Denied travel on BA due to shortened name
Apr 13, 2018, 7:14 pm
#17
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Stockholm, Sweden.
Programs: BA, JAL
Posts: 689
I don't know why people just don't use their proper name. Putting Bazza on a ticket rather than Barry would just seem daft.. in this case Nicholas would make sense?
My name is eight or so letters, often shortened to three by others, but I would never dream of just putting down three letters. There is such a thing as doing things properly. I often think the world has become lazy since the advent of the apple mac'.
My name is eight or so letters, often shortened to three by others, but I would never dream of just putting down three letters. There is such a thing as doing things properly. I often think the world has become lazy since the advent of the apple mac'.
Apr 14, 2018, 12:26 am
#18
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Frankly, this story does not make much sense.
How could they get their boarding pass four days early.
And if the first name (not the surname) was Nick, why would he have spotted an error.
Surely, BA would have let him board without any problem if the first name was Nick for Nicholas.
And BA would be willing to change a misspelled first name without fee. But the problem might be that it involved a second airline for the flight to DPS. Hence, the constraint might have been this second airline. It is always hard to change a ticket name involving two airlines.
How could they get their boarding pass four days early.
And if the first name (not the surname) was Nick, why would he have spotted an error.
Surely, BA would have let him board without any problem if the first name was Nick for Nicholas.
And BA would be willing to change a misspelled first name without fee. But the problem might be that it involved a second airline for the flight to DPS. Hence, the constraint might have been this second airline. It is always hard to change a ticket name involving two airlines.
Apr 14, 2018, 12:39 am
#19
Join Date: Dec 2016
Programs: BAEC GGL/CR; Hilton Diamond; Mucci des Puccis
Posts: 5,609
I have to say this doesn't ring true at all. One possible alternate explanation would be that the bloke missed his outbound for some reason, and is trying to use the fact he checked the misspelling of his name a few days before the flight to try to embarrass BA into giving him a refund. But it's early, I got in late, and I'm probably just grumpy and uncharitable.
Apr 14, 2018, 4:03 am
#20
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 8,770
My favourite article of the week, which was not so much fake news as 'not news', was this furious writer to the Independent:
Indeed, what shysters BA are! 
You can read Simon Calder's diplomatic response here.
Originally Posted by Independent
My son turned up at Heathrow for a British Airways flight to Geneva, in order to go skiing, only to discover when he got there that he had booked not for 6 April but 6 June. Despite this being a genuine mistake, they charged him £360 extra to get to Geneva and another £260 to get home five days later. This is on top of his original flight price. An expensive mistake, but I’m furious with BA. He’s 23. How can they get away with this?
You can read Simon Calder's diplomatic response here.
Last edited by Ldnn1; Apr 14, 2018 at 6:48 am
Apr 14, 2018, 4:50 am
#21
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: BOS
Programs: BA - Blue > Bronze > Silver > Bronze > Blue
Posts: 6,812
I don't know why people just don't use their proper name. Putting Bazza on a ticket rather than Barry would just seem daft.. in this case Nicholas would make sense?
My name is eight or so letters, often shortened to three by others, but I would never dream of just putting down three letters. There is such a thing as doing things properly. I often think the world has become lazy since the advent of the apple mac'.
My name is eight or so letters, often shortened to three by others, but I would never dream of just putting down three letters. There is such a thing as doing things properly. I often think the world has become lazy since the advent of the apple mac'.
Putting it in as Bejnamin on Delta caused more issues when trying to attach an Aeromexico booking to Skymiles however
Apr 14, 2018, 6:38 am
#22
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Stockholm, Sweden.
Programs: BA, JAL
Posts: 689
My favourite article of the week, which was not so much fake news as 'not news', was this furious writer to the Independent:
Indeed, what shysters BA are!
You can read Simon Calder's diplomatic response here.
Indeed, what shysters BA are!
You can read Simon Calder's diplomatic response here.
Not sure the point of stating his age, other than to indicate he's an adult. Although young people do feel the world is against them because they're 21, 22, 23, or 24 and a half!
I hope my son at 28 won't be bothering me about such silly mistakes. Further, I'd be embarrassed to complain about something like this. Fake news indeed.
Apr 14, 2018, 7:07 am
#23
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: London
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold & GGL & CCR, HH Diam, Bonvoy Titanium, IHG Spire, Tastecard
Posts: 7,549
I don't know why people just don't use their proper name. Putting Bazza on a ticket rather than Barry would just seem daft.. in this case Nicholas would make sense?
My name is eight or so letters, often shortened to three by others, but I would never dream of just putting down three letters. There is such a thing as doing things properly. I often think the world has become lazy since the advent of the apple mac'.
My name is eight or so letters, often shortened to three by others, but I would never dream of just putting down three letters. There is such a thing as doing things properly. I often think the world has become lazy since the advent of the apple mac'.
Apr 14, 2018, 7:58 am
#24
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Me too. My AA account has me as Ben. Never been an issue.
Apr 14, 2018, 8:04 am
#25
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Apr 14, 2018, 8:09 am
#26
Join Date: Sep 2015
Programs: LH SEN; BA Gold
Posts: 8,405
There can be plenty of reason for that. The full name being too long is a frequent reason to shorten it.
Shorting Nicholas seems excessive though.
Apr 14, 2018, 8:51 am
#27
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Apr 14, 2018, 8:53 am
#28
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Apr 14, 2018, 9:32 am
#29
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: All over the place often South Wales and Lake District
Programs: BA Gold for Life Accor Platinum
Posts: 4,552
That's the kind of thing that happens to me. The first time on AY I called them and they charged me for a name change. I haven't bothered since and I have had zero problems on any airline where my Korean clients book trhe flights with my name in this format.
Apr 14, 2018, 9:50 am
#30
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: WAW
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Some info from Business Insider. Flight was indeed operated by QR.
British Airways confirmed to Business Insider that the travel agent also booked Meads onto a flight operated by Qatar Airways, not BA.
Nick said he noticed the nickname error when the boarding passes arrived, and contacted TravelUp to make sure it wouldn't be a problem.
He said he was asked to send photographs of his passport as proof of identity to have his name changed by BA — but that the airline refused.
"I re-sent all the details and BA said it was nothing like the name," he said, adding that the airline said Nick and Nicholas were "completely different."
"It just seems illogical to me," he added. "I didn't know the policies."
He said he even asked the airline if he could buy another seat on the flight — at his own cost — but BA told him there were no tickets left unless he wanted to fork out for first class.
When Business Insider spoke to British Airways, the airline indicated that while the flights were indeed booked with BA, they were actually operated by Qatar Airways — so they were unable to make a change to Meads' booking.
Nick said he noticed the nickname error when the boarding passes arrived, and contacted TravelUp to make sure it wouldn't be a problem.
He said he was asked to send photographs of his passport as proof of identity to have his name changed by BA — but that the airline refused.
"I re-sent all the details and BA said it was nothing like the name," he said, adding that the airline said Nick and Nicholas were "completely different."
"It just seems illogical to me," he added. "I didn't know the policies."
He said he even asked the airline if he could buy another seat on the flight — at his own cost — but BA told him there were no tickets left unless he wanted to fork out for first class.
When Business Insider spoke to British Airways, the airline indicated that while the flights were indeed booked with BA, they were actually operated by Qatar Airways — so they were unable to make a change to Meads' booking.