Air New Zealand Air Points - Slight name change

I am about to become a dual citizen USA and Australia probably in Nov this year at a citizenship ceremony. My US passport has my maiden name as part of my surname-as does my UA MP card. My new Australian passport will have only my married name. Both passports will be valid but I will be required to use the Aussie passport in and out of OZ. The difference will be like Old passport Jane Smith Doe, New passport Jane Doe. I have my marrige certificate to prove both maiden and married names. The quandary is that I have finally managed to get UA MP seats on BNE-CHC-RAR and I have to ticket them within 72 hours. We are not going anywhere near the USA only to NZ and Rarotonga. No way I can change my MP card so quickly and I don't have the Aussie passport yet. If I wait too long, I will probably loose the seats-RAR seats seem to be RARE! What name should I use? Any better ideas? All flights are on NZ, that's why posting here and not in UA forum.

Use the name in the passport you are going to use - avoids any prospect of hassles at immigration. Name on card is only relevant to the airline and you can easily show it is you.

OK, I rang NZ, they will refuse boarding if the names don't match. I also rang UA who would be issuing the ticket-if I want to change the name it is $75 fee, cancel old booking and rebook-only if seats in FF class still available. :mad: Bottom line is I am going to lose the seats because I can't commit to a booking until I know how my new passport will read. :mad:

It's not illegal to carry two passports and the airline must simply check that you have a. a passport and a ticket with the same name and b. the appropriate visa for your destination.

Surely carrying both passports will achieve both those aims? i.e. book the ticket now in the name in your US passport and show that to check-in staff with your ticket. They may then ask for proof you have immigration authority to Australia [or they may not] in which case you can show them your Aussie passport. Then at immigration just show your Aussie passport.

I think you are asking the wrong question. If you ask them what do you need after marriage to show that you are who you are, they will likely say the original (1) wedding certificate and (2) old and (3) new passports.

While, not totally your situation it is essentially the same.

You just need to show the paper trail to them which shows how you got from one name to the other with original documents.

At least this was the advice given by SK, BA and AA when my wife changed her name a year ago.

For various reasons to do with booking ahead to get the cheapest fare combined with her fork forgetting about her change of name she travelled for almost 12 months on the old name. Only once (AA LAX) ask to see the wedding certificate. If she was ever questioned she just smiled and said that she was just married at which point all was understood and off she went.

This is an extremely common situation which is handled by airlines everyday without collecting $75 from every lovestruck couple on their honeymoon!

I think you have received bad advice and I would just carry all documentation with you. Does your US passport still have a valid ETA (I would guess so?) if so you can use that to check in, the legal requirement is that you must use your australian passport to exit and enter Australia, so you use one to checkin and the other to go through customs. Someone else may chose to comment on that as it is just an idea...

Mark

I had thought of that, but the boarding pass (American passport) won't match the Aussie passport. Anyway, 72 hours have passed and I am sure I lost the booking-would have been yetserday. I just hate that UA is so hardnosed about everything-I don't see why I couldn't have just paid the taxes and held off issuing a ticket until I had my new passport. :mad: