MiraculousM

Hi all

I am having a bit of a nightmare. My mum is meant to be travelling to the US on BA on Tuesday- when getting her covid pass, we realised that her NHS record is in her married name and her passport is in her maiden name. We are going to the GP surgery first thing tomorrow morning to try and get her name changed but i am worried that we cant get this done in time.
Would she be able to take her marriage certificate with her to the airport? Its falling apart as its over 50 years old but i am trying to think of back up plans!

cbyrne92

Rather than change the accurate(?) document to match the inaccurate one, surely it would be better to look at the rapid passport service and get a renewed passport to the correct details?

https://www.gov.uk/get-a-passport-ur...remium-service

CB

corporate-wage-slave

Yes, that's absoluitely no problem at all, I doubt that she will be able to get that to work online, but it's an extremely common problem, indeed a Clinical Director of my acquaintance, responsible for some of the IT connected with Covid passes, also got caught out by this! And she was fine to travel after I gave her advice. I think there are a few more data points in the VeriFLY thread but it's a bit long. Marriage Certificate is great, so take that, but actually BA staff - who are very used to this - will look at other things (e.g. date of birth and first name match off the passport). If you don't make a point of jumping up and down about it, the check-in agent will probably glance that the QR code from a distance and tick the ADOC box on the booking.

If your practice is on Emis or SystmOne, the patient name can be changed extremely easily, and there's a guide in TeamsNet and elsewhere how to do it, and yes after a few hour the COVID pass also changes. But if your mother has supporting documents I almost wouldn't bother the GP at this stage of the (RSV) year and leave it to a quiet period. The problem isn't the computers, it's the staff suspicious of the impact. But the NHS' IT si so fragmented that it really doesn't matter, about the only good thing that can be said for it.

I would disagree with the previous post, that's way out of proportion here, but there is some point in getting an established name settled everywhere, it really makes avoidable nonsense for people to have "professional" and "personal" names. Crazy will be along shortly for his moan at this.

MiraculousM

Thank you so so much @corportate-wage-slave .. i read that they might need to contact the local CCG which was where my panic lay, but you have put my mind very much at ease. Thank you as always for your very valued help.

corporate-wage-slave

I think it's probably ICB now rather than CCG, but actually practices can do it themselves, it's not that unusual, more in the other direction after people get married. But honestly, I just would not bother, take a copy of the marriage certificate to the airport and it will be fine. This is also happens at airports when people have passports and bookings in different names (e.g. honeymoon flights) and this is much less significant. If she has her old style NHS card then that links her name to the NHS number / date of birth, so that's another alternative, but if she has the App on her phone then - well no-one else is supposed to have access to those records. Plus in any event airlines are getting increasingly relaxed about this area, it's not like the sheer terror of getting it right just after restrictions were eased.

ISTFlyer

My suggestion would not be to use any online verification portal such as Verifly or the document verification service on BA.com
This issue should be solvable at the airport since BA doesn't scan or take photos of vaccination certificates but only glimpse at them.

1P

This happened to my wife, who discovered that she was registered with our GP under her married name but her passport is in her maiden name. It took a bit of persuading of gatekeeper receptionists, but it was very simple in the end to have the name in the record, and the Covid documentation, changed. In the event (travel to North America), no one ever looked at the documentation..... More important would be to make sure that the ESTA is in the correct name and links to the passport.

Dreaming of WT+

I would also suggest taking something with her NHS number on too

crazy8534

The old ball and chain has managed to have herself readmitted to the circle of trust now because BA will let you upload both your marriage certificate and covid vaccination certificate in the pre-check in document upload (from 48hrs IIRC) and hey presto approval granted.

So no longer does she find herself standing in check-in queues at ridiculous o’clock to be verified as too important to share a surname with yours truly on her passport, but she’ll be exceptionally pleased to read that CWS also disapproves of her life choices…!!

**(written from the kennel, trying to extract my dinner from the dog)**

chriswiles

When I flew to AUS week before last, my covid record wasn't checked anywhere at any time, either at LHR or on arrival.

It might have got to that stage where the US needs you to be able to prove you a vaccinated (ie. keep your certificate with you), but isn't proactively checking anymore.

I had similar flying into Ibiza, despite Spain requiring people to be vaccinated. Got checked once in May, but flying into Ibiza June, July, August, September and October, was never checked again. Nor flying in to Barcelona in August.

I think as long as you can prove on demand, you'll be ok.

Duck1981

Only on FT you will find out how the NHS admin actually works