att1504

Hi everyone!
So my girlfriend booked me (as a surprise) a flight to visit her in Montreal (YUL) flying out of London (LHR) on Thursday 13th of this month for Valentines Day. She just booked this 30 minutes ago.
I'm not sure on the rules about using names here so presuming my name is Fred Barney Flinstone (which it isn't), she sent me the booking reference so I could choose my seat early (she had added the frequent flyer number) and once I added the booking reference to my Exec Club account it was giving it to me as MrFredbarney Flinston and my exec club number as BA BA28429429 (not real, just showing both BA's that were in the account number).

Now it won't let me choose my seat, the flight doesn't show up on my account and it says online check-in starts in 7 days (which is the return flight). What does everyone suggest?

Gshumway

Can't help too much with the first part, I would say call them up and ask. The second part is a current bug where it shows the countdown for the return flight but checkin will open at the right time.

att1504

As it stands I guess I'm ineligible for the flight as the name is wrong. My passport number is there though. So weird.

corporate-wage-slave

The name is definitely not a problem, you can travel on that. It looks like the BA number is a bit screwed up and thus not matching you to Gold seating rights, so you can have a go with the Finnair site to see if you can fix it yourself, if not then ring up. I had recent experience of fixing a slightly incorrect BAEC number, they can fix it in seconds. The countdown is indeed a recently introduced but widespread bug, with no implications for you in terms of managing your check in.

att1504

Thanks cws !
Can you explain what you mean as to the Finnair site?

corporate-wage-slave

If you go to the Finnair website with your BAEC details and the PNR (locator / booking reference), you (a) should see a version of the flight details similar to BAEC, and (b) sometimes (!) be able change your FF number. You may need to delete, exit and re-enter. The Finnair site does not require you to become a member of their Frequent Flyer system. Others have reported that the Qantas, Qatar and Royal Jordanian systems can do some of the above too. I hope you have a nice time strolling around the obscure corners of oneworld!

nux

Finnair is the only one that will let you change the FF number online.
Qantas and RJ are useful for seat selection on some airlines such as AB, where BA.com MMB does not allow seat selection, AB does not, yet QF and RJ do.

marcusr

I think even with online bookings you have 24 hours to phone up and make corrections without charge. I did it for a friend where I put her name as Jacky instead of Jacqueline.

ThatT1Feeling

It sounds just like your BAEC number isn't entered correctly. A call to BA should fix easily then you will have your seating rights. The name won't be such an issue - odd letters missing haven't been reported as causing problems in the past.

Ldnn1

I would call BA to get the name changed as the spelling should be correct. There is no charge for this. (Even if others here have travelled with spelling errors in the past, I would still want the peace of mind.)

corporate-wage-slave

I travel on an abbreviated and incorrectly spelt version of my passport name. Never had a problem even with US and Russia destinations. Ryanair is different. So Samantha can safely become Sam or even Sammy.

Gaz

Did she book via a travel agent?

It seems some TA systems cause this - my first name and middle names ALWAYS show in the 'MRFREDBARNEY FLINTSTONE' format when I book via my TA on some airlines (not all).

Took hundreds of flights and I've never had an issue. It's a formatting thing. Not an incorrect name.

If any of your names are actually spelt wrong as opposed to just compounded together, that's a different matter.

stifle

Just pick up the phone.

Tobias-UK

I changed my surname by removing a hyphen when my passport was to expire, I advised the BAEC and they said I didn't need to amend my future bookings - in the old name.

No issues at all (either at check-in, ESTA, CBP Officers, TSA or boarding) for the next 3 trips which was some 24 flights across Europe (on BA) and the USA (on AA and BA). That was until trip 4 arrived for a flight (via LHR) to New York. MAN check-in refused to check me in because of a name mismatch. She said I needed a new ticket as I couldn't travel on the existing one and told me to go to the BA ticket counter to buy a new ticket. She said the Americans would never allow me to travel. I explained what the GGL Team had said and that I'd travelled to the US under exactly the same name 3 times in the previous 5 weeks. She was having none of it, I needed to buy a new ticket. She refused to contact GGL so I phoned them and handed the phone to her, she refused to check me in (we are T-50 at this point).

GGL told me to wait and they would contact the ticket office and re-issue the eTicket with the hyphen removed. About 10 mins later the ticket agent came over to the check-in area and told the agent to check me in.

The moral of the story, if there is an issue with the name on your ticket and the name on your passport, get it sorted as soon as you notice it to avoid difficulties when you come face-to-face with a jobs-worth.

shorthauldad

Moral of story #2: avoid MAN ?