Snoopy

Same with my wife and it was never an issue.

janehoya

Hello,

My father is on z fare from Greece to the USA. His first name is spelled incorrectly. Rather than "Dimitrios" it is spelled "Dimitri." I think it "might" be a problem. Does anybody have an educated guess as to whether it will in fact be an issue. He is elderly and I am hoping Lufthansa may simply take pity on him.

Thank you.

olm022

As long as phonetically the names are (rather) similar, up to three spelling mistakes is tolerated- juts like in thsi sentense.

janehoya

Thank you very much for your response, which is very encouraging. I let him know that he should be fine. It is definitely a relief.

Soph

OMG, I'm really getting nervous here... We're due to fly out on Wednesday and I have this weird feeling they're gonna make a scene about it.

What is the worst case scenario? Can they deny my mum to board, even if we offer to buy a new full fare ticket?
How shall I handle this? Are there any documents that might help our cause, like her marriage licsence (from 34 years ago)?

Unterwegs

Similar issue a while ago. Name on an award ticket for my wife was misspelled (did the booking over the phone with LH.
First response from the agent was: we cannot change names. You have to get a new ticket.
I asked for a supervisor. He was able to correct this (had to go thru some special internal process). It is possible to change typos names, but normal agents cannot do this.

Does anybody have experience how the APIS matching works when the name for your registration is different from the name on the reservation?

Soph

Did they fix it at the airport when you were flying out or over the phone beforehand? Did they charge you anything for it and what route were you flying?

nycvisitor

It happened to me one on LO flight from WAW to AMS. No problem whatsoever, as long as first and last name are spelled correctly.

YuropFlyer

Easy, calm down. They'll let you fly, and even should you catch an agent having their worst day in life (Killed their dog when driving off from home, husband called he'll leave her, son got arrested for stealing in supermarket, daughter pregnant with 16yrs) she/he will let you take the flight. In the absolutely worst case, yes, having a CC ready and be able to buy the Full Fare which you will get back with Customer relationship. (But this will not be needed in 99.999% of cases)

I'm having a middle name myself, which it either fully in the ticket, as X., or not at all, and it never ever causes any problems, with the exception that they might ask me if it's a second first-name, or whatever addition when not travelling in countries used to this. But never ever someone even asked me about it in the regards of "you can't fly because of it unless you clarify".

Soph

Thank you, I really hope you are right.
We'll show up at the airport with our best smiles and hope for a negotiable check-in agent.

If the first leg (within Schengen) of our journey is sucessful, what are the chances of them stopping us whil in transit at FRA?

GUWonder

Very, very slim -- bordering on none -- if your concern is about being stranded at FRA.

Many, many thousands of people travel with names "backwards" daily -- and they aren't always a product of being incorrect given there are cultural differences where for large numbers of people the family name is the first name and the individualized given name is the last name (and/or anything but the first name).

The more you worry about the situation and make contact with the airline about such matters prior to day of departure at the airport, the more likely you are to make matters worse than necessary. The airlines routinely check-in and board people in such situations and the biggest issues that are routine for such a situation: a problem with getting the frequent flyer program number to get recognized; and/or a problem getting automatic flight credit; and/or a problem with with online and/or kiosk check-in that requires a manual check. The airline can "fix" things however they wish, but it isn't necessary on their part to "fix" anything to allow the travel anyway.

Ancien Maestro

Soph.. I agree with GUWonder and YuropFlyer.. no need to worry..

There are thousands of passengers going through the airports.. chances of picking you out for their clerical error is not going to happen. Whoever inputted your name is responsible, so chill out, kick back and enjoy the flight.

danielonn

What amazes me is why airlines charge to change a ticket if the name was misspelled or names reversed? All they need to do is copy and paste the info since its an e-ticket that is so simple. When I make a mistake on a document all I do is delete what I don't want and replace it with the new.

The same goes for changing a ticket. You should not be subjected to the $250 fee just the fee between the fare difference. I think it should be illegal to levy this fee as you are giving up a seat and taking another seat available on another date. Just pay the difference like when upgrading at a hotel.

Anyways I would call the airline and fix it before you fly or else you may not be able to fly as the ticket does not match your name on the passport.

stifle

I have a certain amount of sympathy for this, having booked tickets a few times for Mrs. stifle in her married name when her passport is still in her maiden name. However, the real question is where is the borderline between a bona fide correction of a mistake and a name change (i.e. transferring the ticket to a different person). The airlines want to discourage the latter for various reasons, not least to prevent enterprising individuals buying up all the cheap seats on a flight they think will be popular (using random names) and reselling them at a higher price, then phoning in name changes.
This is a question of price discrimination. There are no fees to change a fully-flexible ticket, but the price will be far higher to start with. By purchasing a lower-priced ticket and accepting the conditions attached to it, you are trading flexibility for a lower price. If all tickets had to have free changes by law, then all that would happen would be the airlines would stop selling cheap fares.
Do you have any particular experience to justify this suggestion?

Soph

Thank you, I have a slightly different problem than the threadstarter (I just kind of hijacked this thread insted of starting a new on).
I'm travellign with my mom, who in her passport has 2 surnames, but she only uses ONE.


I completely forgot about her having two so when I booked our tickets it didn't cross my mind.... So, I can't blame either LH or a TA for this misstake, it is all my fault.

As an example, it looks like this...
Our passports (and ESA applications) :

SOPH SMITH
MOM SMITH JONES

Our e-ticket say

SOPH SMITH
MOM SMITH