The CAA, ATOL, have absolutely no control over airline pricing policies so they are unlikely to help. Trading Standards might take an interest on the basis that charges are ‘unfair ‘ but if a customer is told before booking that no changes can be made, is that really unfair?

The tickets that do not allow changes are those at the lowest price, if you pay the published full fare you can change or cancel at no charge even on the day of departure. The problem is we have become accustomed to paying £300 for a flight to New York rather that the full fare of £900 and the airlines have to make money somehow, and the facts show that many barely do make a profit at all. A simple spelling mistake might be an exception that ought to be a few pounds but name changes defeat the rules that airlines put on the lowest fares and if we go back 10 years, we were all paying a lot moer, and flying a lot less!

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You do have to consider the occasional person who, when booking his tickets, forgets that the name he uses and the name on his driver’s license are different (e.g. Mike/Michael). I also had a forward-thinking bride-to-be ask me what name to book her airfare under. I told her that while undoubtedly, she is anxious to begin using her new name, that she would not be able to change the name on her driver’s license until after the honeymoon so she should, in fact, book her airfare under her maiden name.

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I’m shocked that airline agents are cancelling reservations to just change a name that is mispelled. Are so many airlines in the dark ages when it comes to their software? Many airlines have cutting edge software that will allow an agent to change a name or letter in a name and let the agent decide him or herself whether or not to charge a flyer for the error. All the errors I have had I was never charged to change Pamlea, Pamala, Pemella and several others including errors with my last name.

While working for an airline with cutting edge software I also never charged a passenger to change their name to the correct name after reviewing their ID and/or passport. I even had a lady bring in her birth certificate!

The only time fees ever came into play was when a passenger wanted to sign a ticket over to another person. Then there was a change fee for the entire ticket being renamed. A new reservation has to be made at that time in the new passengers name as well. If there is a new itinerary then the ticket value is only a credit towards the new destination. In cases involving the same destination the passenger may have to pay the difference in fare from the time the ticket was purchased. IF there is a difference.

A lot of times the change fee can come automatically (via software and the agent has no control) out of the ticket and the passenger has to pay the rest left owing after that–it goes toward the ticket, not the change fee, so there may be a misunderstanding over what the passenger is actually paying for. I have had to explain several times to the same passengers what was happening and how it was figured. Fortunately the software allowed me to print a receipt to show on paper what had been done. It does sound confusing, doesn’t it?

Usually most passengers get charged the change fee, have it entered into their passenger name record (that holds all their info) and are provided a receipt that shows the fee has been paid.

If an airline is making you pay through the nose, I would write a letter to the customer service of that airline and then find a new airline to fly.

You can also call reservations or go online to ask airlines their policies on this.

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What about women who get married and change their maiden name? We’ve just been told by Lufthansa that they will not carry my wife on the return part of our journey.
We live in the UK but she is Ukranian and is going their with me to get her passport changed so on the return journey her name will have changed.
Therefore, in law, we haven’t made a typo and its the same person so I don’t understand why they flatley refuse to take her back !!!!

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I made an error when booking (wrong dates) and the ThomsonFly made me pay a £15 charge per person per flight – for the 3 of us that was £90.

An extra £90 pure profit – the change took around 5 mins.

Like bank charges, these guys should be brought to task, the cost of the amendment should be passed on to the consumer only – instead of profiteering from those that have no choice.

Spoke to trading standards about this – no use – appear not even to understand UCTA or European Regulations

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I recently booked online with On The Beach. I realised straight away I had booked in my married name instead of my maiden name on my passport. Within 5 minutes I was on the phone to them. I was told by the the girl to call back following day when details were in. The following day I called back and was told to call Admin in an hour they could do the change for free no problem. When I called back I was told I could only do the namechange online at a charge of £60!!!! When I called the airline they said they would not charge but the agent could??? This has gone on for a week now and I have never been so frustrated with customer service EVER!

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I require to change the name on a ticket for a European flight. The flight will not take place for approximately 4 months.
I would like some justification from these companies for the charge of £20 required for each leg of the journey.
As far as I can see I will enter the changes and reprint the ticket, which is just a sheet of A4 paper. All the printing and data entry costs are paid for by me and have no effect on the company what so ever. I doubt if anyone other than I will be aware of the name change or be involved.
Basically, what are they in fact charging for?
It is time the example set by unfair bank charges was applied to all businesses. If there is no justification for a charge such as this it should be fraud or at least an unfair condition of contract.
The industry watchdogs should be more proactive in defending the interests of the consumer. Maybe the word lapdog is more appropriate.

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If you think of all the people who make a tiny mistake + the twenty people that airlines regularly overbook basically you could be taking about 2-4% of an airline’s revenues coming from passengers who can’t or don’t use their ticket

What we are banging up against here is the principal of transferability…if they let you change the name on your ticket, it would be rather easy to transfer i.e. no more money for empty seats. Given that a non-bankrupt airline has margins of 0-10%, changing this rule could cost them 40% to all their profit

This kills me as I just mispelt my friends name on a ticket I bought for him and its going to cost me £140 to correct this. This is particularly painful as I work for the airline in question!!!

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Well I will not be able to take my BA flight to amsterdam next week unless I legally change my name and passport to my partners name! Ridiculous and not worth claiming the taxes back! Autopopulated fields are dangerous when both your surnames start with the same letter!

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After entering the data on line late in the evening, i instantly noticed on the online confirmationbooking ,that I keyed in error the other passengers name incorrectly.Iwas unable to change the details online .There was no option to edit the details.

The only option was to send an email to a customer support center. I was informed the following day , yes it took nearly 12 hours to respond (today), that this had cost me £30 as this was in the terms and conditions screen, in small print, on the online booking screen.

My argument is why are online travel companies penailising the very people they attempting to attract . These are the people who indirectly reduce the overheads for the travel companies as they do not suppport the “high street” travel shop method of booking a holiday- in shop agent costs (and data input) ,telephone costs and the associated paperwork and printing in the shop(s)

Why do they not provide any option to edit your details for an online booking . They let you key in the original details which takes a lot longer than editing the details .Why is it that an email has to be sent to a person to look at , or a bank of people, for them to view and then to key in the same infiormation on the same screens as I did online and which in my case was less than 20 characters in total. The answer is simple – Its a con and it must be stopped. These are the bank charges of the travel industry.

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My brother has been told he is going to Iraq earlier than expected (Coporal in British Army). onlinetravel.com have refused to change the name of the person travelling to accomodate someone else using the ticket.Lufthansa said the same, so now he is going to lose £300. Surely this cannot be right??

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I booked an international flight back in July. The flight is coming up this Dec. When I booked online I entered my name correctly, however, I just realized last week that my American Advantage account has my middle name as my last name (a mistake that was not made by me, but by AA). So when I put in my AA # after filling in all the info correctly my AA number over rode my name on the reservation. Now they are telling me I have to cancel my ticket and buy a new one. The cost of the flight has doubled since July!

I gotta fight this somehow…….I can’t just sit here an watch them steal $300US from me….

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Just paid £70 to change a name on Ryan Air flight to Riga, original person could not travel. Again as per Bank charges how is this cost justified it took seconds to amend the name.

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I have just booked for a group of 8 (4 couples) to fly to Barcelona with Easyjet. After taking payment they ask for passenger details but only give 20 minutes for this to be done. Panic……… I didn’t give any of the passengers middle names.Does anyone know if this will be a problem?
I am reluctant to pay 4 X £17.50 to amend details.

I booked a stag do for 12 guys and one of my brothers couldn’t make it and another brother took his place. Same last name but obviously didderent first names. I didn’t bother to tell the travel company as it would cost too much money and they never even noticed at the airport. In the case of a spelling mistake I wouldn’t even bother letting them know as the airport itself has nothing to gain by making you change and therefore won’t bother 99% of the time. Somebody asked why travel companies charge you for a name change. The simple answer is because they can.

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I also had a similar situation with a flight to the Dominican republic a few months ago where my younger brother swapped flight places with my older brother. I rang Thomas Cook and told them that they had made a mistake on the documentation. They asked me if I was sure and I told them that I know my own brothers initial(secondry passenger). They changed if for free and it felt good to get one back on them for all of the people who get stiffed by them.

