Originally Posted by
daniellam
.....
For CX's GUI:
GUI LAST NAME = Names LASTNAME & APIS LAST
GUI GIVEN NAMES: Names FIRSTNAME & APIS FIRST
I suspect CX's motivation for their GUI design (and mapping to Amadeus) is to prevent Chinese first names that have two parts "SIU MING" from being split into two parts resulting in FIRSTNAME = SIU, MIDDLE NAME = MING when keyboard passport scanners are used to scan passports during the check-in process (the smarter agents would try to do a manual search in the passenger identification screen to find the passenger).
Machine readable line as scanned by CX check-in staff:
CHAN<<SIU<MING becomes the following in Amadeus
Names field: CHAN / SIU MING (SIU MING is shown in the "Names FIRSTNAME" field)
APIS Field: CHAN / SIU MING (SIU MING is shown in the "APIS FIRST" field)
Machine readable line as scanned by AA check-in staff:
CHAN<<SIU<MING becomes the following in Sabre
Names field: CHAN / SIU (The passport scanner interprets < as a separator between SIU and MING and only uses SIU as the first name for the "Names FIRSTNAME" field)
APIS Field: CHAN / SIU / MING (SIU is shown in the "APIS FIRST" field, while MING is shown in the "APIS MIDDLE" field)
Somehow I have a feeling that westerners like "SMITH/JOHN or BROWN/PETER" would not have a problem!! This is targeted towards people with with Chinese (two part) first names.
Another suspicion is that CX is simply trying to protect their revenue using "security" as an excuse.
It is a known fact that for most Chinese families, siblings from the same immediate family tend to have two part Chinese names (usually used as first names in Hong Kong) where the first part is usually shared among siblings.
Example:
CHAN / SIU MING (eldest brother)
CHAN / SIU WAH (younger brother)
CHAN / SIU PING (sister)
etc.
Imagine what could happen if the eldest brother (SIU MING) bought a ticket with just CHAN / SIU! He could fly HKG-LHR to attend school. Due to changes in school exam timings, he cannot make it back to HKG so he lets his younger brother SIU WAH use the ticket! All he does is go into CX's Manage My Booking to change the passport details to that of his younger brother!
When the three siblings buy AA tickets on a trip in the US, if they are not careful, the system at AA could flag them as duplicate bookings and maybe cancel all 3 reservations (if in different PNRs)! (If for some reason they bought the tickets at an AA counter and the passport reader only picked up CHAN / SIU as the first and last name - all three tickets would have the same name! [while of course the APIS / Secure flight field would be different]).
Tip for Hong Kongers expecting a child: If you must give your child a Chinese first name (as opposed to middle name), make sure you leave out the space when registering the birth. Use "SIUMING" instead of "SIU MING".