I am getting an award ticket for a freind on KLM. I ordered it online, seemed very simple, but KLM's fondness for initials instead of given names has me worried. Friend is flying out of Chicago in the US and wondering if ticket name is in initials with surname if this will be a problem. The online booking engine asked for initials, I gave it Firstname X (first name plus middle initial) and am wondering if I should call the helpless desk or just let it go. I have set it up to pick up at airport here in the UK, should I address the issue then? When I have booked revenue tickets on KLM I use an agent and always get full name on ticket. This is my first award booking/online booking and not fully aware of the situation in the US with respect to names on tickets.

thanks for your input

Usually my KL award tickets are just in the format of NAME/F MR, even if I gave the full name in the booking... I never had any problems with that.

Same here. For some reason our travel agent only enters my first initial. Sometimes the check in agent takes my first name from my passport. Never had any problems.

Edit: I even traveled as a female once, MRS. instead of MR.

A check-in agent told me once that they allow up to 3 character changes to the name at time of check-in without considering it to be a new booking. This is to address any typos by the booking agents. Think of the opportunities .... one of my collegues was actually sharing his PE card with his dad, which resulted in some interesing mileage summary statements ....

What happened when they traveled on the same day?