wrong name on plane ticket

finnigan

I,m looking for a bit of advice.
Long story short is I paid for a flight and it turns out the surname is spelt wrong.
Travel agents have accepted it was their mistake. They are telling me they spoke to airline and it should be ok to fly but wont guarantee 100% we can still board!
Am I right in thinking they have to put this right? I don,t fancy going to airport and getting refused because its not my name on ticket.
thanks in advance for any advice

cookie1977

They've accepted fault so they would have to put it right yes.

irish_goat

Can you not ring the airline directly? Failing that, demand the travel agent does as whilst you should get away with minor mistakes, they may refuse you at the airport.

Plus if you're going somewhere like the USA it's not a good idea to have dodgy travel documents.

finnigan

cookie1977 wrote: »

They've accepted fault so they would have to put it right yes.

I thought that but they are deffo dragging their heels!
Is it a case of them having to but new tickets from airline?

finnigan

irish_goat wrote: »

Can you not ring the airline directly? Failing that, demand the travel agent does as whilst you should get away with minor mistakes, they may refuse you at the airport.

Plus if you're going somewhere like the USA it's not a good idea to have dodgy travel documents.

travelling to south east Asia with tickets that are not in my name is not a good idea either.
airline say its probably ok but wont put anything in writing!

cookie1977

Are they a member of the ITAA?
http://www.itaa.ie/

Maybe query it with them

finnigan

cookie1977 wrote: »

Are they a member of the ITAA?
http://www.itaa.ie/

Maybe query it with them

thanks, I never thought of that

jor el

An airline will change the name on the ticket for a small fee. Tell the travel agent that you want them to do this, and make them pay for it. There's no point in them telling you it might be OK. Might be is not good enough, and you shouldn't accept it.

cup of tea

jor el wrote: »

An airline will change the name on the ticket for a small fee. Tell the travel agent that you want them to do this, and make them pay for it. There's no point in them telling you it might be OK. Might be is not good enough, and you shouldn't accept it.

I can tell you It's my no means a 'small fee'. The charge they gave me to change the name on a ticket was more then the flight actually cost itself. Was so ridiculous that we ended up taking the risk and not changing it....and got away with it

Edit: found some of Ryanairs costs....

If booked online the flight change rate of £50/€50 per one way flight/per person applies or if booked at an airport or reservation centre the rate of £75/€75 per one way flight /per person applies. In addition to these flight change fees, any price difference between the original fare paid and the lowest total price available at the time of the flight change is charged. Please note that if the fare on the new flight is lower, no refund will be made.

A passenger name can be changed online at the rate of £110/€110 or via the airport or reservation centre at the rate of £160/€160. Name changes can be made up to 4 hours prior to the scheduled flight departure time either online (unless you have already checked in online*)or via a reservation centre (subject to opening hours). Any name change made to a flight reservation must be for that individual passenger's complete flight itinerary.

finnigan

Full story is, my wife and i flew out together but returning from thailand at different dates (her a month later). We found the mis-spelling on my wife,s surname the night before we travelled.
At that stage we did not know who made the mistake but to change the name on ticket there would be a charge of €150 + the difference in price of anew ticket, which would be over €7000.
That night there was no sleep got, we were worried sick!
We took the chance and Emirates let her travel.
Now i,m back and the travel agent has listened to the recording of me making the original booking and the informed me they made a typo!
The travel agent said it should be ok, but if there is a problem they will sort it!
How and When???
As she is trying to check-in at Bangkok airport a few hours before she departs?
All it takes is 1 person to decide its not her name on ticket and refuse to let her board!
I think agent should change name on her return flight but they are trying to get out of it. i think its down to the fact they would have to pay Emirates for new ticket.

cookie1977

well it's late now but i suppose if by chance she is refused at the airport it sounds like they'll sort the new ticket by the way they say "they'll sort it". maybe get something in writing from them saying that. and definitly talk to the itaa if you've any problems.

finnigan

cookie1977 wrote: »

well it's late now but i suppose if by chance she is refused at the airport it sounds like they'll sort the new ticket by the way they say "they'll sort it". maybe get something in writing from them saying that. and definitly talk to the itaa if you've any problems.

At this stage I will not take anything in writing from the agent. As far as I,m concerned it wont be worth the paper it,ll be written on.
I want it from airline and they will not give me anything in writing and still do not guarantee 100% that she can travel.

cookie1977

finnigan wrote: »

At this stage I will not take anything in writing from the agent. As far as I,m concerned it wont be worth the paper it,ll be written on.
I want it from airline and they will not give me anything in writing and still do not guarantee 100% that she can travel.

the airline isn't at fault in this case so they wont guarantee anything. how bad is the error? a letter or completely wrong name?

finnigan

cookie1977 wrote: »

the airline isn't at fault in this case so they wont guarantee anything. how bad is the error? a letter or completely wrong name?

