Incorrect Name on PNR
May 19, 2016, 2:23 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 8
Incorrect Name on PNR
Hello. I'm hoping somebody can help me with an issue. The Elder Wiggles decided to take a trip to Europe this summer and bought a ticket Europe bound from AAA-ORD-Europe on AA metal (001 ticket stock), and a return flight that's Europe-LHR-AAA on BA metal. Everything on Mother Wiggles' ticket is correct, but Father Wiggles' return ticket is having issues.
It looks like there is one PNR for the AA flights, and a separate PNR for the BA flights (though it's all under one ticket). If Father Wiggles' name were John Middleton Wiggles (First Name = "John", Middle Name = "Middleton", Last Name = "Wiggles"), then everything looks good on the AA PNR, but the BA PNR is showing this:
Iddleton John M Wiggles
Consequently, Mother Wiggles has called into AA and they've put the blame on BA. BA has said they fixed the issue for ticketing, but the website is still showing "Iddleton John M Wiggles" for the return flight and they said they can't fix what's being shown on the website which isn't very reassuring to Mother Wiggles.
Is there anything else we can do besides continuing to call BA? Mother Wiggles has been tirelessly calling BA to no avail.
It looks like there is one PNR for the AA flights, and a separate PNR for the BA flights (though it's all under one ticket). If Father Wiggles' name were John Middleton Wiggles (First Name = "John", Middle Name = "Middleton", Last Name = "Wiggles"), then everything looks good on the AA PNR, but the BA PNR is showing this:
Iddleton John M Wiggles
Consequently, Mother Wiggles has called into AA and they've put the blame on BA. BA has said they fixed the issue for ticketing, but the website is still showing "Iddleton John M Wiggles" for the return flight and they said they can't fix what's being shown on the website which isn't very reassuring to Mother Wiggles.
Is there anything else we can do besides continuing to call BA? Mother Wiggles has been tirelessly calling BA to no avail.
May 19, 2016, 3:11 am
#2
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: London
Programs: BA GGL (for now) and Lifetime Gold, Marriott fan thanks to Bonvoy Moments
Posts: 5,115
They should be fine - but understand concern. If they made the booking with AA and AA.com shows it as good I'd probably leave it, but wouldn't cut it too fine at the airport in case it does need a quick resolution.
May 19, 2016, 3:14 am
#3
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,783
Do nothing. Get to the airport about 20 minutes earlier than you otherwise would, but say nothing, just hand over the relevant paperwork. Probably you would be fine anyway, but at worse the airport can have a go amending the ticket once its under their control. At this stage, it almost certainly falls into the "too difficult to fix" category.
The formal responsibility is with the issuing ticket airline (BA? AA?) but the ability of the other airline to fix something is very difficult. In the lead PNR is started on AA, it creates the shadow PNR on BA, but it is well known that the AA to BA to AA interface screws up names. Doubling up middle names is a favourite outcome.
Your mistake, incidentally, was to use a middle name at all. When travelling you should stick to your main surname, as spelt in the passport, and your usual first name. Two names, that's all. The big problem is patronymic and matronymic family names from the Spanish world, so airlines and airports are well versed in this area.
The formal responsibility is with the issuing ticket airline (BA? AA?) but the ability of the other airline to fix something is very difficult. In the lead PNR is started on AA, it creates the shadow PNR on BA, but it is well known that the AA to BA to AA interface screws up names. Doubling up middle names is a favourite outcome.
Your mistake, incidentally, was to use a middle name at all. When travelling you should stick to your main surname, as spelt in the passport, and your usual first name. Two names, that's all. The big problem is patronymic and matronymic family names from the Spanish world, so airlines and airports are well versed in this area.
May 19, 2016, 6:41 am
#5
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
This is a non-issue and occurs routinely. Don't worry about multiple PNR's, each carrier will assign its own. All that matters is that each passenger has a ticket for each segment. As to names, so long as the jumble of names on the ticket matches the jumble of names on the passport, you will be fine on travel to the UK with AA/BA.
As C-W-S notes, whatever your name, I would always simply book under the convention of First Name followed by Last Name and not worry about other names and cultural conventions. There is no need and they simply complicate. However, both AA and BA are well able to handle these and your situation is routine when you consider the number of cultures which place multiple names in different orders.
Give yourself additional time at check-in so that if there are questions they can be worked out in a stress-free environment.
As C-W-S notes, whatever your name, I would always simply book under the convention of First Name followed by Last Name and not worry about other names and cultural conventions. There is no need and they simply complicate. However, both AA and BA are well able to handle these and your situation is routine when you consider the number of cultures which place multiple names in different orders.
