First and last name switched on ticket
 

I booked tickets on the MH website last night and have just realised that my first and last name are switched as I didn't notice that the MH website asks for the last name first when booking.

Do you think this will cause any issue when flying?

Also, my wife needs the Tier Points from this flight in order to move up to Oneworld Sapphire with BA, will this mean she won't get the points?

Thanks for any advice!

There's the "proper" way to fix this, and the "YMMV" way to fix this.

The proper way would be to call the airline up to see if they can fix it on their end without charge. That would be the ideal solution.

The "YMMV" way: If you ask them whether flying with the name order swapped will be a problem, they will tell you that it will be. If they refuse to waive the charge, you can try going ahead and flying with the wrong name order anyway. The check-in desk agent should be able to fix this on the spot -- or might not even notice it. It is a fairly common issue. I've had this fixed at check in before on JAL, but not on MH. Anecdotal evidence here and elsewhere on the Internet shows that it won't be an issue, but again, with the YMMV caveat. You probably won't be able to check in online.

As you rightfully brought up, crediting of miles will be a problem. The programme may reject the credit because the names do not strictly match. You may wish to watch the accounts carefully and ask for a manual credit if necessary.

The Travel Agent that handle my workplace travel for some reason put booking for MH in a similar fashion too (first name as last name) instead of Last name first in ticket. So far no problem getting onboard, YMMV though as I did domestic travel and we have to show our identity card/passport (for foreigners) to board, as long name matches should have any issue.

Regarding the points, as long your frequent flyer number is keyed in during booking phase should not have be any problem getting it with that wrong order BUT I am using Enrich card to get the points though. Unsure if other OW carriers

No issue with flying if your first/last name is jumbled. As long as it's the same name per your identification, the sequence doesn't matter to MH.

Getting it credited to FFP however is the problem. If you've put in a FFP number, you may not be able to OLCI until you've removed the FFP number as there is a name mis-match.

I would call MH and see if they can rectify it for free beforehand. If they don't, the check-in agent might be able to help on the day.

I got caught on the first name/last name also booking directly on MH website last year. Having mainly done online bookings on QF, VA I was used to inputting first name first, but MH requires surname first. Realised mistake when ticket issued after payment process. I rang MH straight away hoping they would simply fix it - but no, I had to email a certain area, with a copy of the passport and then after several days of no response was told a MYR150 fee was payable to rectify the issue - this was a domestic ticket where the airfare was probably only about MYR330. Argued that I pointed it out straight away and it could have been easily changed - but to no avail (certainly QF would change pretty much anything in the first 24 hours for no fee).

Paid the fee and the ticket was reissued. The domestic leg was connecting to an international flight (separate ticket) so didnt want any issues at check in with name around the wrong way so thought best to get it fixed...

Just a datapoint, but my recent experience seems to suggest that the official line when you call MH is quite a bit more rigid than when you just show up at the airport. I bought a ticket for my friend in KL (KUL-LHR) through Expedia (to avoid credit card issues) and about 3 days before the flight we noticed that the name on his ticket was.... well not sure how to describe it... he has a Muslim name with about 8 names and Expedia jammed all of them together into the last name field with no spaces between any of the names. After a brief panic we decided that going through all the grief between Expedia and MH getting the ticket reissued wasn't worth it and we would take our chances. He did show up a couple hours early just in case there was a problem, but the MH check in gave him his boarding pass no questions asked. Same result on the return from LHR.

There's no question about being able to fly with one's first and last names swapped or with the full name appearing without any spaces. These are extremely common and are hardly reasons to be denied boarding. MH is used to dealing with Malaysian passports that don't even differentiate between first and last names.

It might prove to be problematic only from an FFP earning standpoint, which may require some manual intervention to solve.

Urgh, I absolutely adore MH but got caught out by this (my own silly fault for not checking I admit), only worked it out when I couldn’t add the reservation in my QFF app, phoned within 24 hours of booking to get it changed and was still charged $79 (I think) for the privilege of getting it changed

i paid only because I was concerned about not getting a decent seat, otherwise would have sorted it at the airport

No real need to spend precious $. Just need to get it credited to the right ffp manually- happened twice last month, I was posting them to QFF too- and better seats are available foc at check-in.

yeah, I phoned up expecting it to be free and ended up just paying it, A$79 not a huge amount in the grand scheme of things and I’ve (somehow) made it this far through life without messing up a booking and needing to get it changed so I suppose I’ll file the money under “education expenses” on this occasion. Was just a little surprised by the nickel and diming

To be fair MH never promised a 24 hour free change/cancellation window, so I'm not sure it's reasonable to expect a free name change.

no. I appreciate it was optimism on my part to expect them to say “don’t worry about it” or change it for free. As I say, the fault was mine and I’ll be more careful in future. Glad to see I’m not the only one who’s been caught out by it though!

there clearly is capacity for discretion so it’s interesting to me that the discretion is unlikely to be exercised within 24 hours of booking but rather at the check in desk- usually it’s the other way round!!

edit to add: unusually for me I seem to have actually retained the email and the name change fee was in fact A$17.40 (presumably I heard $70 but it was actually $17. So even less of a grumble)

Thank you to everyone who replied, really appreciate all the advice. I feel a bit better knowing I'm not the only one who got caught out by their website ;)

I contacted MH on Twitter and they said it isn't a problem if the names are swapped around as long as they are spelt correctly. They even said the agent should be able to correct it for us when we check-in. So I am gonna to take my chances and hopefully it should be ok. The website seems to have accepted our BA FF numbers ok. Fingers crossed the points post but if not I'll try the manual claim route with BA.

Thanks again for your all help!

In fairness, you shouldn't ever feel "caught by the website".

By Malaysia Airlines NOT offering a grace period for minor ticket changes, it opens themselves up to a window of exposure where people are incredibly annoyed with the airline.

I had a similar experience this week - minor error on my ticket. Called them within 5minutes and was told a RM 400 fee would apply.

Instead, as I was in Singapore - I found random people and guested them into both the Qantas and British Airways lounges. At presumably $50 USD per entry, all the lounge fees exceeded the amount I paid for the flight.
My small, passive way of saying FU.

I've heard of others who simply refuse to fly the airline ever again (thus massive revenue loss), tell their friends/colleges who poor the online experience is, etc.

I think we can all agree the MH website is below average and appears designed to trick you into certain features (ie: look at how when you select economy fares, the price shows the lowest economy ticket but the highlighted option is the most expensive - thus making you think you've selected the expensive ticket).
Additional baggage looks like it's to 'add on baggage' but in reality, it's only for Excess Baggage. How many people are buying baggage, thinking they need to in order to check-in bags? My guess: more than we think!

The JAL also has a last name/family name as the first input followed by the first name. This is due to the majority of naming culture in the country. For the fare bucket, they do have clearly indicated the change fee, what are not included, and the website has written the phone fee.

However, the only thing I would like to complain will be the baggage addon for the cheapest domestic economy option.


To be honest, after have extensive experience in service section, I never trust the complaint from my country's people.... for a severe reason