znke252

An error was made with my cousin's name on a SYD-YYZ return ticket. (A relative booked the ticket and included an extra "e" in the first name.)

The ticket was booked via CheapOAir, which has indicated that the name cannot be changed and has offered to refund half the price of the ticket.

My cousin has called Qantas and was told that the airline can't make the correction for the SYD to LAX segment. (UA has changed the spelling on the ticket for the second leg, from LAX to YYZ.)

Is the Qantas customer service rep correct?

Mwenenzi

Airlines will not touch a ticket issued by a travel agent. Talk to your travel agent:- CheapOAir. Your get the service you pay for.
Have you got the USA visa?

znke252

The only recourse available at this time would be via Qantas.
UA was able to make the name change.

Mwenenzi

You were very lucky. Airlines normally will not touch a ticket issued by a travel agent until the first sector is flown.

Search the forum for "name change error mistake mispelled". Posts like yours most days

percysmith

Should be fine http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2192221 ?

znke252

Thanks,
I will search the forum again.

Info from http://www.qantas.com.au/agents_us/d...namecorrection.

"Qantas Flights

For Qantas flights with a 'QF' flight number operated by Qantas.

Qantas permits one (1) name correction of three (3) characters or less to the family name and unlimited to the first name and title, during the lifetime of the booking. No authority is required and the name can be corrected by the agent in the GDS.

Corrections of more than three (3) characters require authority and update by Qantas to prevent PNR cancellation and are considered for

Typing error within the surname
Typing error within the first name / title
Typing error within the surname and first name / title
Juxtaposed Name (eg. change Jane/Smith Ms to Smith/Jane Ms)
Please contact Qantas North America Sales Support on 1 800 227 4795 for authority if required."

This seems to say that it is possible, although I'm not sure what it means by, "...corrected by the agent in the GDS." Is this referring to the booking agent only, or does it include Qantas agents or any travel agent with access to the GDS?

Mwenenzi

Have seen reports of this before with other airlines
Try
1) to find the same on the QF Au travel agents web site, but a lot has restricted public access.
2) quoting what you found to CheapOAir (do not mention it is from a USA web site)
3) Phone QF USA

USA DOT (department of transport) has different rules to Australia

A lot of people fly with minor spelling mistakes. But USA is USA May not be as lienant as other countries

Globaliser

If the worst came to the worst, one could not 100% rely on this: but I'm sure that there will be many people who fly every day (even to the US) on tickets which have been slightly misspelt in a way which they haven't even noticed. A couple of years ago, we flew to the US on tickets which had our titles not only misspelt, but indicating the wrong gender - but nobody (airline or US immigration) even noticed. The API was correct, and I suspect that that matters more.

number_6

US-bound flights are governed by APIS (advanced passenger information system) which in effect over-rides the name on the ticket ... so mis-spellings in the name do not matter in any way for US gov't purposes. You provide APIS info either in advance (on qantas.com web site under "manage my booking") or at check-in. Much better to do it in advance.
You will enter the correctly spelled name for APIS and it doesn't have to match the airline booking. Other info entered:
For travel to and from countries where API is required, passengers must provide the following information:

Full name* (last name, first name, middle name if applicable)
Gender*
Date of birth*
Nationality
Country of residence
Travel document type (normally passport)
Travel document number (for passport, expiry date and country of issue are also required)
Destination address in the U.S. (not required for U.S. citizens, legal permanent residents and resident aliens entering the U.S.).

ps. Canada also uses APIS, and most likely the UA agent entered the correctly spelled name into the APIS info for you for Canada; they would not be able to change the ticket before the first leg (on QF) is flown as it is under agency control (by CheapOAir). Was CheapOAir any cheaper than you could find on Orbitz etc.? Never dealt with them, and seems like endless hassle.

You still need to do APIS for the US, do it online or phone QF again and ask for APIS info to be added to the booking (dont know if QF charges for this phone call).

og

The REAL issue is not spelling or US data matching, but how the name on the ticket matches the FF program's name record. If the ticket name doesn't exactly match, then the FF number won't ( IME ) register and points collection is toast.

znke252

Thanks for all of the suggestions. When it's a more reasonable time in SYD, I'll call and pass on the options. Hopefully I'll have a positive update to post.

znke252

I am guessing yes, as he has a flexible timeline for travel.

Austman

Is it really toast og?

I'm asking because I'm in this situation too. The airline (not QF) says the name error is not so important. But my FF number will not register. I thought that corrections might be possible at check-in time or that flights could be manually credited later with BPs submitted etc.

serfty

Here's the .au version:

http://www.qantas.com.au/agents/dyn/...post-ticketing

Note that post ticketing,an AUD60 fee may be applied if the request is granted and only one such change may be made without going into the whole re-issue/re-validating, change fee, etc. thing ....

og

Sorting it before the flight (before arriving at the airport) means 100 % certainty. Trying to do after the event may not lead to such a happy ending. Maybe "toast" was overdone, but it could be an undesired outcome.