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I have booked tickets to go to South America and have booked under Sam rather than Samuel (as it is in my passport). I am worried that Air France will not let me board the plane. My UK driving licence is Sam Hurst and so are my bank cards etc, will I have a problem? I have booked via a travel agent and they will only let me cancel the ticket and refund the tax. Due to waiting lists there is no garantee that I will be able to book the ticket again and I’m not sure I can afford it!

I am traveling to raise money for charity. I will be joining a rally traveling in a old 1960s VW beetle driving from from Quito to Rio via peru, paraguay, bolivia.

Please help, I am very worried!

hi i will fly to bangkok from china after two days but on the ticket ,only 1 letter in the spellings of my surname(father’s name) is different from that of my passport.can it cause some problem?i mean will they charge for correction? somebody answer me plz.thnx

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I don’t if it helps anybody here but some airlines will allow up to 3 letters misspelled especially if the name is a translation from say Russian to English.

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Hi, I have just spent two entire days on the phone trying to correct my last name on my e-ticket with United. I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. It was a gift for Valentine’s Day, which turned into a nightmare. The ticket was purchased in my legal name but the name in my passport is my maidden name. The agency wants us to cancel the ticket and rebook with the name in the passport. Obviously the fare is more expensive now plus they are charging us additional three hundred dollars for the cancellation fees. We have contacted everyone you can imagine, the agency, United, Austrian, TSA…. I just don’t want to go to the airport and loose both flights or have to buy a new ticket there in case they will not want to issue us the boarding passes. And I surely don’t want to argue at the airport. Any ideas?

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I booked four tickets in January from Belfast to Germany via Heathrow for my boss & 3 others, flying out in March. I booked them under the names I know them by, which, unfortunately aren’t the names on their passports, 3 of them are using middle names rather than forenames, after spending hours on the phone with BMI & Lufthansa I have drawn a complete blank, NOBODY will make this simple change, it is so frustrating & the only option I am being given is to canel the bookings & re-book at four times the original cost!!! Does anyone know if this will be a problem at the airport? is it possible they may get to Germany & not be allowed on the flight back home. Any help would be appreciated as I don’t know what to do next.

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I’ve just booked a ticket from Paris to Frankfurt with Lufthansa. And apparently, I’ve made a mistake not really with my name, but the salutation. Here were three choices: Mr, Mrs, Ms, and Miss. I chose Ms – and assuming that it is the same with Miss. So when I received the confirmation e-mail, it was MRS beside my name. Would it make any difference? My first name and last name are still correct. Will I have any difficulty? Thanks

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Summer,

You will have no difficulty at all, they only want to check that your first and last names are as they appear in your passport. No one checks whether you are married or not

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Thanks for the help, Just to be safe, I will call the local office of Lufthansa later today. I just hope that it is nothing major.

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I have just booked flights with Easyjet, I mistakenly put down a middle name rather than a surname for my wife, will I have to pay £41.50 (£40 + £1.50 debit card charge) just to change this?

Absolutely scandalous if so, I can understand it if they are changing the tickets over to someone else but not for a human error.

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I have a big problem, I bought a flight for my husband from Expedia and made an error and typed his shortname (abreviation of the name) instead of name that appears on the passport. The agents refuses to correct the error as they say that they do not allow name changes. I have contacted them many many times and try to explain that I want to correct the error not to change the name totally or transfer the ticket to a new passanger. They do not accept. I contact British Airways and say that if I purchased the ticket directly through them it will not be a problem but because it was purchased through an agent, they can not do anything about it.
The thing is that Expedia refuses to amend the error and will not refund the money either, so I will loose £700 ticket and will have to buy a new one for that amount or more. I am tempted to turn up in the airport and try to get the ticket desk to help out, but do not know if it will work out and can not risk it. Any recommendations will be much appreciated ! PLEASE HELP ! I am quite frustrated I have spent 2 entire days and I have not been able to correct the error and if not corrected I am afraid to loose the ticket

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Name changes are never allowed, corrections are done on a case by case basis, and it can depend on the agent and the airline you book with. Airlines are often mis-informed, most agencies cannot re-issue a ticket. I work in the travel industry and believe it or not, I feel bad everytime it happens, there is nothing we can do to fix the error if the person books it themselves online. But if a person books through a travel agency and they are required to get your names right, then they have to rectify the situation. Online travel companies make you your own travel agent, if you make a mistake, then you shouldn’t do your own bookings. Not saying I don’t make mistakes myself, but it’s the risk you take, when you decide to book yourself. We can’t correct the bookings because the airline has to agree, we are a third party and the airlines are inevitably in control once your ticket is purchased with a particular airline.

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Not fair that small error makes you loose your ticket. I understand that this was my mistake, and I am happy to pay a penalty, but they tell me that unfortunately nothing can be done and that I will loose my ticket ( I already paid £700.00) and that no choice but
to buy a new one ! Are they crazy ! I am not a millionaire !!, £700.00 is a salary for many people !

Why things are so complicated? American Airlines has corrected the name over the phone without a fuss. At the end of the day, I have been told that is very simple procedure but that online companies do not want to be involved because it does take some administrative time. British Airways is not helping either because they said that I purchase the ticket online through Expedia, if purchased through BA it will be not problem!
How weird !

I have spent the entire 3 days argueing over the phone, please someone can help I am really desperate at this stage !……………………

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Does anyone have any idea how seious a problem it is to have the surname and christian name the wrong way around on a flight booking / eticket? I can pay to change but does it matter?

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Hello everyone, two months ago I posted a message about my problem with United Airlines. My husband booked a flight to Vienna with my married name, however my passport still had my maidden name. We spent three days on the phone with the travel agent, UA, Austrian Airlines, TSA… UA almost made us buy a new ticket for twice the price we paid originally. When we got to the airport, I had my marriage certificate, marriage license, birth certificate, driving license to prove that I was the same person. I didn’t need a thing! All they asked me was if I had a name change and that was it; I presented my permanent resident card and my passport. I understand that the security measures are really high nowadays, but I feel that it is all about the business. When we were flying back from Europe, it was the same situation – no problem with the last names at all. I’m not sure if it just depends on the particular airlines or we were just lucky. We have done a lot of research before we flew. If you are unsure and the airline is telling you that you have to purchase a new ticket, try to research the web of that airline to see if they have anything written about the name change. We actually found directly on the UA web their policy about the last name changes based on marriage stating that a marriage certificate was needed to link the two names. I must say, we realized that the agent did not have much authority to make the name changes because if the airlines said no, there was nothing else that the agent could do. Yet, we all make mistakes and I believe that there should be an easier way to correct a name if you can provide a legitimate proof of who you are … Good luck everyone and safe trip!

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Recently made a booking with Expedia for my mum to fly with Monarch, but the next day I noticed that I had managed to misspell her surname. Having read all the comments above I phoned Expedia the next day and was told that Monarch would change a couple of letters in the surname free of charge as the tickets were not issued/posted until a month or so before the flight.

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I recently booked a holiday for my son and my self,unfortunately he cant travel,if I take another person will I be charged for the name change? regards

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Okay, I completely don’t get it. Consumers are simply being gouged. A name change, are you kidding me? Why should it matter at all. So many people have talked about people misspelling names. What about if one person simply can’t make a trip and another one can go in their place. Why can’t that happen? A ticket was purchased for passage. Why should the airline care who is actually flying. A ticket was purchased, it should be honored for the price paid. In the case of people buying tickets at lower prices and selling them for higher prices, so what. So the airlines decided that they wanted to be the only one’s to make money by cutting out any middle men who want to resell tickets.

Charging such rediculous fees is simply for profit. Profit isn’t a bad thing, unless it’s secured by gross, gratuitous, unfair, and oppressive practices, which is exactly what the airlines are doing. For the people that actually believe the airlines are not making much profit… you’ve just believed the propaganda. Why operate and manage a multi-billion pound business if you’re not making any money? Please believe that the airlines are making plenty profit. There just really good at P.R.

