Will This Be a Problem with TSA?
 

So I am getting ready to book a trip for a friend and myself to go to Costa Rica. He never had a passport before so he had to get one (came in yesterday). He sent me a picture of it. Because it didn't list a middle name I assumed he didn't have one. So I passed his information to the travel agent to book flights for both of us (we are originating in different cities). Then he tells me he does have a middle name but apparently he didn't put it on the application.

Will it be an issue if his plane ticket has his middle name but his passport will not? Or is it best just to leave his middle name off his ticket? I don't want him to have any hassles when he checks in for his flight and with TSA.

Why would he show his passport to TSA? Tell him to use his drivers license or whatever he's been using for ID.

For TSA check-in purposes, either the passport, or his current form of ID (license, state ID card) will work .

I always use a passport at a TSA checkpoint because it contains a lot less personal information than a DL. The TSA doesn't need to know my home address and whether or not I need corrective lenses to drive.

If the TSA screening process is effective why do they even need to know your name?

Awesome. Irrelevant in this case since they're concerned about the passport. In that case, use an alternate ID.

To the OP, how did your friend manage to forget to put his/her middle name on their passport app?

That's what I asked. He went to the post office to put in his application. First, the copy of the birth certificate was not an original. He got one from the state of Texas. He filled out his application and for some reason didn't not write down his middle name. The person taking the application didn't ask (or even compare his birth certificate to the application) and submitted to the passport agency. He got it back on Monday and he sent me a copy. I noticed right away he didn't have a middle name listed. He didn't even think about it. I just hope he doesn't have a issue checking in for his flight (if his ticket has his middle name) or at customs on the way back from overseas.

OP asked a practical question for a friend. I don't think that he needs a debate about the vagaries of the way the world ought to be.

Bottom line answer is that if he has a choice and has not yet booked, he ought to have the air carrier (or travel agent) book the tickets exactly as the passport is issued. But, middle names, initials and the like are not an issue and certainly not for TSA.

Thus, John Q. Smith and John Smith are both fine. However, Passport issued as Fred Q. Smith and ticket issued as Fred N. Smith might be.

Silly arguments about TSA are also not the only issue here. As an international passenger (I presume that as OP is located in Denver, that his friend is located in the US), the friend will be required to show his passport to the air carrier at least at check-in and likely at the gate as well. He will also deal with immigration formalities in Costa Rica and CBP for the return. None ought to present a "middle name problem".

Thanks everyone for your advice. An easy solution was we just took his middle name off his flight reservation.

He has never traveled outside the US before but isn't nervous at all. I am the one that has traveled extensively (and ready FT daily). I hear the horror stories of names not matching exactly to the tickets. I guess I was not so worried about the TSA as much as I was worried about airline check in and then coming back in through Houston customs on our return.

Thanks again FT friends.

^^^