Finnair newbie questions thread (flame-free)
Jan 6, 2017, 6:24 am
#226
Join Date: May 2013
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Plat (OWE), SK EBG (*A Gold), KQ Plat (STE+), Accor Plat
Posts: 3,157
Just use A when booking tickets, don't write Ä or AE anywhere and you will be fine.
Jan 6, 2017, 6:27 am
#227
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: HEL
Programs: AY+ Gold
Posts: 428
Jan 6, 2017, 6:50 am
#228
Moderator, Finnair
Join Date: May 2011
Location: MMX (CPH)
Programs: Eurobonus Diamond, QR Gold, AY+ Platinum, A3*G, Nordic Choice Lifetime Platinum, SJ Prio Black
Posts: 14,178
By passport, do you mean machinereable part?
I have Å in passport which is correctly AA in the machinereadable part. AY sometimes shows booking with A (incorrect) spelling and sometimes with AA. Luckily it is not in surnamd so i have no issues pulling the reservation. As for immigrations i have not had any issues A or AA
I have Å in passport which is correctly AA in the machinereadable part. AY sometimes shows booking with A (incorrect) spelling and sometimes with AA. Luckily it is not in surnamd so i have no issues pulling the reservation. As for immigrations i have not had any issues A or AA
Jan 6, 2017, 7:47 am
#229
Join Date: Nov 2015
Programs: AY Platinum Lumo (LTG) OW Emerald, SPG Platinum (LTG), UA Silver
Posts: 380
I have Ä in my last name and have always used A instead for airline tickets.
I did use A as well in visa applications in the past.
The only time I have had a problem was when I flew to Australia about 10 years ago. The evisa was with A and they had to update the visa at the border to match the machine readable AE.
So nowadays I make always the visa/ESTA applications/immigration documents so that they match the machine readable version on the passport (or for the immigration documents whatever is the version of spelling in the visa). Sometimes the visa is granted with AE, sometimes with A, despite that I always put the AE version in the visa application.
For tickets I do always use A instead of Ä. When passport information is requested for checkin (such as when you fly to US) I use the machine readable version AE. Usually there is a field where the name is requested as spelled in the passport.
Remember that according to IATA up to three letters of spelling errors are allowed in the ticket, so however you spell the special letters in the ticket does not make any difference.
I did use A as well in visa applications in the past.
The only time I have had a problem was when I flew to Australia about 10 years ago. The evisa was with A and they had to update the visa at the border to match the machine readable AE.
So nowadays I make always the visa/ESTA applications/immigration documents so that they match the machine readable version on the passport (or for the immigration documents whatever is the version of spelling in the visa). Sometimes the visa is granted with AE, sometimes with A, despite that I always put the AE version in the visa application.
For tickets I do always use A instead of Ä. When passport information is requested for checkin (such as when you fly to US) I use the machine readable version AE. Usually there is a field where the name is requested as spelled in the passport.
Remember that according to IATA up to three letters of spelling errors are allowed in the ticket, so however you spell the special letters in the ticket does not make any difference.
Jan 8, 2017, 2:43 pm
#231
Join Date: May 2013
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Plat (OWE), SK EBG (*A Gold), KQ Plat (STE+), Accor Plat
Posts: 3,157
Jan 9, 2017, 3:50 am
#232
Join Date: Jun 2015
Programs: AY+, SK EB
Posts: 2,962
Jan 9, 2017, 9:38 am
#233
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Platinum, TK Elite, BT VIP, AA, BA, SK, DL, NT, WB + hotels
Posts: 8,756
- not give you award points
- not give you tier points
- not give you segments
- not be upgradable to J with points
All of the above also applies to AY's money+points offers.
However, you may upgrade an award flight to J
- using vouchers
- at the airport if they offer cash upgrades at check-in or the gate.
Last edited by ffay005; Jan 9, 2017 at 1:05 pm Reason: upgrade w/ vouchers
Jan 9, 2017, 9:49 am
#234
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Platinum, TK Elite, BT VIP, AA, BA, SK, DL, NT, WB + hotels
Posts: 8,756
When I've booked tickets to ppl with Ä in their names, I've substituted it with AE and, when filling in passport info on the airline's website, spelled it AE as well. No problems. So my suggestion is to spell the name on your ticket in the same way as it is spelled on the machine readable part of your passport, and then use this spelling throughout (visa applications, passport infos on website etc).
The problem here might be that since the name with AE does not match the frequent flyer card with Ä, the card might not be accepted. In this case, I suggest conctacting the airline to ask for a "name change".
The DC card of course makes it more complicated because now the name doesn't match the sotu. No idea whether DC would allow the name to be changed here.
Jan 9, 2017, 10:04 am
#236
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Platinum, TK Elite, BT VIP, AA, BA, SK, DL, NT, WB + hotels
Posts: 8,756
Jan 9, 2017, 10:19 am
#237
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2015
Location: ATL/MCO
Programs: Costco Executive, RaceTrac Sultan of Soda, Chick-fil-A Red
Posts: 5,664
Jan 9, 2017, 1:06 pm
#239
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Platinum, TK Elite, BT VIP, AA, BA, SK, DL, NT, WB + hotels
Posts: 8,756
Jan 9, 2017, 1:10 pm
#240
Join Date: May 2016
Location: BLL
Programs: AY+ Platinum, SK Gold, HHonors Silver
Posts: 405
this comes in very handy if the flight appears not to have award seats left (in Y). My plan B is to call Customer Service and check if they have J by voucher, then ask them to book a Y award seat and upgrade to J. Kind of bypassing the system. This has worked most of the time.