I am disappointed that the paying public doesn’t do more to demand a change. Stop silently taking this abuse and demand more from your government representatives. People have grown so apathetic that their very own inaction encourages and supports the behaviors we complain about.

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I have recently been booking tickets for our honeymoon and I booked my fiances ticket using what will be her married name. Unfortunately I since found out that due to visa’s in Africa we have had to keep her passport in her maiden name as we could not apply for them with a post dated passport.

What this means is that we have tickets in my surname and her passport in her surname. If we travel with our wedding certificate is there any chance of this being okay and us being allowed onto the flight.

I am hoping that this sort of thing happens all of the time…

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can somebody please help? My boyfriend was going on holiday in September with his brother, sister in law and his niece and nephew. Now they aren’t going so me, my dad and my son are going to take their place. How much will I expect to pay to change the names with Thomas Cook?

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I am travelling to Orlando in the next few weeks. Whilst I was entering the passenger extra information (for USA travel) on BA’s website today, I noticed that they have my partners middle name incorrect. It has been put down as the same name as my daughter ‘s middle name who is also travelling with us. I have notified Expedia about this and they said they have been in touch with BA and it is nothing to worry about. Yet I do!!! Anyone know if I should be worrying or not?

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I’ve just ordered a ticket for my girlfriend with Lufthansa, and I have used Mr instead of Ms. Can this cause any problem for her?

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It shouldn’t be an issue really, just ask the airline to issue an OSI. Because Mr. or Mrs s not technically listed on your passport, it probably will not be a problem. It just depends on the airline. Technically children can be listed as adults and it shouldn’t cause a problem, just chances are you paid more for their ticket.

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i will travel going to dubai but i discover my surname theres was 1 letter different in my passport.is there a big problem on this or i mean it can cause delay of my flight schedule.

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Am currently in dispute with Virgin Atlantic over a number of tickets purchased over the telephone in Jan 08. Essentially, 2 of my wedding party cannot go so was looking to change names to 2 replacements. At time of booking was stated “Changes are
permitted at any time for a charge of GBP 50″ and “At any time the fare is not refundable”. At no time did the agent tell me that “name changes are not permitted”. Virgin cannot provide proof they told me that name changes are not permitted as they did not record the telephone call. Having taken advice from Which Legal Services they have advised that whatever they stated to me on the telephone is contractually binding / forms the contract and subsequent e-mails / etickets etc with conditions cannot be relevant as they are post contract/sale.. Have been told to get my credit card company to charge the amount back on the basis that goods / services not as agreed when purchased. Have been advised it was up to them to advise me of significant fare rules at time of purchase. I am adamant that nothing was mentioned about no name changes. Will be interesting to see what happens here…..

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My sisiter in law purchased a ticket for me to Geramany under my nickname “Lola”. Luftansa will not refund or change the name to my birth name Maria Dolores. I will have to get a new ticket. Obciously, my issue is not unique but has anyone ever resolved this issue by wrinting to customer service? Is it worth disputing this or has the airline won another battle?

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All airline websites stipulate no name changes or transfers are allowed, so being an educated consumer is your job, it’s everyones job. Unfortunately everyone thinks this is a simple issue. Most airlines choose to follow IATA guidelines which does not allow the re-issue due to a name change. Regardless of whether they are just trying to make money is a non-issue. Whether they inform you or not, unfortunately is not their job anymore. LOL, they wouldn’t make much money if they told you all up front.

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I reported a request for a name change on a ticket purchased October 2007 for my wife on BA to London, UK. On June 13, 2008 I noticed that the passenger name was mine not hers. Yes – I made a mistake! You all know the answer I got by e-mailing customer service – call a service rep! I called customer service and was assured (verbally guaranteed) by the representative that the my name would be changed to hers BEFORE the flight date (Sept 4th) but the changes are made in the order they are received. The flight leaves in 26 days and the name has not been changed so I called again and was reassured that the change would occur 2 weeks before Sept 4th. Meanwhile, I am stressing over this issue while planning a 60th birthday reception for my wife that will be in 2 weeks.

As for those of you who put down customers who make mistakes when booking online I would remind you that::
A/ An online service if programmed correctly would be sensitive to potential errors made by customers booking on their own.
B/ The small print warning on the online booking screen should be in colour and much LARGER print and emphasize the consequences of a mispelled or mistyped name.
C/ If I was going to sell my ticket to someone for a higher price, it wouldn’t be my wife whose relationship I can prove, ergo no penalty required for that change.
D/ Remedy the situation by insisting that passport information be entered at the same time and have the computer do a comparison on the names – this is not rocket science and would eliminate any discrepencies.

Keep in mind that not all pasenger fly on a regular basis and the airlines heavily promote self booking online at there websites.

I can see where (some) airline employees contributing to this rant have lost any concept of fairness and understanding when dealing with passengers who do not fly regularily.

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this isnt going to help! me posting this isnt goin to get my name changed on my ticket. is it now?

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Have just purchased a ticket christian name Eleanor May instead of Eleanor Mary.
Do I need to ring the airline and change it?

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My only sibling – brother – recently died unexpected on July 28th. He had a pre-arranged airline ticket for Aug 1st. Prior to travel date I was able to at least call and cancel his reservation. I am ready to converse with customer service and send them a copy of the death certificate. At this point, will I have more success in 1) having a credit voucher issued in my name 2) receiving a full refund on the ticket? And what happens if the original ticket was purchased using frequent flyer miles. Please advise.

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Anita

Firstly I am sorry to hear of the death of your brother, but that of itself may not be sufficent to get any airline to offer a refund. It depends on the type of ticket your brother was holding, if it was a non changeable non refundable ticket, then the airline is under no obligation whatseover to offer anything. If your brother had travel insurance, then the whole problem would be resolved but if not, then you have to hope either that it was a full fare, fully refundable ticket, in which case a full refund will be due or plead to the heartstrings of the airline, alas airlines are far less willing to be sympathetic than they used to be and the answer may simply be ‘no’

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A lot of International Passports have clear ‘differentiated name fields’ for Surname and Given Names. For example a person with the name John Arthur Smith, the identity page of the Passport would have the ‘Surname’ as: SMITH and ‘Given Names as: ‘ARTHUR SMITH’ clearly indicated.

But what about Passports from some countries that do not differentiate parts of a person’s name into ‘Surname’ and ‘Given Names’, should Travel Agent follow the general rubric that that the last part of a string of names should be used as Surname by system default? I would like to present the case of the Malaysian Passport. As of the time of writing, the Identity Page of the Malaysian Passport has only a single ‘name field’. To add complications to the untrained eye, the name of a Malaysian Passport holder follows the customary naming practice. In this discussion, I would like to highlight one issue that affects Malaysian Chinese Passport Holders. IT IS NOT JUST THAT THEIR SURNAMES/ FAMILY NAMES COMES FIRST IN THE ORDER OF NAMES, IT’S A BIT MORE THAN THAT. A Malaysian Chinese generally can have names like the following:

a) WONG KAM WAH (Explanation: Surname is WONG, KAM WAH are Given Names)

b) DAVID WONG KAM WAH (Explanation: Surname is WONG, DAVID KAM WAH or KAM WAH DAVID are the Given Names -This type of name is often the one least understood because it’s always presumed that WONG KAM WAH or KAM WAH or WAH is the Surname; this name type is an example of an attempt to cautiously marry Western Given Name(s) and Chinese Given Name(s) at the “expense” of the ‘Surname’ being sandwiched by these two culturally distinct types of Given Names.

c) DAVID WONG (Explanation: Surname is WONG)

So from the examples shown above, it’s clearly shown that there is no way to tell which part of the name is Surname just by simply looking at the Passport Identity Page. However one rule does apply here is that if the names of the Airline Tickets only contain name elements of the Passport, then it is more likely to be a valid positive identification. Awareness that Surname can occur in any position of the string of names on the ‘Name Field’ would also help.

