Originally Posted by
orbitmic
The excerpt below is from AA guidelines to travel agents on APIS. The bolding and underlying is theirs and not mine:
NOTE: The middle name or middle initial is not required in the name field of the reservation for ticketing or upgrading purposes. GDS functionalities differ and may not support the middle name or middle initial. Check with your GDS Help Desk for clarification on Name Field requirements.
Q: When I make a reservation do I include the middle name/middle initial for the passenger’s itinerary and ticket?
A: Name field in the PNR - only requires the FULL NAME – meaning the Full “Last name and the Full First name”. The middle name or initial is not required in the Name Field of the PNR. The name that has to match exactly to the Gov’t ID they are presenting is the Last name and the First Name only.
First and Last name only as it appears on the government issued ID that the passenger will use while traveling. Do not add a prefix, middle name or suffix.
Do not change the PNR name field to add a middle name. The PNR name should contain the last name and first name as it appears on the customer's government issued ID. In many cases the PNR name and SFPD field will be different since many passengers have a middle name.
The personal data that is in your reservation meets the TSA requirements for your travel dates. There is no need to make any changes to your name as it appears on your reservation. Your middle name will be collected, along with your gender and date of birth, to add your Secure Flight Passenger Data at time of purchase
The name field requirements are separate from the SFPD or APIS requirement. The middle name/middle initial is required for SFPD or APIS to match the valid Gov’t ID the passenger is presenting to the TSA at security check point.
Please do not use a suffix in the name field of the PNR or for the SFPD/APIS information.
Interesting sin I just made reservations using AMEX and they asked me for the information exactly as it appears on my ID - including middle. PNR name is different but as it says middle name is required to SFPD or APIS to match so you will have to provide it if you already didnt.