'andad

My wife's Exec membership has always been in her married sirname(40 years of that), but for a few years now her Belgian passport has had to be issued in her maiden name, and is endorsed on the next page "wife of 'andad" and we travel with a copy of marriage certificate although we have never had to produce it. Never been a problem, but recently BA asked me to change upcoming bookings to her maiden name, ie per passport name. One done free, one at Ł35 change fee! But SriLankan are saying they can't (won't?) change the booking name, and that with a mismatch of ticket to passport name she won't be allowed to board at Bangalore. They say we have to cancel and re-book, but there are no Avios or cash seats now. Is this a new legal requirement given the security situation, or a (new) airline rule, that booking must be the same name as on passport? Does anyone know what has changed recently, and does the airline have the discretion of accepting a mismatch given that there is good reason, back-up ID, and no question of dodgyness ?

orbitmic

My understanding is that it has been a requirement for many years that the passenger name matches their passport name. While the requirement is generic, it tends to be particularly strictly enforced for flights to destination requiring API (eg. US, UK, etc). Ten years ago already my Mum was refused travel on a similar case and made to buy a new ticket. We managed to get the old one refunded as a gesture of good will by the airline but that was still an expensive lesson.

The bottom line is double: 1) tickets are nominative and only the person booked can fly, if an airline sees a name discrepancy, they may think that the traveller was not the person originally booked, 2) airlines will not take the risk of letting you fly if they think that you will be rejected by immigration at point of destination. API discrepancy is a logical reason why they will think that and refuse travel. You thus need to be confident that as a passenger, you will not fall under either category.

Globaliser

My mother has long had to make sure that she carries the passport which has the name that's on the ticket, even if she's intending to use a different passport with a different form of her name for immigration purposes. The reason that she has to use one particular name for the tickets is because that's what matches her frequent flyer account, and without the match the credits don't happen.

However, in our experience API is a different matter. The API name can be different from the ticket name, and for API purposes my mother gives the details in the passport she's intending to use for immigration purposes at the destination country and has had no problems when the API name is not the ticket name.

HIDDY

I posted to another thread which discussed similar issues. My wife has three passports with different names. Last time we flew to MAD she was pulled up at check-in for having a different name on her passport to the one on her ticket. Easily remedied as she always carries all three so was soon on her way.
If you have a reward programme number in the booking then it obviously has to match the ticket name which in turn has to match the passport. Can be hard to keep track of sometimes.
I guess the only way around it is to either have more than one passport or stick to the one reward programme.

Anonba

Some airlines including some in Oneworld are a lot stricter than others on issues like this. I've certainly found that CX and other Oneworld carriers will only let passengers travel with exactly the correct name as per passport.

A lot does depend on the destination you are travelling to of course. With BA shorthaul within europe i would expect no issues however once its long haul and travelling to non EU and countries like the states that are tighter on security you can come into issues.

littlefish

Thanks for posting. I'm not clear as to the story here. Is it a return pair of flights to the EU, from Sri Lanka (on Sri Lankan) thru India (on to BA)?

Why would BA be pro-actively asking?
I have always been quite firm, my wife's name is what it is; not what a Passport office has re-named her (and we have the docs to show it .. ie. Marriage certificate and the 'real name' page in the same Passport). We've never come across any real-world issue on this.

Not sure if she's previously flown on BA under the correct (Mrs 'andad name)? If so, I'd be pointing that out unless some clear reason for the change this time.

Anonba

If you read the OP it wasn't BA that was the problem it was Sri lankan. As i mentioned other airlines can be very strict. Simply ignoring BA could potentially mean that Sri lankan deny boarding if nane wasn't correct.

:D!

It's relatively straightforward to change the name on a BAEC account, to avoid any future troubles with booking award (or even paid) flights.

littlefish

See my bolding in the previous quote!