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I’ve just booked two flights to Frankfurt for myself and a colleague and the booking system wouldn’t allow me to add my colleagues name, so the itinery came through as myself flying twice on the same flight. I naturally called them up straight away thinking it should be a simple processs to change names, especially as it appears to be a fault at their end. Unfortunately that doesn’t appear to be the case. Almost an hour later on the phone to them, I finally gave up and accepted their £30 name change fee. How ridiculas is this??? I am now personally out of pocket for a business flight. You’d think that they would let their procedures slip for once, when there is no evidence of who is in the wrong, but this is not the case. As someone pointed out on another blog, they like profitting from their own errors. The fact that the system allows the same name twice, without prompting an error message or note is what makes me particularly angry in this instance. The support and relationship staff, including management were all quite rude too, not one saying sorry or empathising with the situation at all. And to make matters worse, they wont let me complain until after I fly, but then what good is this going to do me? If anyone can offer any help or advice in this situation please advise.

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Thank you Darren.

I booked the flight directly through BA.com and spoke with their support staff directly.

I know they quoted their terms and conditions to me many times! I did the booking quite quickly, but I do not recall the option to put in passenger names. They say as I had a chance to review my booking and I agreed to their T’s and C’s I had to pay.

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A question,
I forgot to put my middle name on my tickets when i booked them. On my Passport my middle is shown is this going to be a problem. I booked as Kristoffer Budai, when the name on my passport is Kristoffer Levente Budai. from reading these comments i am still unsure as to what the outcome might be.. I am worried because i fly this Wednesday from Vienna. Somebody told me i should phone and change my name to be sure but this will cost me more money than i really want to spend, also someone else said that this is not necessary so i am now confused … please help

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Middle name is insignificant.

As long as your first and last name are correct to the spelling on your passport.

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Hi, On 07/10/2008 I booked a ticket online at BA.COM. The flight is direct from Manchester to Mumbai (India) price £501. I made an error and typed in my name Mr Bhondu KHAN, instead of my wife Mrs Khubsurat KHAN. On payment details I made it clear that the Bank account holder ie (me) payee was not the passenger. Anyway, seconds after the finalized payment I realized my blunder and called the Operator within minutes. I explained my predicament. I was told by the call taker that she could change the name within seconds but at a cost of i think £30! I was shocked!!! The flight is due in end of January. I’m outraged that they dont give an time allowance, at least 24 hours or so to rectify any errors. I was told by the call taker not to even bother trying customer relations as they would give a standard reply. The call taker was right, i did get a standard reply outlining patronizing terms and conditions. It is scandalous. If i had read these posts before calling them I probably woold have gone down the Fraudulent/Unauthorized Paymets thus stopping the Transaction. Trust me Banks will not investigate cases particularly monies have not exchanged!!! It is a shame when we have to be equally cunning and canniving. I request out petition are forwarded to WATCHDOG and other regulating authorities. In a way I am now glad that these arrogant/Greedy airlines are feeling the pinch under the current economic climate conditions, hoep they go bust before end of january so I can get a full refund!!!!!

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Your shock will increase when you discover that BA do not fly from Manchester to India direct, in fact with the closure of the route to new York, there are no flights on BA to anywhere except London from Manchester. I use BA.com at least once a month, often more and I have to say it is one of the better sites, indeed immedaitely above the point at which you are committed, it says ‘please check the details above’ and the fares on the web are generally lower than you can book by telephone or through an agent. As a result, the lowest fares are usually ‘no change, no refund’ fares which means technically they could have refused to make any change at all. When everyone is looking for the lowest fares, the airline has to make money somehow.

As regards your booking, I am concerned that you do not seem to have noticed that the flight to India is from Heathrow, whether your fare includes a connection from Manchester is something you need to look at immediately, if not then that is another £100 it will cost you to book it.

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hi im due to fly from Belfast to Amsterdam with my girlfriend next thursday with easy jet i was checking the tickets and her name is correct but in tead of MS it has MR will this cause any problem.

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Mr. Mrs. or Mme. is not a legal designation. You’ll probably just get people laughing.

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My daughter Petrina is booked to travel from Australia to London in March 2009. When her ticket was issued her first name was spelled Patrina, not Petrina. I do not know how the error occurred – i.e. do not know whether it was the person who booked the flight or the issuing office that made an error. The issuing office will not change the name to Petrina and have told her that ‘one letter difference does not matter’.
Can this ‘promise’ be believed? Will she be allowed on an international flight with this error?

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Thanks Darren.
I am not sure from the wording of your last sentence whether you got on board or not, but my daughter’s problem will surely be raised at a higher level with the airtline.

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I booked flights to Paris with Air France earlier this year for our honeymoon on 29th of December. Having just received back my passport which now has what will be my married name on i realised that I booked the flights in my maiden name. I know that both ticket and passport have to be in same name so i have a huge problem. I spoke to Air France who were very unhelpful and totally confused me. They said I wouldn’t be able to change the name without my marriage certificate which I obviously wont have until 27th dec!! Can anyone offer any advice please. Jo

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I have bought a plane ticket for a friend of mine on a Lufthansa flight. Unfortunatelly, I had to change so many times the data (since I was not able to buy a plane ticket for her since she had to use my credit card for ID and I had to open an miles&more account) that finally I made a mistake with the first name. Instead of writing Loredana I wrote Loredaa and I also wrote to Lufthansa and asked them to modify, though I am a bit concerned.

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@Joanne. Maybe you should apply for second passport with a limited validity in you own, maiden, name, which you would be able to use to travel with at the end of December. How you managed to get a passport issued in a false name beats me – it would not be possible in my country. Most countries issue second passports valid for one year only if there is a need for such (such as getting visas for many countries for business travel) so I should not see a problem.

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My friend has booked me under nick instead of nicholas do you think this will be a problem

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Hi,
my son studies in the UK, and I let him use my visa card to book air flight from London to Europe, by STA Travel, with BMI. He used my card to book online, because if he paid in cash to STA Travel, he would pay GBP 100 extra. So the option to pay cash was closed because of higher cost. He spent GBP 170 for buying a ticket online, and ticket was booked on my name, as there was no warnings on STA site during booking about additional charge to amend the tickets. Then he went to change name, did it on the phone, and was told, that the fee will be returned. Imagine my anger when I saw that the sum which was returned was only GBP 60 !!!! – less then 30% of the fare!! As STA Travel explained there is no clause for amending the name, and the only way is cancellation of the ticket and rebooking. They charged GBP 100 for the cancellation and 10 for new booking.
This is appalling way of cheating the customers by the airlines using online technologies.

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I recently misspelt my wife’s middle name of Kaye as Kay. I rang the airline and ended up talking to their agent in my country. I was told by three people that it would not be a problem and two promised to send me an email to confirm. Guess what…the email never arrived. I chased it up and spoke with a manager who stated that the name should be changed to match the passport …cost $30. Better to do it early than have to pay it plus the difference in the current price of a ticket just before flying….could cost hundreds.

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Ha Ha…Yes! I called BA to change the passenger name details i have ranted about previously, spoke to customer services gentleman; there was instant friendly rapport; I told him I would pay for the costly mistake. He changed the passenger details but forgot to take payments. I went online, the passenger details have been changed and I have not been charged or invoiced. Is’nt that just great! Come On!

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I booked an Air France ticket online for travel between Paris and Strasbourg, France in December. Unfortunately, right away, I noticed that I had switched my girlfriend’s first and last names on the ticket (the online form asks for last name first, which I’m not used to in the U.S.). Does anyone know if this will be a problem at airport security? We carry U.S. passports. Alternatively, anyone have this issue and how was it resolved? Thanks.

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I fully paid holiday with Thomas Cook via internet. Booking email shows 3 daughters correctly ID’d as children . Thomas Cook now demands about £55 fee to change “Ms” to “Miss” for the kids or it will cancel holiday. Currently at stalemate with deadline looming!

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SUCCESS!

I have won an out of court settlement in respect of the name changing problem. I am only now speaking of UK law. I used the online small claims procedure, which is very simple and very user friendly. Also I found the courts very helpful. Nobody should be afraid to go down this route and, in my view, a solicitor is not necessary.

