SkyMiles Name Discrepancy
 

Hi Everyone! Been lurking for a long time, but haven't had any useful info to add until now. I have a question on Delta's name policy for tickets/Sky Miles.

I'm PM and my wife is on her way to Silver (1000 MQM to go), probably GM by year-end. All domestic travel so far. Now she has a trip overseas and this is where the problems start.

Her SkyMiles acct has Jane Johnson Doe (well, you get it), matching her Florida Driver's License. Her passport is Brazilian, showing Jane Johnson Anderson. Of course her ticket was booked with the passport name (per Plat desk rep on the phone). Delta won't add her SkyMiles number because the names are different. Now, the Plat desk rep said to fax the ticket, passport info page, Driver's License, etc. to 404-715-9220 and they would add it. Got an emailed response today - No go. She got a generic response saying names must match, passport has to be changed.

Changing names on a Brazil passport while in the USA isn't easy (if it can even be done, which is why it's still her maiden name). Her SkyMiles name is our married name. She doesn't want to change the SkyMiles name as most travel is domestic and she doesn't want to carry her passport everywhere for domestic travel.

Delta is pretty unresponsive here. She can't change her passport name, but already changed her USA forms of ID (Green Card, Driver's License, etc.) Delta said the Florida marriage certificate means nothing because the our name isn't on her Brazil passport.

Not sure what else we can send to make Delta happy. We can fight for the post-travel mileage credit, but as general public now, she can't pick anything other than middle seats (flying in Y). Was hoping to get the SM applied after the outbound part of her upcoming trip. And if Delta won't do anything now, what's to say a mileage credit will work?...

Any thoughts?

Getting her FF # correct is the least of her worries. Get her passport fixed ASAP. Your profile does not list a hometown, but check in with the nearest Brazilian Consulate and get this taken care of.

Change the drivers license back to her maiden name? Does it need to match her green card?

In the US changing the name consisted of adding a notation on one of the last pages.

Is there enough time for her to get US citizenship? The passport would only take a week after that with expedited service.

All the problems between passengers could be solved if both parties took 2 Quaaludes and a shot of wood alcohol when they got on the plane.

Did you send them a marriage certificate? Really that's what DL needs to understand the name on the passport is truly the person on the Skymiles account. Not sure why they'd tell you to send FL DL or anything else. The marriage certificate is the only thing that will prove to DL the person is the same.

Edit to add she should be able to have the ticket under her married name and still use her passport, but would need to have the marriage license officially authenticated by the FL Sec. of State, followed by the US Department of State. Once authenticated legally the document can be used in other countries. Just bringing the document along even if it's issued from the state and bears a State of FL Seal doesn't provide proof of anything, it must be authenticated under international law to be recognized.

Of course the best idea is to contact the Brazilian Embassy to the US or the closest Brazilian Consulate to the US (there's one in Miami) and have them help you update her passport. No appointment is needed, just bring your wife, her current passport, a current passport photo, and of course her marriage license (since this is being done in the US and State of FL no authentication should be needed, but I'd check to make sure). http://miami.itamaraty.gov.br/en-us/adults.xml This is the link. There's really no reason not to get it done, it's easier from what they post then getting a US passport done I can tell you that much.

Why should the OP contact the Brazilian consulate or *bring* his wife there. She's an adult, presumably, and she's the Brazilian citizen so she should be able to do this herself. She doesn't need her husband's permission to change the name on her passport and I see no reason he would need to be present for this.

Good Grief. Where at all did I say he had to be there? NO where in the post. My post was worded as a reply to him the OP. Since he's asking for help, helping her I naturally worded the reply as such.

I've repeatedly noticed DL SkyClub reps put in for such changes to account name and to my knowledge it worked out perfectly without need to do anything beyond getting the SkyClub rep to do the change. This is more of an issue encountered by staff at DL lounges with more Asia service than say at MSP, but the staff at DL international hub clubs can put in these changes and get the DL SkyMiles number to stick and come up as a match thereafter.

The OP's wife could travel domestically with and under the Brazilian passport name but then she'd be traveling with the Brazilian passport as ID.

It's rather more frequently the case now than earlier that the name in one country's docs don't or won't be allowed to match the name in the other country's docs and yet the docs from both countries are still useful for travel, even with conjoined use on a single ticketed PNR.

You said "just bring your wife, her current passport, a current passport photo, and of course her marriage license (since this is being done in the US and State of FL no authentication should be needed, but I'd check to make sure)."

With a comment like that, some may think it seems that the wife is being treated like property or like a child.

However her Skymiles account is correct. She had to travel under her maiden name because she has not updated her passport yet.

The change can still be done, as both names are correct. A passport in a maiden name may still be considered correct even when a different jurisdiction has a person recorded with a different name than another jurisdiction.

The airlines could try to catch up with the times and let an account number map to multiple legal names per separate legal jurisdiction-issued documents routinely used for travel by the person trying to use their own account. A person can legitimately match up with an account even if the name seems to match an account only some of the time. [This little British girl and boy from Iceland are in for a ride: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...oved-list.html . (The circumstances underlying the article are what I'm highlighting, regardless of credibility of some of the elements in that article).]

Some countries won't do name changes in the way other countries may do. Even within just the US, the allowances for legal name changes varies across some states -- even as the US tends to be more flexible than say some countries in Western Europe which behave in far more intrusive and controlling ways when it comes to legal name on docs and attempts to revise such.

OP was asking for help, helping his wife out. (Am I going be accused for that sentence of saying he "owns" her?) Thus what I said is an appropriate reply, how he can help her. No where in there did I say he had to go, and for sure NO where did I ever say she "needed his permission." I'm sorry, but if I asked for help helping out my wife I'd expect the reply to be how I could help her. People need to stop reading more into things then are really there.

Legally in the US you can only truly be known as one legal name. This doesn't mean documents issued while still under the old name become invalid, but you're going to have to prove it's the same person. Court Order, marriage license, etc. When she got married she legally changed her name, thus DL and everyone else is correct to hold her to it. Regardless her passport can easily enough be updated with her going to the Consulate in Miami.

Also while her US visa was updated, it can pose problems with Immigration, one document shows one name, and the other giving the ability to enter is under a different name.

Open a new SkyMiles account under the other name. Let it get credit. When all her documents are updated to the same name, ask Delta to merge the accounts.

My passport and Skymiles account have never matched. My passport has my first name initial, not my first name. Have always booked my intl travel with just my first initial and no problem adding my Skymiles number.

I have looked into trying to fix my passport, but passport folks cannot give right advice to change it. It is not a name change, as I have never legally changed my name. It is also not an erroneous passport as it was done when I was a minor and I renewed it once that way. So, there is no clear answer on how to fix it. :(