Just a letter on her surname.
Dont seem a big deal but the agent was very clear in the beginning that the airline may not let her travel.
Needless to say, we were worried sick the night before we travelled.
I am not going through that again.
The travel agent say they will sort it if she cant fly, but at that stage she will be at airport a few hours before she due to depart.
Way too late as far as I,m concerned.

cookie1977

well i've had a letter left out of my name a number of times and had no problem travelling. no comfort probably, but she'll probably be alright. get as much evidence out of the travel agent you can of their mistake in case she is stopped and keep the fingers crossed. good luck.

finnigan

cookie1977 wrote: »

well i've had a letter left out of my name a number of times and had no problem travelling. no comfort probably, but she'll probably be alright. get as much evidence out of the travel agent you can of their mistake in case she is stopped and keep the fingers crossed. good luck.

Thanks.
I,m fairly sure she,ll be ok to travel but I,m not willing to let her take the chance.
I think I,m quiet with-in my rights to demand a new ticket.
If she was somewhere a bit closer I may take the chance but not flying from the far side of the world.
The last person I spoke to (a supervisor) in the travel agents could not help me and they are getting someone higher up the ladder to contact me on monday.
We,ll see what the outcome of that will be.

ArphaRima

I have travelled many many times with misspelled names on my tickets.
I have worked for an airline and whilst I did not work check-in I seem to remember somebody saying there is a number of characters (maybe 3?) allowed to be wrong.

Most will change an electronic ticket without a fuss though. I dont see why the agent is being so awkward?
Are you flying Ryanair at any point? They can be awkward as hell but even in your case you'll be fine.

Just a letter on her surname.

No issue! Stop fretting about nothing.

finnigan

fluffer wrote: »

I have travelled many many times with misspelled names on my tickets.
I have worked for an airline and whilst I did not work check-in I seem to remember somebody saying there is a number of characters (maybe 3?) allowed to be wrong.

Most will change an electronic ticket without a fuss though. I dont see why the agent is being so awkward?
Are you flying Ryanair at any point? They can be awkward as hell but even in your case you'll be fine.


No issue! Stop fretting about nothing.

They will change the name on ticket for a charge and the difference in price of a new ticket!
Its a 2 flight return and both with Emirates who say it,ll probably be ok but will not guarantee 100% she,ll be allowed to board.
Its easy to say stop fretting but right from the start we,ve been told "no guarantee of being allowed to fly".
The flights were not cheap and I think we should have the peace of mind to fly without worries.
After all, its what we paid for.

ArphaRima

What you're dealing with is people on the lower end of the food chain. Monkeys with typewriters. They are qualifying everything they say just so that you cant quote them and they'll be responsible.

I live in Asia, I'm a very frequent traveller and I work for an airline. I am telling you there is no issue. My name has been bastardised almost beyond recognition a few times to no effect.

You are also flying with Emirates. When you see Dubai and look around you'll see why misspelled names wont be an issue. Illiterate Indian contract workers dont even know how to write yet they travel..
Just leave it.

mickoneill30

finnigan wrote: »

Just a letter on her surname.
Dont seem a big deal but the agent was very clear in the beginning that the airline may not let her travel.
Needless to say, we were worried sick the night before we travelled.
I am not going through that again.
The travel agent say they will sort it if she cant fly, but at that stage she will be at airport a few hours before she due to depart.
Way too late as far as I,m concerned.

I was told before by an Air France rep that IATA rules allow 3 characters in the name to be incorrect. The reason I was asking was that I had the same problem. My wifes first name was spelt incorrectly. An e was replaced by an o. We were going to Thailand too. It was no problem at all when we were travelling.

If it was to the US she said it would be a problem.

If your wife was denied boarding then wouldn't it be the travel agents problem to get you a new ticket with any airline. I know you don't want to be in that situation but if your travelling seperately you can be in the office looking at them while they get her sorted. I don't think she'll have a problem though.

finnigan

I understand what your saying guys but i,m not happy with her travelling with ticket the way it is at the moment.
The travel agent has not once told me Emirates will allow any typos or misspellings but have told me there should not be a problem! But nothing definite!!
Do you not think its right that we should be issued with a new ticket when they would have been quiet happy to let me pay for the very same thing before we departed Dublin?

jmorrisey

finnigan wrote: »

I understand what your saying guys but i,m not happy with her travelling with ticket the way it is at the moment.
The travel agent has not once told me Emirates will allow any typos or misspellings but have told me there should not be a problem! But nothing definite!!
Do you not think its right that we should be issued with a new ticket when they would have been quiet happy to let me pay for the very same thing before we departed Dublin?