I originally sued Opodo, who were the agents I booked through. I claimed that having to buy a new ticket amounted to a penalty clause for the original error, and a breach of the Unfair Terms Contract Act. They claimed that it was the airline and not them who were responsible. Had I known Roayal Aor Maroc’s address, which was almost impossible to find, I would have sued them as well, but, after I finally obtained their address, through Opodo, I added them as a defendant. But it would have been much easier to sue both from the off, as I had to go to court to apply to a judge to amend the claim, although this was simple enough. It did cost another £75 to do this, whereas the online procedure is only £25

Royal Air Maroc had not answered a single letter from me, but as soon as they got the court summons, they agreed to pay.

In my view, although I was unable to test this, Opodo, the agent, are also liable, for breach of duty of care to the end user, though not for breach of contract, as they act for a disclosed principal in every case. My view is that as Opodo and other agents are well aware of this name changing situation, they must give warning of this on their site, but certainly Opodo merely refers the buyer to the site of the airline, and its terms and conditions, at the point of purchase. it is impossible to find these terms. I tried.

I really advise anyone in this position, in the UK (that is for legal purposes England, Wales, N. Ireland) to use the small claims procedure, remembering that the courts are very pro-consumer in general

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Hi I have a doubt.

I have a ticket for a Finnair flight on Friday, I had the wrong title on my reservation, phoned the airline, and they told me they have issued an OSI which says: “please change gender of the passenger”. My question is, can check-in staff change it?

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What is happening here – has the site gone dead? At least four of the past eight postings have not received any response – the others were not queries but reports of action. People post queries because they are worried and expect to get a reply!
Perhaps those who queried potential problems such as Nick, Rob, Ray and Siiri would be good enough to report back with the end result of their problems – we could all learn from their experience.

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Sorry Darren – I did not mean to harass you. Thank you for responding.

There is still no conclusion to the problem raised in my own query (14 October). The airline says that there will be no problem with boarding permission with just one letter wrong in the given name, but this will not be put to the test until March 2009. I will report back when the facts are known.

I still think it would be a good idea for everybody raising a query to report back about how they solved it.

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Thanks Darren. Yes I will report back from Lapland
I was also wondering if the site was dead but it seems it was just sleeping

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I paid Thomas Cook to change Ms to Miss; too busy currently to take further. Advised as follows: Equality&Human Rights-may have claim for indirect sexual discrimination if can show suffered considerable detriment. Holiday Travel Watch- Thomas Cook were wrong and recommend taking legal advice via Which magazine. Trading Standards (Consumer Direct) – as tcook offered full refund would have to claim loss of bargain in having to buy a different package.

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My first name has a extra letter added to it for a BA flight to India.Will that be a problem ?
My last name is the same as in the Passport.

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@Sidh. I am interested in your problem as someone in my family is faced with the same – see my latest posting of 4 December.
Is your flight sheduled to take place soon?
I would be very interested to hear how your problem gets resolved.
Good luck and please report back.

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Hello

I booked a flight with Air malta and without thinking used my wifes original surname instaed of mine that she took up only 7 months ago after we got married

I can privide marriage certificates , old passports which have been cut , new passports etc….is there anything anyone can offer that might help me out

Air malta ha ssaid that because it is a non refundable flight i need to buy 1 extra ticket now and forfeit the other.

I am willing to pay a fix up fee as i understand i made the mistake…..

appreciate your help

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Darren,Tony & Mike,

Thanks for your valuable points.Well fortunately my name issue got resolved.My travel agent made it happen,they spoke with the airline people and got my name changed.Now my ticket is having my corrected name.

Thanks,
Sidh

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Yes to add , by rule name mismatch upto 3 letters is allowed subjected your name did not change totally. That what the airline people said to me.

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@Sidh. Thanks for the reports. Great news!
I am pleased that you had success with BA.
Now you can enjoy the festive season without worry.

hello

all , please to say air malta listened to my story , saw it was an honest mistake and for a small fee made the change to the right surname for me,,,,,they could see i wasnt asking for a complete transfer name , nor that i was planning to sell the ticket on…..

rang the head office in malta and found them very uinderstanding and helpful…………

case resolved…..

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My wife’s first name had one letter missing on a Delta airline return ticket from New York to Las Vegas. I had booked it through Orbitz and soon realized the error. When I called Orbitz, they said there would not be any issue and put a note in the Passenger Name Record of the Airline.
On the JFK as well as on Las Vegas airport no one noticed the missing alphabet on her first name. At both the airports, the airline staff issuing boarding pass as well as the security person looked at her Passport as well as the ticket/boarding pass presumably verifying the identity but none of them objected to anything.

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I booked with delta and accidently put my sirname in as the first name and vice versa. now the confirmed booking is the same. if i turn up at the airport will delta let me fly or should i contact the travel agent and get it changed?

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@ Eddie: It seems you have the same problem as Rob (posting of 12 November). I wonder how Rob solved it or how the outcome was when they checked in – they were due to fly in December.

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I’ve had a holiday to aus booked when ive came to do my visa for me and my family my sons and my wife went ok but mine came back due to a spelling mistake id put my booking down as barry and on my passport it was barrie they wont to cancel my ticket and re book it chargeing my £350 pound to change 2 letters not even the name flying with Emirates this dont seem fair this is causing me some distress

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just an update. I phoned the travel agent and they changed it no problem. I await a confirmation email though to assure me. I have no idea whether they cancelled the original booking and rebooked another or not though.

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Reading some of these messages and comments im slightly aghast that people seem to take air security so laxly, i work for a major travel agent and deal with these day in day out, certain airlines can and will make an amendment if its only two or three letters free of charge but occasionaly they dont and this is where charges come in (sometimes you are just down right unable to make any change at all)

Probably my most memorable case was an argument with a man who insisted the name was the same when he had entered two zs instead of two s’s. The fact that in securities eyes this can be taken as an entirely different name

When booking these tickets you agree to abide by what the airlines rules and regulations around the ticket are and sometimes this stretches to name changes

For booking flights you are generaly given three chances to check your details and it is absolutely amazing that some people manage to get this wrong, in this day and age how someone can believe that they can put down a name that is not LEGALLY theirs on an airline ticket is beyond me

Its strange that people who have little or no knowledge of the ticketing process can listen to the “man down the pub” and believe they have infinate knowledge and wisdom of the systems is again far beyond me

Yes you pay large amounts of money for a ticket and its soul destroying to find out you cant change a letter or two or three or find out that mike instead of michael wont be accepted but at the end of the day to your average joe bloggs an e-ticket may look like a piece of paper or an email but its what goes on behind the scenes that is what makes it cost or undo-able for example BA cant make a name change on a code shared ticket because not all airlines use the same system

As for the case of ajay above where an apparent misspelling was overlooked if it was logged on the system then the airport staff would have been notified prior to the arrival of the passenger, american airlines can guarantee internal flights in the US just by adding a remark on their system

Sorry rant over

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Hi Damian,

I am new on here and have been reading the posts with interest. I am in a bit of a quandary. I have recently lost my job. My friend had made a group booking, 5 of us which is due to fly out on 25th February.

I have informed Swiss Air of the situation and that I would like to change the name on the ticket to another friend, who will be able to go, as due to my changes in circumstance…I will be unable to go. The flights cost £200. I have said I am not going to sell the flight ticket on, I simply want to change the name on the ticket.

They have said I cannot, even though I have said I would pay an administration fee. They say that due to their T and C’s they cannot do this, despite the reasonable notice period and extenuating circumstances. I am aghast at this, as I cannot afford the flights anymore and am of the view that this has to be against legislation?

Could you please help??

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I don’t understand. Didn’t airline executives go to Buisness School? Don’t they know a happy customer is a repeat customer. I’m tired of the BS they put people through.

1. When I by a non-stop ticket I want a non-stop flight. I don’t want to be put on a stop over flight.
2. When I pick a flight with a certain time frame for arrival I don’t want to be put on a flight that arrives 2 hours later. Don’t tell me that the a 2 hour window is nothing. Arriving in Florida at 10:30 will allow you to at least spend the afternoon by the pool. When you arrive at 2:15 your afternoon is shot as well. When you arrive home at 10:30 pm then you can be home by 11:30. But when arriving at 12:00 am then you don’t get in until 1:30 and forget having the kids go to school.

