort your credit card # to book it, I've had some guys do this with me, and I'm always shocked.

If you were to ask the escort to pay for the ticket, to be reimbursed on meeting, good luck, as far as i know, unless it's a regular client, no escort would ever do this.

 

You're so jaded some ancient Chinese artisans should carve you into a vase.

Ok this is now the official best quote of the week: ) Rod, you rock.

matt(travelling circus)

http://go.to/mattsplace

matt_escort@yahoo.com

[Traveller]

Matty,

I've met you, I'd fly you out. Hagan (like Monroe) you're fun on the Board, but until I've had a face to face, no go.

 

Later.

 

PS. However, if you'd consider making video tapes combining a Jane Fonda work out routine, with conversations similar to My Dinner with Andre and, say, ending with some scenes like Heatwave II, maybe I'd reconsider my rule.

[OceanTraveller]

I hired an escort that was well reviewed here. I have found out that some of the reviews are his own as they are like his emails spelling and all. I never saw the escort because he lied and cancelled. I know he lied because his dead mother is alive again on another site. Anyway I lost my 400.00. He did have the decency to send me back my deposit though. Traveller is right , but you may be like myself and live away from any escorts. It is not much more expensive to hire overnight than it is for me to fly to some strange city get a hotel room and hire there for a couple of hours. I have hired before with good success before there was this site and it seems that California has the most reliable ones and honest ones that I have run across. I thought that I had found the ESCORT EXTRORDINAIRE. He said my emails were so charming that we would not even worry about the cost of his fee !!!!!! I would have already bought him a ticket , but he has not replied to my email of 11-16-00, so now I am in limbo as to what to do . I know he must really be busy so I am being patient. The bottom line is that I guess if we can afford to hire escorts than if they flake we should be prepared to lose our money too. Best of Luck to you !!!!!

[marc anthony]

Most of the time I hire an escort, I fly him in to some city where I happen to be. I have never had a problem. The escort has to provide me with his real name and address so that I can book his ticket, and only up and up escorts tend to be willing to do this. Also, this review site is wonderful... and you can usually smell a rat by carefully analyzing reviews. Maybe some day I will lose my airfare money to a flake, but in the long run, that will be a lot less money lost than if I bought a non-refundable ticket for every escort I wanted to fly out. When I buy their tickets on the internet, the cost is many times lower than the cost of a non-refundable ticket!

[Rod Hagen]

ADVISE

 

One more word on this matter: Do not buy the tickets for the second party be they an escort, friend or family member over the internet. Most major airlines' policy is that boarding passes cannot be issued for etickets or paper tickets purchased over the internet unless the person traveling can produce the credit card you used to buy the ticket. This is true regardless of wether the eticket was out of Travelocity.com or United airlines.com Of course fedexing that credit card to the traveler is NOT ADVISABLE (no matter how strong their reviews are).

 

I have had to call over MANY airline supervisors to get them to release to me a boarding pass from an eticket in my real name and address that the client purchased over the internet (as recently as 2 days ago at LAX united ticketing as I was trying to get to San Francisco. Boy did I raise hell.) But not all travelers are as assertive or as stubborn as I am.

 

There are no such problems if you research the fares using the internet and then call the airline OR go to their ticketing counters or satellite offices to make the final purchase.

 

Reason number 34,657 why the internet is a huge pain in the ass.

 

http://www.rodhagen.com

[ted]

Practically all the cheap fares are non-refundable. Its usually only the full fare coach tickets, or first or business, that are in fact refundable.

[marc anthony]

RE: ADVISE

 

Hey Rod: I find it very strange that you get hassled for a credit card with your e-ticket. Last year I flew 3 escorts with tickets issued over the internet with no problems, and I myself flew 7 times on an e-ticket that I bought myself and never had to show my credit card. I used United, Continental, Soutwest, and AmericaWest. Not sure why the difference, but I guess until I run into credit card problem, I will continue to believe that e-tickets bought over the net are the easiest and cheapest way to go.

[marc anthony]

I must have been drunk when I wrote my original post. I am going to edit it... but everytime I had used the word non-refundable, I meant fully refundable. My point was that I buy the cheap tickets over the net for the escort, and for me that has been 100% effective. I know someday I may get burned, but in the long run, that will be cheaper than if I had bought a fully refundable ticket everytime I had a legitimate escort.

[marc anthony]

Oops... found out I can't edit my original message. My stupidity is now etched in stone!

[Guest MrB]

It's the alcohol. If I can get used to it, so can you. And I think we all got the drift of what you're saying :-)

[liubit]

RE: ADVISE

 

I agree with Marc Anthony here, Rod. I've NEVER had any problem with tickets purchased over the Internet with MY credit card for escorts in the USA, Canada and even Europe....Nobody has asked my flying boys to produce the credit card!