Originally Posted by sandra_w
About 1 year and half ago, I was about to check-in for a Southwest flight. The agent said "you can't fly because your name doesn't match" Apparently the CTM at my company mistakenly reversed my name and booked me under "W******** Sandra"(first/last name reversed) I told tod the agent that it wasn't my mistake. Heck. my ID shows "Sandra W********" in the exact spelling. No deal. The supervisor came over and also said I couldn't fly. Sine I couldn't miss that flight because of a business meeting, I was forced to pay for another ticket.
Well, if SW is part of IATA -- is it??? -- then your situation should not arise. A clear swap of first/given and last/family name spelled correctly is certainly permissible. In some cases -- due to cultural norms, including some found in the US -- a name "order" swap is completely correct. A family name is not always a last name and first name is sometimes a family name. Not applicable in your situation, but certainly covers some. I certainly no persons who have flown on SW with names "swapped" and have had no issue.