Stop lying to people. “We only have seats next to the exits so we can’t assignthe seats until check in” This means we over booked the filght and we’re going to have to bump people.

“Just take this seat for now and we’ll straighten otu everything once we’re in the air” Means “sit down and shut up. So what if your 3 year old kid is twenty ailses up. Who cares. When we’re in the air will be to busy to deal with you”

The airlines don’t get that good customer service means $$ in repeat business.

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The difficulty seems to be that many people booking flights, particularly on line simply tick the box saying that they have read and agreed to the booking conditions and never for one moment think what they might be. There are fewer and fewer tickets sold at a price that allows cancellation or changes, surprisingly low cost carriers are sometimes better than the old ‘legacy ‘ carriers but we all have a responsibility to check before we book.

I fly to Manchester every few weeks, the full fare that allows me to cancel or change my booking is now over £360, but in the last 2 days I have made 12 bookings at £66 in the BMI sale. I know I can’t expect a sixpence back on those fares but saving £300 a time, the cost of a cheap non refundable ticket to New York(now where in the logic in that?) I am prepared to take the risk that during the year some of those flights may not be used. Airlines hope that some people won’t use the tickets, hence the concept of overbooking but if BMI sold every ticket at £66 (of which only £24 is the fare, the rest is tax and charges) they would go out of business very quickly.

If you buy a discounted ticket, you must understand that in getting the deal you give away something in return, and in reality air fares are incredibly cheap, I first flew to Los Angeles in 1983 for £299 on a scummy charter flight via Bangor Maine which took over 15 hours in total. 26 years later the fare has hardly changed even on decent scheduled airlines such as BA, what else hasn’t gone up in price? My annual season ticket for the train this year is £1920, 20 years ago in 1988 when I moved to London it was £548 and nothing has improved in the meantime!

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@risrd

“Just take this seat for now and we’ll straighten out everything once we’re in the air” Means “sit down and shut up. So what if your 3 year old kid is twenty ailses up. Who cares. When we’re in the air will be to busy to deal with you”

Basically shot yourself in the foot there if people faf around flapping about their seat then your flight is going to be late………not every delay/cancellation is in the case of making money, also really lets face it if you dont want a stop over buy the more expensive flight that is non stop (although possibly depending on route they may have to stop for fuel…..the flying metal birds dont have a limitless supply of fuel)

At the end of the day Alan has a very good point you get what you pay for, when you tick that tiny little box online agreeing to the terms and conditions you enter into a legally binding contract to abide by the airlines rules and restrictions, 9 times out of 10 most people dont know that as they dont take the time to read the fine print and then take it out on the company for what is essentially a fault on the customers part, no offense meant to anybody, but it is simple as that, you can rant and rave about consumer rights and watchdog (have even been threatened with the human rights act on one particular occasion)

but what about consumer responsibility, yes the airline and agents have a duty of care towards their customer but the consumer has a responsibility to make not just make a rash decision to book a flight for random dates or in a random name and then EXPECT that the airline/agent should waste time and money running round fixing errors that could have been avoided if people spent a little more time making the booking, verifying details etc.

If your making a booking online you are obviously old enough and wise enough and confident enough to use a computer.

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I’ve booked a return ticket for a mate with Ryanair under the name of Jon Casey. Problem is his passport says Jonathan. Anyone know if they’re likely to make an issue of it at the check-in? Ryanair website says £100 to change a name on a booking. If this is £100 each way then it’s cheaper just to book again and forget about the empty seat. Which seems like madness.

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Hi and sorry for the late reply. All went fine about the Mr/Mrs problem, no mention at all in any of the airports

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Thanks Darren. I rang Ryanair fearing the worst, but the fella I spoke to said it’s no problem as long as the surname is right. I’m still a little bit wary as this is just the say-so of one anonymous call centre operator. Does anyone have a email or postal address for Ryanair? I would like to get the policy down in writing if possible, but the Ryanair website seems to make it impossible for you to contact them in any way apart from through the call centre which, in true Ryanair style, charge you by the minute to wait on hold.

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Here’s one I don’t think has come up yet:
I just booked an international flight from germany to the us and gave the travel agency my first, middle and last name since that’s what you’re supposed to do. Only now, when I checked my booking online with BA, I see that they grouped my middle name with my last name, so my booking is under Middlename Lastname, Michelle. On the ticket where all names are written one after the other, everything looks fine, but in the computer, the booking is not under “Lastname” but “MiddlenameLastname”. BA can’t change it, my travel agency can’t change it. Is this going to be a problem? All names are on my American passport, just that my middle name is obviously on the line with my first name. Just how strict have they gotten at immigration?

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Thanks Darren, for such a quick response. They can’t change it without canceling the entire reservation (at an incredible cost) and booking something new. I know no one can give me any guarantees, but maybe someone can speak from experience about just how ridiculously exact everything needs to be? LIke I said, my passport name matches the ticket name, it’s just a stupid administrative matter of what appears on what line. I’m flying into JFK and then doing some inter-US travel and flying back via Heathrow.

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A man gets called Bob in all 50 email he receives every day. Gets called Bob by his wife, clients, friends etc. His legal name is of course Robert, is it so unforgivable that when he book his once-a-year vacation that when he sees Bob on his itinerary it doesn’t register?

Remember he has probably waited on hold for 20 minutes for some ditz who has bungled everything he has told her to that point and then told he has to act that second or the price will go up.

That assumes the person buying the ticket is buying it for her/himself.
I’ve worked for a number of insurance company’s, errors in names happen frequently. Reprinting a policy to make a correction take time and costs money – but no company charges for it.

Only on rare items do retail stores charge restocking fees. Why…. Good customer service. They want you to come back and won’t if they charge some fee to fix an error. That is what is missing in the travel industry and why they deserve to be in the trouble they are in now.

But lest also look at the cost and trouble involved, is it commencerate with the effort and cost to make the change? Someone just has to change a name in a database. As so many tickets are e-tickets, not even card stock is required. When someone charges substantially more than the actual value of something that is called gouging. It’s immoral.

Here is my answer. When I booked a flight on Air Transat and made an error with my wife’s name (married versus maiden name)… they wanted a ridiculous amount to change it. So, I’ll never use them again and I let my friends know and they agreed it was gouging and won’t either. I’m going to put my story on trip advisor.

That kind of thing will cost Air Transat far more than the absurd fee. Word of mouth is the best advertising. If they had not been so greedy I might have said I had a great holiday and others would have considered an endorsement from an independent person than a motivated advertiser.

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I’ve seen that most the MR/MS problems turn out fine, but what if the ticket says REV while the passport says MR? Will this be a problem?

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Hi sorry to bother but i was reading though and I’m in the same poistion as my daughter who is 15 has had her booking for some international flights booked as Mr instead of Miss or Ms…She is travelling with me and my other son…

I hoping there wont be a problem as on our Passports there’s no titles so in theory who are they to prove that she isnt a Mr for arguments sake.

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I don’t think you should have a problem, Ian… I read through the comments above and on some other websites and it seems most people who make that error don’t have any problems. I’m not sure if my problem is as simple though, but I hope so O:

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My father in law bought my husband and I international tickets to London as a wedding gift. The ticket is in my maiden name and my passport is still in my maiden, however, I have in fact changed my last name already to my married name with Social Security, Drivers License, Financial Institutions, etc. This ticket and my passport are the only things remaining in my maiden name, precisely for fear that I might not be able to use the ticket otherwise! The fight isn’t for another 5 months, and I was originally planning on changing my name on my passport and the ticket, but now I’m really not sure its the best idea….especially since the ticket was “bought” with my father in laws frequent flyer miles. I don’t know how that complicates the ticketing/name change issue. Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut, use the ticket and pray I get past TSA?? Any advice?

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btw… we’re flying with United. Anyone have a similar experience (good or bad) dealing with them?

