Airline tickets

[chocchief]

One recent afternoon, Bob, Lois, and three others stood in line for tickets at an airline counter; one of the five was bound for Chicago. From the following clues, can you deduce each traveler's full name (one surname is Girard) and destination, and the order in which they waited in line?

1. Although not last in line, the passenger for St. Paul stood further back than either Dawes or the passenger for Seattle (which wasn't Jean's destination).

2. Tom stood farther back than Elkins, but he wasn't last in line.

3. Alice stood just in front of Mr. Foley and just behind the passenger for Atlanta.

4. Although not first in line, the passenger for Dallas stood just ahead of Mr. Hall; neither of these two is Tom.

5. Alice's last name isn't Elkins.

[dark_magician_92]

I am getting

Alice Dawes Seattle - 2nd

Tom Foley St. Paul - 3rd
Bob Hall Chicago - 5th
Lois and Jean can be interchanged - The one who is given Elkins surname goes to Atlanta and is 1st in row, the other goes to Dallas and is 4th in row.

[bonanova]

I am getting

Alice Dawes Seattle - 2nd

Tom Foley St. Paul - 3rd
Bob Hall Chicago - 5th
Lois and Jean can be interchanged - The one who is given Elkins surname goes to Atlanta and is 1st in row, the other goes to Dallas and is 4th in row.

This is not an easy puzzle.

Clue 1 implies Dawes and Seattle are different people
Lois and Jean are distinguished only by Jean not going to Seattle.
So that has to be one of only two possibilities for her.

[bonanova]

Male surnames are Foley and Hall who is not Tom:
Tom Foley
Bob Hall

Alice is 2 or 3, but Alice=3 leads to Tom = Dallas = 4 which is not permitted.
The other clues lead to two sets of possibilities:

1 Je Lo Elkins Atlanta 1 Je Lo Elkins Atlanta
2 Alice Dawes Chicago 2 Alice Girard Chi Sea
3 Tom Foley StPaul 3 Tom Foley Chi StP Sea
4 Je Lo Girard Dallas 4 Je Lo Dawes Dallas
5 Bob Hall Seattle 5 Bob Hall Chi StP

I don't see contradiction for any of the above remaining cases.
The only way to distinguish Jean from Lois is that Jean does not go to Seattle.
That clue does not seem to help since in any case she seems headed for Atlanta or Dallas

If anyone can eliminate any of the above cases, feel free to carry it out to completion.

[chocchief]

Well, since I don't trust myself in copying down the facts correctly, here is the original document I pulled this puzzle from, see if I accidentally forgot to write something Airline Tickets.pdf

[dark_magician_92]

Male surnames are Foley and Hall who is not Tom:

Tom Foley

Bob Hall

Alice is 2 or 3, but Alice=3 leads to Tom = Dallas = 4 which is not permitted.

The other clues lead to two sets of possibilities:

1 Je Lo Elkins Atlanta 1 Je Lo Elkins Atlanta

2 Alice Dawes Chicago 2 Alice Girard Chi Sea

3 Tom Foley StPaul 3 Tom Foley Chi StP Sea

4 Je Lo Girard Dallas 4 Je Lo Dawes Dallas

5 Bob Hall Seattle 5 Bob Hall Chi StP

I don't see contradiction for any of the above remaining cases.

The only way to distinguish Jean from Lois is that Jean does not go to Seattle.

That clue does not seem to help since in any case she seems headed for Atlanta or Dallas

If anyone can eliminate any of the above cases, feel free to carry it out to completion.

If we try to find which place will the 5th person wants to go, then we find that as per Clue 1 - It can't be Seattle or St. Paul. As per Clue3 & 4 - Atlanta and Dallas respectively also can't be, then 5th person should go to Chicago.

[bonanova]

Male surnames are Foley and Hall who is not Tom:

Tom Foley

Bob Hall

Alice is 2 or 3, but Alice=3 leads to Tom = Dallas = 4 which is not permitted.

The other clues lead to two sets of possibilities:

1 Je Lo Elkins Atlanta 1 Je Lo Elkins Atlanta

2 Alice Dawes Chicago 2 Alice Girard Chi Sea

3 Tom Foley StPaul 3 Tom Foley Chi StP Sea

4 Je Lo Girard Dallas 4 Je Lo Dawes Dallas

5 Bob Hall Seattle 5 Bob Hall Chi StP

I don't see contradiction for any of the above remaining cases.

The only way to distinguish Jean from Lois is that Jean does not go to Seattle.

That clue does not seem to help since in any case she seems headed for Atlanta or Dallas

If anyone can eliminate any of the above cases, feel free to carry it out to completion.

If we try to find which place will the 5th person wants to go, then we find that as per Clue 1 - It can't be Seattle or St. Paul. As per Clue3 & 4 - Atlanta and Dallas respectively also can't be, then 5th person should go to Chicago.

You are right about St. Paul can't be 5.

That clears up my second scenario, almost.

Thanks!

Clue 1 says StPaul is not 5 but is farther back than X (Dawes) or Y (Seattle).

So at least one of X and Y (different people) is in front of StPaul.

In my scenarios, StPaul is behind Dawes (first) and behind Seattle (second).

So my scenarios are the same as your solution, but avoid Dawes=Seattle by

(first) swapping Chicago for Seattle and

(second) swapping Girard for Dawes.

Are there contradictions in either of these?

1 Je Lo Elkins Atlanta 1 Je Lo Elkins Atlanta

2 Alice Dawes Chicago 2 Alice Girard Seattle

3 Tom Foley StPaul 3 Tom Foley StPaul

4 Je Lo Girard Dallas 4 Je Lo Dawes Dallas

5 Bob Hall Seattle 5 Bob Hall Chicago

[bonanova]

Well, since I don't trust myself in copying down the facts correctly, here is the original document I pulled this puzzle from, see if I accidentally forgot to write something Airline Tickets.pdf

Thanks, chocchief, your post has it right.

We can't seem to distinguish Lois from Jean in our solutions.