'andad

It was undeed easy to change BAEC acc't name to match passport name, now done. The issue was that the Sri Lankan (& other BA bookings) were made April 2015 using Avios, & therefore in the acc't name of Mrs 'andad since 1989. Belgian passport issued in maiden name (rule change years ago). This has never been a problem as Belgium also endorsed next page, "Mrs 'andad". SR categorically said she would not board at BLR for flight to CMB, also that BLR airport manager has said she would not be allowed to enter India (presumaby meaning on the way back to BLR from CMB). This is, or was nonsense, as she has entered India this way 5 times in 5 years.
Outcome was that we both went to Reservations in T5, amazingly helpful staff (Golden Ticket given) agreed that she should be allowed to travel as-is, but on seeing the SR emails, agreed to readily amend the SR ticket name to match passport as it was actually a BA issued ticket. Tried for one hour, several ways, but at the end of each attempt it was "restricetd by SR".
End of story is that we cancelled her Avios booking on 'phone to Newcastle, re-booked in Club as no eco (no Avios or cash bookings in preceding days, so lucky there). Happy with that as at least she can travel. Slightly spoiled when I asked to waive the cancellation Ł35, agent said No it was a pax error. I didn't quite see it that way, BA issued a ticket in BAEC name, accepted API in passport name, as done for 8 years, it became a ticket we couldn't use and would probably have resulted in "denied boarding" mid-journey. Different rules re name change thro' marriage in these two OneWorld partners too.
As BAEC name is now changed, this won't happen again. Aologies for long story but thought some content facts might be useful to someone.

Anonba

I'm glad you at least managed to rebook to travel but i think this proves that in this situation its not just BA being difficult as a lot of people think.

Yes if its issued on BA stock then BA can potentially reissue but if there are other airlines involved this message restricted by (insert other carrier here) is the usual outcome, meaning nane correction isn't possible!

orbitmic

You lost my sympathy here (you did have it till that point). BA can issue a ticket in Mickey Mouse's or Darth Vader's name if that is what you ask. In your case it simply asks as your TA and your TA does not have any duty to check passengers' credentials. The TA equally does not check API data. So regardless of how you "saw it", if you had stuck to your guns and went to fly with the preceding ticket, UL would have indeed likely told your wife that she could not fly, there would have been no compensation due for denier boarding as the airline would have simply referred to points 7 and 13 of its conditions of carriage which relate to the passenger named on the booking and the identification corresponding to the passenger's name and in all likelihood, that decision would have been upheld if challenged.

I'm glad you could have a ticket cancel and rebooked successfully, and that you can travel together which is great (finding two seats is not always easy!)and glad that you have changed the account to ensure that she will be able to collect points while using the name as per her passport. And indeed, the Belgians seem particularly strict with their new name rules for women.

PS: not that it matters/is a problem, but Sri Lankan airline is abbreviated as UL, SR was the old code for Swissair!

'andad

Thanks for the clarifications Orbitmic. As the ticketed name comes automatically from that in BAEC, and it is that being different to the passport issued name which lead to the problem, I did erroneously think there should be some system connection between ticketed name and API. But hey I'm wrong more and more these days. As you will have read, I also praised BA's huge efforts to resolve (T5's more than 'phone calls to Exec Club which met a no-can-do immediately a partner flight was mentioned). I guess we have been lucky to have had no problems for the last 8 years, and might just have got away with it again with Mrs 'andad also endoresed in the passport, but much happier with the solution of changing BAEC name (and Mrs 'andad seems to be enjoying being single again, rather too much. I suspect this will generate some posts of understanding for her! ).

barneyb

What is the rule with ticket name and passport name for shortfall European travel? Just flew London to Germany return and one of the people I was travelling with had their ticket in their married name while their passport is still in their maiden name. Didn't ever seem to raise any questions at any point - given the conditions of carrage, I was expecting at the gate on boarding a check regarding passport name vs ticket name.

Once you've passed the API stage and traveling in Europe on a UK passport are the gate checks actually doing anything?

She said she's never had an issue and has a copy of her marriage cert if ever asked.

corporate-wage-slave

The ticket name and API data are for two different people. Immigration authorities want to know who is planning to arrive, they look at API and test to see if they are OK with the data. Airlines are only interested in ticket names and are interested in two features - will the person get into the arrival country without leading to a hefty fine to the airline, AND has the ticket been issued to the right traveller (so no reselling of tickets on to someone else). Of those three tests, your traveller appears to have had no problem with the first two, and within the EEA there is freedom of movement anyway. So the gate agent checked it was an EEA passport and was at that point it was clear that entry would not be denied. For the third test, it's up to the airline to challenge if they wish, and clearly your companion did have the paperwork to meet this challenge. Some airlines are more ruthless at revenue protection than others, so I'm not sure what would be the point in buying tickets in a married name, travelling under maiden name (I can understand the reverse to a degree) since it seems to be potentially unnecessary hassle. But this is all about a commercial policy rather than the law.