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My daughter booked her holiday through the co op but her e ticket has the spelling of her name as Lucy but her passport spelling is Lucie. Her flight is with BMI through Malta Airlines. Will they allow a change of spelling and if so at what charge?

Any help would be appreciated.

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I am going on a skiing holiday within 2 weeks, a friend booked the holiday for 28 of us. Unfortunately although she does now how to spell my name, she has booked the tickets in the name of Robinson instead of Robertson. Crystal Holidays are insisting on a £50 per person charge to correct this. I understand that their T&C’s do clearly state the charges but you would think that for such a large group booking where the total spend is something in the region of £12,000 that they might waive this fee or reduce it as a goodwill gesture. The holiday was booked through Ian Allan travel and Crystal will not therefore talk to us directly

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Assuming a large part of that is flights, and resorts, you might want to realize that if they were to do it for free. When it wasn’t their fault, you probably just ate up all their commissions. Don’t think they make that much from their services.

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I found that I had spelled my christian name wrong on an eayjet flight this april.. Rang Easyjet and they changed it at no cost! Hope this is useful to someone.

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Mike please can you give me contact details for Easy Jet customer services as I also have same problem on my name.

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Ricky the number is 0871 244 2366 . You need to speak to an operator . I answered the questions which came up and it gave me what to do on the website. I then waited to be put through a operator and they helped me straight away.

Hope this helps

Mike

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I recently booked a round the world trip for 3 of us, Heathrow-SA-Seychelles-Thailand-NZ-OZ-USA-UK, through STA travel. One of the names of the travellers is Robert Stevens, however it turns out that on his passport its Robert Stevens-Burt. The STA agent I was dealing with says this will require everything to be changed and I will be charged around £600 for it. I am absolutely gutted and as a recent graduate it sort of kills my budget, is there no way this can be done simply. He says that apparently a few of the airlines would do it for free but some won’t. Surely as they were all booked with the same date of births etc it shouldn’t need a mass change?

Please help, any advice much appreciated.

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Well, This is just another example of poor customer service!

Bought ticket for mom to visit her brother, I put her first name, as her middle name. Yes I know, my mistake (Although minor ) Now I have been on the phone for 2 days with Priceline and AA. Everyone passing the buck! No one will help, and if they do it will cost me another 200$ just to make that minor name change…

So, I am just going to risk it and see if they will let me through, wish me luck!

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left middle name off booking form will they stop me boarding

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Hello to all!
I’ve just bought the ticket with Ryanair. Instead od having (First Name) (Middle Name) (Surname) as my name I have it booked as (First Name) (Surname) (Surname)
Don’t really know how I did it. I got online checkin. Do u think it will be ok to pass through the gate with such mistake?
Thanks in advance!

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any thoughts on ticket with “firstname lastname”, and passport with “firstname lastname III”?

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This is a follow-up to my posting of 14 October – about a wrong letter in the given name shown on the ticket.
Following attempts to clear up the matter over the telephone the airline had apparently noted the error in the computer, but the ticket was not changed. There was thus no problem when the passenger checked in in Australia for the first leg of the flight to Europe. However, when transferring flights in Dubai, the check-in person raised a query which had to be referred to a supervisor before the passenger was eventually allowed on board. We do n ot know yet how it will go on the return flight.
The issue here, which from reading several blogs I gather some people cannot understand although Darren has spelled it out many times, is that a European name sounds and looks familiar to European airline staff and small differences could probably be ironed out, but a small difference could mean an entirely different name to someone who’s language is not English – and even more so when the check-in person’s native language is written in an entirely different script.
So ‘len’ – my thought on your problem is that if the name is different in the two documents – such as James Francis (first-last) on the one and Francis James (first-last) on the other, you may have a problem in some countries.
MORAL: CHECK (TWICE) WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN BEFORE YOU HIT ‘ENTER’ !

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Thanks for the reply. My question was a little different. The example would be “James Francis” vs. “James Francis III”. It’s the importance of the “III” that I was questioning – it wasn’t an available field as I recall.

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I’ve booked online with Ryanair for later this summer for a large party to go to Italy.
One of the names is correctly spelled but I have used only lower case letters for the First Name, i.e no upper case (capital) for first letter of First Name.
I have phoned the Ryanair helpline and have been verbally assured that the lower case name issue is not a problem and that no name change is neccessary.
Has anyone any experience of this situation, are there likely to be any problems at check-in?

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Thought I would add my story in case it helps anyone: I booked tickets in my fiancee’s maiden name but her passport will be in her married name. I called Emirates and they said that to change the name would require cancelling and re-booking a new ticket. However, just bring along the old passport and a marriage certificate and you will have no problem as “we are used to this situation”. They also added a note on my booking.

Hopefully they will print a boarding pass in the married name as I don’t really look forward to having to explain everything at every security checkpoint we pass through. But Emirates staff were very reassuring that there would be no problem.

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Yes, I should have perhaps mentioned in my last post of 20 March that the airline the passenger flew with was Emirates on both legs – Brisbane/Dubai and Dubai/London.

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I have the same problem as Terry – I have booked with Ryanair for my family and have not put in any middle names, but first and last names are correct for everybody. I have tried to write to Ryanair but so far have recieved no reply – has anyone any ideas about whether we will be OK – I can’t bear the thought of it costing nearly £1000 for all of us to change our names as the first and last names match the passports. Thanks in advance for any help

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I recently made a redemption booking with BA to Singapore. I did not notice that my passenger name had already been entered and was greyed out and so I entered my own name again my mistake (and BA number). At the time it did not occur to me that it had not asked for the second passengers name as it was late. I was then working away for a few days and when I checked my email confirmation on my return found that I was listed under both passengers.
I contacted BA immediately and was told that as it was more than 24 hours after the mistake was noticed that I could not request a name change. I tried to explain that how could I be flying twice and was told that it could be a Father and Son with the same name. Possible but not likely. They then said they would put in a request for me but that it could not be guaranteed.
It has now been six weeks and nobody has had the decency to contact me so I phoned them. I was told that it would not be possible to change the name and I would have to cancel and re-book even though there are no redemption bookings left for that flight.
Two weeks after I made the initial request I spoke to somebody in bookings and they said the name change was going through and on the back of this I booked hotels in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur (non-refundable).
Even though both passengers have the same name and Executive Card number they are refusing to change the second name. In this computerised era there is no way that a simple name change cannot be completed. I am not even due to fly for nine months.

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i just booked a ticket for my boyfriend and i just realized after 2 days upon checking that instead of first name first on the field i typed in his last name and his first name on middle name field and middle name on last name field.HELP! is this a major problem? i’m freakde out. his flight is international:(

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Hi I have four tickets booked with Ryanair to Italy and have now checked in on online check in. The original booking was made by a friend and have just realized my dads name is spelt Keneth and his passport says Kenneth everything else including the surname is correct on the passport details. I really don,t want to leave my dad stranded if he can not travel.

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I change my wrong name on Ryan air ticket, the staff were fine and they did not charge me any money.

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Andrea:
U shonld call them as soon as possible and explain to them nicely then i will change for u. for free good lucky.

Joye Liu

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Just to let you know I have since managed to get through to Ryanair on the helpline (not too long a wait for them to pick up either – about 2 minutes) about the middle names missing on my booking. The lady I spoke to said that as long as the first and last names matched those on the passport there was no problem at all. Phew – hope everyone else has similar good news for their problems.

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Have just found out that my sisters husband will be unable to fly to Cyprus with us through a BA flight and been offered his ticket, as my surname is the same as three of the people who booked a ticket at the same time, does anyone think it possible for me to change his name to my own citing it as a mistake when booking ? ? ? any ideas T.I.A

Dave

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I booked some tickets this week and found I had mistakenly applied the title Dr instead of Mr although name is identical to my passport

Is there any risk of a problem with this?

There appears no reference on a UK passport

Thank you

Jeff

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As there is no reference to your title on your passport only first names and surnames I can not see this being a problem. As for an update on my situation with the missing n from my fathers first name. I did not have time to contact Ryanair and as the online check in had already taken place they would not have allowed me to change this, so we took a chance, pleased to say we travelled there and back with no problems. They seemed to check the passport number matched the ticket ref and photo more than anything.

