Originally Posted by
shadabing
They keep saying she has plenty of time to change her passport even though I keep explaining she will not be changing her name once married.
You say the honeymoon is in June, but do not say when the wedding is. Let's for the sake of discussion assume that the honeymoon will start immediately after the wedding as is tradition (let's say within 1-3 days). If this is the case, then CX is focusing on the wrong issue. Despite the wedding being 6 months away, there's no way the bride could get a new government ID issued in her soon-to-be-married name now because she's not married yet. Even if she were changing her name, there's not "plenty of time to change her passport." In fact, there will be essentially no time between the wedding and the honeymoon travel, no matter how far in advance it's planned.
That being the case, almost in no case will a bride that takes her husband's last name upon marriage have a gov't ID that reflects this on her honeymoon. I'd imagine what's normally done is that honeymoon travel is booked under maiden names.
You don't say in what state the marriage will take place. In most states, the marriage license doesn't state whether anyone is changing their last name as a result of the marriage - it simply lists the last name of each party before the marriage. Find out what the case for the state in your situation. If it's like most states, then there really shouldn't be a problem:
Just bring a copy of the marriage license. Explain to anyone that asks that you just got married x days ago, so obviously there's no time to change the passport or other government ID, and a relative booked both tickets in the husband's last name without thinking it through. It should be clear to anyone looking at the situation that there is not a change of person involved (unless they would claim that the husband was planning 6 months in advance to travel with someone other than his new wife on that date and that person happened to have the wife's first name and the husband's last name), and just an issue that involves a recent marriage.
Notice that nowhere in the above paragraph did I mention that the wife will in fact NOT be changing her name. It's not necessary to bring it up, and will only complicate things. If the marriage license is like it is in most states, the issue of changing the name will not even be listed on the license, so if it helps airline personnel work through the issue if they assume that the name will change, so be it.
Unfortunately, it may not be possible to clear this up beforehand unless award availability opens up and you can re-issue the ticket. And there's always the chance that there will be a problem at the airport. At this point, if you can't get AA/CX to budge, and you don't end up re-issuing the ticket, if it were me, I'd just go for it, bringing a copy of the marriage license (perhaps get a certified copy, or a photocopy along with a notarized statement by the person that officiates the marriage). No guarantees, but what else can you do, other than change destinations for one with current award availability?