Originally Posted by
TuxTom
Over the summer my wife went through the process of changing her last name. Later this month we are travelling to Hawaii on tickets that were booked before the name change, so her ticket is under her maiden name. We are planning on bringing both her old drivers license and new one in case TSA has any issues during ID check.
We already successfully changed her name on her Skymiles account, which we needed to do to book an int'l trip for next year. I asked the agent on the phone about changing the name on this existing ticket, but she recommended not doing anything to the ticket and just brining her old ID. Changing the name on her ticket would require splitting the PNR and issuing a new ticket, so she would lose her C+ upgrade with me and wouldn't be eligible for one of my RUCs. Additionally, we're hesitant to change her ticket since her CDC card for Hawaii's quarantine exemption shows her maiden name as well.
Curious if anyone else has experience with issues like this. Will we encounter any problems during travels as a result?
Bring a copy of the marriage certificate and license. We even did this internationally though kind of the opposite. We booked a ticket under the married name but then for a lot of other reasons, never got around to having my wife change her legal name from her maiden name. Her passport was under her maiden name, while the ticket was under her married name. I called DL in advance and had them place a note in the PNR. I also brought the marriage certificate and license with us. I believe it was checked at check-in but we had no issues traveling after that. I see this being even less of a hassle for domestic travel, unless you get some over-zealous TSA agent (at which point, what you possibly do is you go book a fully refundable ticket under the name that matches the ID - on another airline - and use that to clear security, then cancel that ticket - a bit of a hassle but a work-around if needed. This trick may not work as well at a smaller airport with a single check point though haha).
It may not hurt to call DL in advance and just ask them to note this in the ticket/PNR and if the check-in agent initially questions it, ask them to reference the note in the PNR.