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This is a final follow-up to my daughter’s problem. (See my posting of 20 March).
On the return trip from London to Brisbane with Emirates including a flight change in Dubai, questions were again raised at check-in over the spelling error on the ticket (one letter was wrong in the given name).
Fortunately Emirates, following telephone calls before the outward flight, had made a note about the problem in the computer, so after some checking, my daughter was allowed on board all flights – both outwards and return.
I would again emphasise that the first name and family name on a ticket MUST be the same as that on the passport, if one is to avoid problems – either major or minor.
If there is a discrapancy, contact the airline and try to sort it out before you fly.
You cannot expect check-in personnel who do not have English (or American) as their mother language to be able to understand that a slight mis-spelling does not indicate a completely different person.
It is in everybody’s interests that the person boarding is correctly identified.

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hi
havr booked flights with ryanair but put my friends name as Ken but on his passport it is kenneth
is this a problem
if I need to phone ryanair do you have the phone number

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On Ryanair’s homepage under ‘Customer Contact’ the following information is given for
Reservation Contact Numbers:

Ireland 0818 30 30 30 National rate
Great Britain 0871 246 0000 10p per minute

There are several other numbers, depending on which country you live in.

Hope this helps. Have a good weekend. Mike

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To add to my last, the Ryanair homepage also gives the following information:

Passenger names can be changed via the following methods:

Up to 4 hours prior to the schedule flight departure time via the Manage My Booking section of the website at a discounted rate. Please note – A passenger name can only be changed via this method before a passenger has checked in online.
Alternatively a Ryanair call centre (subject to opening hours) can change a passenger name up to 4 hours before the scheduled flight departure time. (Full rates apply)
At the airport a passenger name can be changed up to 40 minutes prior to the scheduled flight departure time (Full rates apply)
Name changes are not possible if any flight sector in the booking has been flown.

There is a name change fee per person. No fare difference is charged when changing a passenger name only.

No changes to the passenger name can take place once a passenger has checked in for a flight.

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My father in law has recenetly died wuite suddenly and I had booked tickets through a travel agent. The agent booked me two single tickets to do this cheaper( i didnt realise this until my confimration came through).
I have not been told to change a name frommy father in laws to his daughters name it will cost me £100.00 per flight. The flight alone did nto cost this much and the flight is not for another four months so no tickets etc have been issued.
It is a complete rip off and I will never use Ryanair again, many of the phone numbers to contact them are useless, the customer service team all seem to be in India and understanding someone is difficult and the fax machine in Ireland is constantly busy.
Very poor customer service.

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I know that this won’t go down well with some people but…
To get a ticket transferred, we told the airline that the friend of mine who had booked it was dyslexic, and had got confused with a list of names. It must have set off the ‘discrimination alarm’ in the call centre, as they promptly changed it for free…

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You say in the article “I do have to ask myself why consumers are spelling their name incorrectly”. In my case, the travel agent spelt my name incorrectly in the booking, even though they have my correct spelling on record! I guess the answer is to stop using travel agents.

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The question about the name change policy of airlines is easily explained. People want to fly cheap at ticket prices as low as € 400 to fly to the US from Europe. Which is nice, but airlines don’t earn any money on these flights. The regular fare will have to be much higher, about 1000 € or more.

Now what airlines do is they sell their tickets at different prices, adapted to the demand situation. If a flight fills up, tickets get more expensive. It is only logical that airlines will want to have control over their pricing strategy, meaning when to charge which price.

If name changes for cheap fares would be allowed, witty people could buy up the cheap seats on all flights as they become available, and later sell them to other people (and changing name) for a higher price. This is against the marketing system of the airlines and therefore would kill their pricing policy. Therefore, they have to limit or inhibit name changes.

Full-fare Eco or Business tickets usually dont have these restrictions anyway – so there is no reason to complain! If we want to fly cheap, we cant expect full service!

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My daughter;s name was misspelled on her passort. The US Passport agency issued a ccrrection and put it in the last page of her passport. She had nothing but hassles and finally just paid the $65 or so to have a new passport issued.

I have a group going to China. The agency wants everyone’s middle names this year. I took a tour group last year with just first and last names as on passports and had no trouble.

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i soon going to france with ryanair for a funeral, when booking my tickets, i added an “e” to much on my mom’s surname. how much will i be charged for?

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You would probably be charged £100, I would leave it and see if they notice, if they do you can always change it at the airport but will still have to pay the charge.

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Yesterday a travel agent issued me a return ticket from Canada to India. The route involves Air Canada, Lufthansa and Jet Air (going via London, return via Frankfurt). I gave them my correct name in the correct order as in my passport but they have issued the ticket in a wrong order – Middlename Lastname Firstname. I notified them immediately but no response yet. I fly on June 2.
They have also made an error with my infant daughter’s name by joining the First and Middle name as follows: Firstnamemiddlename Last name

Will this be a problem?
If so, how does one solve this? Will going to the airport check-in counter today (10days before flying) resolve the issue?

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The travel agent says he will put our passport numbers with the PNR no. of our tickets. Do you think that will take care of the problem?

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Hi, similarly my first name spells “Marcs” instead of Marcus in Ryanair reservation.
Only first name mis-spelt; surname is correct.
Any idea this might cause a problem?
Particularly with online check-in; how will the system react when I enter my name with an “u”?

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Marcus. You will see a comment from myself about an n missing out of Kenneth on my fathers ticket. We took a chance and to be honest the first name was not even looked at they looked at the photo and to check the passport number matched that on the on line check in print out. We had no problems on both the return flights. The online check in will take the name from the original booking and you can not change this as I tried it is already entered. My advice would be that it should be fine, but leave a bit extra time just in case there is a problem.

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I agree that it may seem unfair to be charged to correct a name but at the same time with airline ticket fares appearing to be at ridiculously low rates before you add on the seat fee, the luggage fee, the toilet fee, the blanket fee, the seat belt fee and all the taxes is it not reasonable that an airline get paid for their time? They aren’t selling another seat for your cheeks in the time that it takes to fix your name and let you go. Then of course the rest of the work happens to reissue your ticket with the correct name and send you an email.

Within reason I think the fees are fair. In such a low margin world, driven by consumer demands, the consumers that need more help and service end up paying for it. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if we could receive amazing service and the travel planners and airlines could in turn earn a reasonable living??

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Well written lisal!

My feelings entirely.

If people cannot spell their own name when they book a ticket, what is the world coming to!

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I am sorry Lisal but I have to disagree, if the airline advertised the flight at cheap cost then they should be charging to cover any overheads.
I realise there can be an admin charge like car insurance (they usualy charge £20-£50 for paperwork changes). I was charged £200 to change only the first name because my relative had died four months before any paperwork has even been issued.
Not fair at all.

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I have purchased a ticket from RYANAIR for my mother to fly to Ireland for a family weddding, stupidly I put my first name instead of hers,, and RYANAIR want £100 for a name change!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It will actually be cheaper to buy a new ticket and repay for the baggage!This, to me at least, is absolutey disgusting, How are they allowed to charge such ridiculous prices when there are no tickets(its online check-in) and a simple name s all it is!!!!!!!!!!Absolutely disgusted

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My boyfriend is a refugee from Vietnam. He has no birth certificate and his citizenship certificate lists his name in the Vietnamese way – Middle name, first name, last name. This is because his father wrote it this way for him on the citizenship certificate form and it was transferred onto the certificate itself.

All his other ID, his drivers license, everything, has his name listed as normal – First name, middle name, last name. We booked international flights before he got his passport and then applied for the passport. However, the passport office would only issue a passport with his name listed as it is on the citizenship certificate – with his middle name as his first name. All his other ID, with his name around the other way was used to support the passport application, which was approved and issued this week with his middle name as his first name and vice versa. His ticket only lists his first name and last name.

What are the chances of us getting his ticket changed? We have no problem paying a fee to change this, we just need to get him on the plane. He has a drivers license and lots of other ID that match the name on his ticket, and his passport has both names on it, but it is not an exact match. it is an internation flight from Sydney to LA.

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