Your dead right, being told it should
be okay is no help. You want some peace of mind and not to have this worry over you until the flight. You are 100% within your rights to demand that the travel agent corrects their mistake immediately.

If it was your mistake and you sought to have it rectified you would be footing the bill so why should you have to take the risk (even its a tiny) for a mistake they made.

I cant believe so many people on here are telling you to leave it/it should be fine. If thats the case why dont the travel agent put something in writing guaranteeing to sort you out should you have any problems.



The travel agent saying if theres a problem they'l sort it out may not be much use when at the airport. They may well sort it out but it could take hours or days to do so.

Anyway you should contact the travel agent by email and phone and tell them there is already a problem caused by a mistake on their part and you expect them to fix it immediately without any further delay.

CaliforniaDream

Why don't you just call Emirates, explain the situation and see what they say?
If the say it's an issue, tell the travel agents this and make sure they get your wife on the correct flight home by whatever means needed.
If Emirates say it's not an issue then leave it. It almost seems like you want to make this a bigger issue than it should be. The travel agents shouldn't have to fork out 7,000Euro when there's no need.

mickoneill30

I'd agree with jmorisy.

You paid for a ticket to fly from Bangkok to Dublin. If the travel agent made the mistake and they can't guarantee your wife will be let on the plane then they should reissue the ticket. You didn't pay for a ticket that might allow your wife to fly. If they can't say she'll have no problem with the ticket then they should give her one that will have no problem.

I don't know why the travel agent can't guarantee that your missus can fly on that ticket with no issues though. I'm sure they have an Emirates rep they could clarify it with pretty easily. When I went a similar route with Air France there was no doubt in my agents opinion and she was showing an IATA rule at me so I was confident enough. They didn't even look twice at the ticket when we were checking in. If your travel agent can't do the same then I'd be asking for a new ticket.

Fey!

I've had my surname spelt wrong on tickets a few times and not had any issues.

Of all airlines, in our experience Emirates customer service is excellent and they do try to be as helpful as they can.

I've had a situation like the OPs with Ryanair in the past (100% my own fault), and their helpdesk changed the spelling for me with no fuss and no charges; I think the charges are for a full change of the persons name, such as from Joe Blggs to John Doe, where it would be a different person flying.

finnigan

Thanks for the input guys.
The only thing Emirates are saying is that she should,nt have a problem but wont guarantee that she,ll be allowed to travel.
It seems that you cant just change a name on ticket with out incurring big charges which is down to the travel agent!
The agents are due to call me over the next day or 2 so we,ll see what they say but anything short of a letter of guaranteed boarding from Emirates or a corrected ticket from agents is, in my opinion, very unacceptable.
To all replies that stated i should just leave it, why the hell should I??
I paid for a flight in my wife,s full correctly spelt name which is not what we have!
If I have the proper ticket with the proper name both of us can relax in the knowledge that there wont be a problem. As it stands, there may be a bloody big one!

Fey!

Finnegan; have you pointed out to Emirates that it is just a mis-spelt name and NOT a complete name change? Have you spoken to Emirates directly, or have you just spoken to Aer Lingus (they have a partnership agreement, don't they?)?

orionm_73

If they have allowed your wife to travel on the outbound flights, they will have to allow her fly home on the same ticket.

finnigan

orionm_73 wrote: »

If they have allowed your wife to travel on the outbound flights, they will have to allow her fly home on the same ticket.

Can you give me a link to where you actually read that please?

@ Fey! Emirates have said there should not be a problem, but nothing is guaranteed, which as I said already, is not good enough.
And its nothing to to with Aer Lingus so why involve them?

amtc

I got stopped going into Australia as my passport was A***** M******* T****** but my Visa was only the first two. Needed a quick call to my dad back in Dublin to get my birth cert faxed over. And three hours in immigration

finnigan

I just spoke to travel agents.
They are getting an e-mail to me stating that in the event that my wife is not allowed to board flight, they will get her on the next available flight home, are liable for any costs incurred and are sincerely sorry for any distress caused!
Emirates still refuse to change the name on the ticket as its against their policy.
It is only 1 letter wrong but still not guaranteed to be allowed to board.
All I wanted from the start was the best possible chance for my wife to be able to travel home, on the same flight.
Worst case now is she,ll travel on a different flight, on the same day(hopefully)!
Thanks to all who gave an input here.
Finnigan