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!

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.

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.

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 !!!!

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

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!

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.

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!!!

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!

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.

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??

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….

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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 !……………………

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?

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!

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.

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

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.

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…

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?

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?

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?

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.

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.

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…..

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?

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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’

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.

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.

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.

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

Middle name is insignificant.

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

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!!!!!

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.

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.

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

Hi Alan,

No worries, the direct flight to mumbai is via heathrow. But I still feel it is a day light Robbery when no time allowance is given for corrections in respect of passenger details (etickets). After all everything else can be changed quite easily for instance, there is allowance to input and later alter the advance passport information, meals, seating etc (all within time frame). It’ s not as if Prices are going to hike in 24 hours or so to sell ticket’s on black market. To be honest my name is very common amongst asian’s so am even tempted to sell the ticket off. It’s not about the money, it’s a scam! we must make a stand for our principles! The Banks were arrogant like this once, now we are in a position to kick a bank a week where it hurts. I hope the Air industry is next to be kicked arround from pillar to post………….

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?

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.

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

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.

@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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!