asdf098

I'm planning a trip next month JFK-HEL-SVO on AY and have a small concern about passport name mismatches. I live in the US on a Canadian passport/US visa but I would be entering Russia on a Russian passport, which annoyingly has my last name spelled differently (off by two letters - this was caused by a Cyrillic->English transliteration done in French many years ago but later switching to English). My Canadian passport, visa, frequent flyer programs, and documents that I use in my day-to-day life have my name written the way it is in my Canadian passport. I would be buying a ticket with that spelling.

I wonder if I would have issues with check-in document verification due to this. Obviously I would present my Canada passport at JFK check-in for my flight to HEL, and presumably if asked to show a visa to Russia I could show them my Russian passport which pretty clearly should show that I would be admissible to enter SVO. Would this raise any questions or lead to denial of boarding? I'm not sure how the intricacies of document verification work, ie. if they need to enter a "visa document" for arrival into Russia that has to match the ticket name precisely, or if the agent just manually needs to tick a box after checking Timatic or whatever system and ascertaining that the passenger is eligible to enter the destination country. Note I see it as being not an option to book this roundtrip with the "Russian" spelling as presumably having my name match what the US agencies know about me upon re-entering the US is much more important (I only use the Russian passport in Russia).

FWIW I have done this a number of times on SU, where the US<>Russia ticket was booked with spelling as per Canadian passport, and shown both passports when checking in, with no issues. But I think this particular spelling issue is a relatively common problem for Russians (and I know several people affected by it myself) so maybe Aeroflot knows to waive it through. But curious if AY would have a problem here.

Im a new user

This sounds incorrect as a Russian passport also should suffice. Besides, I think that Russian law prohibits you from getting a Russian visa in a non-Russian passport if you also hold Russian citizenship.

on22cz

I'd say it should be fine when we are talking about 2-letter difference. To stay on the safe side, you may contact AY CS to put a note into the reservation for the check-in people to have it easier (passport copy may be required). IME, the staff at JFK is definitely among the best AY outstation staff I have encountered, so while they might be strict, they sure seemed to be capable of listening to your case.