Ethical question

[EACarlson]

I work as an independent contractor as a side hustle. The organization I contract with has purchased flights for me to an event next month on Southwest. In your opinion, would it ethical of me to take advantage of any price drops between now and the flight and receive the credit to use for my own purposes?

 

[_19disnA]

I would say no. If the ticket was purchased and/or issued in the name of a company, would you even be able to make modifications to it? If a lower fare becomes available, seems to me that belongs to the company who purchased the tickets. If they purchased several tickets, they might also have been give some sort of group discount which clearly wouldn't be yours to claim either.

 

[happily single]

hmm, interesting!

 

[Living42Day]

I think it's ethical, you're not hurting the organization any.

 

[bcla]

Ooh. Shades of the NBA referee travel scandal. The refs were provided fully refundable first class tickets to travel but then cashed them in to buy coach tickets (often cheaper restricted fare) and pocketed the difference. The thing that apparently got them in the most trouble is that they didn't report it as income. It was known to the NBA and considered an allowed fringe benefit, but the IRS considered it income.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_referee_travel_expense_scandal

I do remember booking my own travel for business and expensing it to my company. The price went down and I got it as credit on Southwest - just $10 - which I never used before it expired. But I only asked for reimbursement for the cheaper fare.

 

[luvnwdwgal]

I don’t know how you would receive any credit when you didn’t even make the reservation OR pay for it. Sounds pretty shady to me.

 

[sam_gordon]

I would say no. If the ticket was purchased and/or issued in the name of a company, would you even be able to make modifications to it? If a lower fare becomes available, seems to me that belongs to the company who purchased the tickets. If they purchased several tickets, they might also have been give some sort of group discount which clearly wouldn't be yours to claim either.

Airline tickets are purchased int the traveller's name, not company name.

To answer the question, I think there's a couple things that can be done...
1) If there's a lower fare, get the credit, and use it for future work travel. If you don't travel enough for work, this doesn't apply.
2) Ask the company what they would want you to do if the price drops.
3) Don't look for price drops.

My former employer would reimburse me for my expenses. I'd use my CC and keep the points/discount. That lasted until they got company CC for those that needed them.

My current company has us use company cards, wants us to book refundable air, I've gotten credit for one flight change and used that credit for another work trip.

 

[sam_gordon]

I don’t know how you would receive any credit when you didn’t even make the reservation OR pay for it. Sounds pretty shady to me.

The credit goes to the name of the traveler. That's SW policy.

 

[LSUmiss]

I don’t see where it matters. The company can’t get anything back so why not just use the credit for future use?

 

[GAN]

I work as an independent contractor as a side hustle. The organization I contract with has purchased flights for me to an event next month on Southwest. In your opinion, would it ethical of me to take advantage of any price drops between now and the flight and receive the credit to use for my own purposes?

I probably wouldn’t do it …they paid for the ticket(free to you) and any difference is likely to be minimal. If you have a question, ask yourself if pocketing $100 is worth risking the relationship. That’s your answer…

 

[Pink Partridge]

I don't think it is unethical.

But I don't think it would be worth the hassle.

 

[mikehn]

As long as you keep the exact same itinerary I dont see anything wrong with it.

 

[RoseColored97]

There is always so much red tape with this type of stuff. I went on a business trip and they worked with a travel agent. She denied my request to use an airport closer to my home because the tickets costed slightly more ($50) than the other airport. However, when accounting for the parking and gas that I used that they had to reimburse, it ended up being probably $200 more than if they had just booked me where I could get a ride to the airport and not have to pay for parking. Penny wise pound foolish.

I don't think it's unethical, but it might not be "allowed" because of some arbitrary rule.

 

[Allison]

Not ethical.

 

[MillauFr]

I don't think it is unethical.

But I don't think it would be worth the hassle.

Exactly how I feel. Not like you are saving hundreds of dollars here. Why bother?

 

[GoingSince1990]

No. And BTW the IRS would consider any such credit to be taxable income.

 

[tvguy]

The credit goes to the name of the traveler. That's SW policy.

Wouldn't the credit go on the credit card used to purchase the ticket?

 

[sam_gordon]

Wouldn't the credit go on the credit card used to purchase the ticket?

Unless they changed their policy, the credit was toward future travel, NOT back to the method of payment.

 

[Out and About]

Every company I've ever worked for had/has very specific rules about travel compensation, free upgrades, credits, and frequent flier points/miles, among other details.
OP, I understand that you're an independent contractor, but don't you have a contract with the company on whose behalf you are traveling? The protocol for this would be spelled out there.

 

[slo]

I voted that there’s nothing wrong with it.
There’s no harm with doing this. The credit can not be given back to the purchaser, so it’s not like you’re stealing. I say go for it if the opportunity presents itself.