Russia - 2 passports -different last name. Which one put on the tickets?

I have 2 passports (US & Russian) with different last name. I need to go to Russia. Today Russian embassy advise me to buy tickets on my name what in Russian passport. The question is: will I have a problem enter USA (on the way back from Russia) if ticket and US passport have different last names but I will have a copy of marriage certificate on me? Appreciate any advise!!!

I don't think you'll have any problem reentering the U.S. as the CBP person checking your passport won't see your ticket. Boarding the flight back to the States, however, might be a different story. I would call the airline your are going to buy the ticket from and explain the situation and see if they are ok with this.

i would buy them on your US name. and make sure you have your change of name docs in BOTH russian and english with official translation (notarized). 99% you won't need it, but if the 1% strikes, you will be really stuck.

I would buy them on the name in Russian passport.
If you think about the routine of getting to/out of Russia, this is the most sensible option of all.
1. Checking-in in the US: give your Russian passport to the agent. They do not care how you got to the US, but they would be keen to make sure you have paperwork to enter Russia.
2. There's no immigration control when leaving the US (unless TSA decides it doesn't have much to do and starts checking passports at the gate)
3. Russian immigration: give them your Russian passport. they don't care how you got into the US and they neither will they check your boarding card.
4. Checking-in for your return flight. Give both of your passports to the check-in agent. There are quite a few Russians travelling on two passports, so it won't be a big surprise to anyone.
5. Immigrations. Give your Russian passport. Immigration officers do not care how and if you gonna make it into your country of destination (these are you and your carrier's problems), but they do need to make sure you stayed in Russia legally. And they will need your Boarding card too. Different names on your passport and your ticket will raise questions.
5. Border Control in the US. Give your US passport to these guys. They will not need your tickets or boarding cards.

I would buy them on the name in Russian passport.
If you think about the routine of getting to/out of Russia, this is the most sensible option of all.
1. Checking-in in the US: give your Russian passport to the agent. They do not care how you got to the US, but they would be keen to make sure you have paperwork to enter Russia.
2. There's no immigration control when leaving the US (unless TSA decides it doesn't have much to do and starts checking passports at the gate)
3. Russian immigration: give them your Russian passport. they don't care how you got into the US and they neither will they check your boarding card.
4. Checking-in for your return flight. Give both of your passports to the check-in agent. There are quite a few Russians travelling on two passports, so it won't be a big surprise to anyone.
5. Immigrations. Give your Russian passport. Immigration officers do not care how and if you gonna make it into your country of destination (these are you and your carrier's problems), but they do need to make sure you stayed in Russia legally. And they will need your Boarding card too. Different names on your passport and your ticket will raise questions.
5. Border Control in the US. Give your US passport to these guys. They will not need your tickets or boarding cards.

^ Agreed.

above it correct. An observation - i've traveled plenty under either US or non-US names (same situation as OP). I've generally found that using my US name on ticket and showing my US passport first gave me better treatment and less scrutiny that going with my non-US foot forward (even if i eventually I show both passports). Everything from airline ticket agents to TSA to gate agents and even foreign immigration.
I can count almost 100% that if my ticket is in my non-US name, I will have "random" secondary with very thorough examination of my carry on. With US name, rarely happens. And just less questioning by everyone overall.
on a more practical level - all my FF accounts are in my US name and if I'm getting miles for a flight, I book it in the same name as my FF account. maybe this doesn't apply to the OP.

I would buy them on the name in Russian passport.
If you think about the routine of getting to/out of Russia, this is the most sensible option of all.
1. Checking-in in the US: give your Russian passport to the agent. They do not care how you got to the US, but they would be keen to make sure you have paperwork to enter Russia.
2. There's no immigration control when leaving the US (unless TSA decides it doesn't have much to do and starts checking passports at the gate)
3. Russian immigration: give them your Russian passport. they don't care how you got into the US and they neither will they check your boarding card.
4. Checking-in for your return flight. Give both of your passports to the check-in agent. There are quite a few Russians travelling on two passports, so it won't be a big surprise to anyone.
5. Immigrations. Give your Russian passport. Immigration officers do not care how and if you gonna make it into your country of destination (these are you and your carrier's problems), but they do need to make sure you stayed in Russia legally. And they will need your Boarding card too. Different names on your passport and your ticket will raise questions.
5. Border Control in the US. Give your US passport to these guys. They will not need your tickets or boarding cards.

This sounds like a sensible solution if your flight out of Russia is non-stop arriving straight to the US. But what do you do when you have to change planes in another country on the way?

Let's assume I purchase my ticket in my maiden name as stated in my Russian passport. But my flight back is not direct - I have to change planes in Korea. When I fly out of Russia and check in with the airline, I would give them my Russian passport. However, at the same time they also issue a boarding pass for my connecting flight from Korea.

I know for a fact that when I board my connecting flight in Korea, the airline will want to check my boarding pass and the passport and they will want to see my US passport because that's my destination and my proof of legal entry. But my US passport has a different name! So what do I do? I don't think they will let me board the flight if the name on the ticket is different from my US passport.

Has anyone had problems going through Russian passport control with the ticket in the US married name and Russian passport in the maiden name? I actually have a notation on page 35 that the "Bearer of this passport also is knows as XXX" (my US married name). So I've been buying my ticket in my married name but last time the lady at the Russian passport control gave me hard time about it.

Any thoughts?

But what do you do when you have to change planes in another country on the way?