Give yourself additional time at check-in so that if there are questions they can be worked out in a stress-free environment.
May 19, 2016, 8:09 am
#6
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: JAX
Programs: Ex-BA/AA/CP/LY staff, BA Executive Club Blue, IHG Diamond, Marriott Silver, Chick-fil-A Red
Posts: 3,586
Or if you do so like having all your middle names or multi-barrelled family names in the booking, simply avoid putting spaces in so that JOHNMIDDLETON runs together or OPPENHEIMERSMITHTHESECONDOFBLASTBURY.
Airline res systems have two fields for names; lastname/firstname - whatever you want to enter in there, feel free - just don't space it, as those don't translate well...
Airline res systems have two fields for names; lastname/firstname - whatever you want to enter in there, feel free - just don't space it, as those don't translate well...
May 19, 2016, 9:40 am
#7
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: HKG
Programs: BAEC Gold, CX MPC Gold, Avis preferred plus, MyWaitrose card
Posts: 287
I
I'd be inclined to give the Advanced passenger information section on MMB a check.
We have a similar problem for our holiday last year, but it was only spotted when I went to enter our infant's passport number prior to checkin. We have a double barrelled surname (i.e Firstname Middlename Surname1-Surname2) and both mine and my wife's names were shown in the API section as:
Given names: Surname2 Firstname Middlename
Surname (as shown on passport): Surname 1
Info was correct on our BAEC profiles but there was obviously some sort of issue when it got transposed. Glad I picked it up as we were flying to the US and I'm sure it could have caused us a bit of trouble...
We have a similar problem for our holiday last year, but it was only spotted when I went to enter our infant's passport number prior to checkin. We have a double barrelled surname (i.e Firstname Middlename Surname1-Surname2) and both mine and my wife's names were shown in the API section as:
Given names: Surname2 Firstname Middlename
Surname (as shown on passport): Surname 1
Info was correct on our BAEC profiles but there was obviously some sort of issue when it got transposed. Glad I picked it up as we were flying to the US and I'm sure it could have caused us a bit of trouble...
Feb 28, 2020, 8:39 am
#8
Join Date: May 2016
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 50
Apologies for posting on an old thread, but I have a question about a booking.
I've booked, and obtained a boarding pass for a friend on a flight where his name on his passport is:
FIRSTNAME SURNAME-SURNAME
So, the surname is double-barrelled. He never uses the first part of his surname, so the ticket has been booked as FIRSTNAME SURNAME.
Is it essential to talk to someone at the airport about this and where at Gatwick is best to do that? It's to another EU destination.
I've booked, and obtained a boarding pass for a friend on a flight where his name on his passport is:
FIRSTNAME SURNAME-SURNAME
So, the surname is double-barrelled. He never uses the first part of his surname, so the ticket has been booked as FIRSTNAME SURNAME.
Is it essential to talk to someone at the airport about this and where at Gatwick is best to do that? It's to another EU destination.
Feb 28, 2020, 8:46 am
#9
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,783
I assume it's something like John Smith-Smith. Use the self service machines and self tagging baggage machines. I doubt it will be a problem if it's just a repeated surname but it's probably best not to draw excess attention to the matter. Otherwise there is a customer service desk at the end of the check-in area, furthest from the station entrance. Make sure the API data looks good if it is an API country such as Spain.
Feb 28, 2020, 8:54 am
#10
Join Date: May 2016
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 50
I assume it's something like John Smith-Smith. Use the self service machines and self tagging baggage machines. I doubt it will be a problem if it's just a repeated surname but it's probably best not to draw excess attention to the matter. Otherwise there is a customer service desk at the end of the check-in area, furthest from the station entrance. Make sure the API data looks good if it is an API country such as Spain.
Feb 28, 2020, 9:45 am
#11
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 4,647
Feb 29, 2020, 3:38 am
#13
Join Date: May 2016
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 50
Just as a quick update about this, the BA customer service desk at Gatwick changed the booking and said it was best that these things were corrected. He was helpful and friendly, making it sound like it was no inconvenience at all, so very impressive and it took under five minutes.
Jun 10, 2023, 1:53 am
#15
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,783
Completely normal, no problem at all. If it's a HKG related booking, a market with a heavy travel agent footprint, it's particularly common due to the wide range of front ends to the multiple booking systems used over there. So don't worry about it, just double check the API / APIS screen to make sure that is the right way around.