I have Russian and US passports with different last names. In the past I was bying tickets with both last names on it with the hyphen and did not have any porblems.
But last year I had a problem in Germany where I spent few days on the way back to US from Russia. I bought multistop ticket: US-Russia-Germany-US. In Germany AirFrance refused to check me on my flight because I had two passports with different last names - they claimed that it is illegal. I had to buy a NEW ticket to get back to the US!

I have to fly to Russia again this year and there is no direct flight. Most likely I will have to stop somewhere in Europe. If I get ticket on my Russian name, how will I be treated in Europe espcially on the way back to US? What shall I do? I dont want to go thru this again. Please, help!

I have to fly to Russia again this year and there is no direct flight. Most likely I will have to stop somewhere in Europe. If I get ticket on my Russian name, how will I be treated in Europe espcially on the way back to US? What shall I do? I dont want to go thru this again. Please, help!

Why not change your Russian passport to reflect the same name? My wife and all our Russian friends took the extra step to change their Russian passports to reflect the same name.

When my wife first returned to Russia in 2001, she didn't even have her Alien Card yet, but rather returned on a "Travel Document". She had no problems with the two different names either in US or Russia. She merely showed her Russian passport, US Travel Document and our Marriage Certificate.

We never had connecting flights until after she had changed her Russian passport, so I don't know about that question

Why not change your Russian passport to reflect the same name?
Not a bad advise; however, there might be some unexpected consequences. Russian names are written in Cyrillic script, and what exists in external passports are just their transliterated versions. The rules for transliteration use phonetics, so for instance, letter "ж" is transliterated as "zh". For instance, if somebody with the name John Cortney becomes Russian citizen, his name in Russian will be Джон Кортни. His transliterated name in external Russian passport may well be Dzhon Kortni :) The same situation would apply to those dual Russian-American citizens who want to change their Russian names to reflect American names.

I do not know if a person can ask for an exception from transliteration rules in Russia. Even if so, it will have to be done with every external passport renewal application.

Not a bad advise; however, there might be some unexpected consequences. Russian names are written in Cyrillic script, and what exists in external passports are just their transliterated versions. The rules for transliteration use phonetics, so for instance, letter "ж" is transliterated as "zh". For instance, if somebody with the name John Cortney becomes Russian citizen, his name in Russian will be Джон Кортни. His transliterated name in external Russian passport may well be Dzhon Kortni :) The same situation would apply to those dual Russian-American citizens who want to change their Russian names to reflect American names.

I do not know if a person can ask for an exception from transliteration rules in Russia. Even if so, it will have to be done with every external passport renewal application.

In International Passports they use a special translation program and we have always found they translate it properly in the English Language.

In International Passports they use a special translation program and we have always found they translate it properly in the English Language.
A special translation program? Since 2010, they use a "neutral" phonetic transliteration that is not linked to any specific language. They will not automatically translate Джон as John for the external passport. Here is the official link to ГОСТ Р 52535.1-2006 (http://protect.gost.ru/v.aspx?control=8&baseC=-1&page=0&month=-1&year=-1&search=&RegNum=1&DocOnPageCount=15&id=120830&pageK=FEBC4724-215A-4FD6-BEA9-8F7E37C5F7E1). Probably, you can ask for an exception, but you should not rely on this "special program" to detect which language the name should be correctly translated to.

Not a bad advise; however, there might be some unexpected consequences. Russian names are written in Cyrillic script, and what exists in external passports are just their transliterated versions. The rules for transliteration use phonetics, so for instance, letter "ж" is transliterated as "zh". For instance, if somebody with the name John Cortney becomes Russian citizen, his name in Russian will be Джон Кортни. His transliterated name in external Russian passport may well be Dzhon Kortni :) The same situation would apply to those dual Russian-American citizens who want to change their Russian names to reflect American names.

I do not know if a person can ask for an exception from transliteration rules in Russia. Even if so, it will have to be done with every external passport renewal application.

My dad asked for an exception with MID in Russia when he got his external passport (under duress) back in 2010. I tried to do the same at the Consulate in Houston & they gave me gobbledygook about a computer program transliterating everything "the right way", even though it ended up being different from my American-spelled name.

I think I'm just going to go to the local Court & change my American surname to the Russian surname....which is the right spelling, anyways. Whoever translated our names in 1992 screwed up, using French rules instead of English rules. Oh, well.

Legally, some people do have different last or family names in passports from different countries. Keep in mind that different legal jurisdictions have different rules about names and/or name changes, with some jurisdictions having more restrictions on assignment of names or changing of names (i.e. first, last, given or family names or perhaps all or some combination of them) than others.

For most US citizens, changing names is relatively easy compared to the process in some other countries, so some opt to get things "fixed" in the US instead.

Whoever translated our names in 1992 screwed up, using French rules instead of English rules.Nothing to wonder about as French used to hold the position of language of diplomacy and international affairs. We still have our driving licenses titled 'Permis de conduire'.

Since 2010, they use a "neutral" phonetic transliteration that is not linked to any specific language.They do, do they? I was quite anxious about my passport I was about to get in late 2011 because there were rumors of spelling changes. In my name quite a number of 'Y's should be changed into 'I's. Nevertheless, I got my passport in the same spelling as the previous one (not compliant with the GOST you've given a link to).

Nothing to wonder about as French used to hold the position of language of diplomacy and international affairs. We still have our driving licenses titled 'Permis de conduire'.

That doesn't make it any less annoying. It's already affected me by asking my FFP to change my name, since I can't just do it at will whenever I want.

RussianTexan -----> Max Power or Dick Hardwood.