Name for Secure Flight
Sep 3, 2011 | 5:55 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2010
Programs: Delta Kryptonium
Posts: 1,144
Name for Secure Flight
I was helping a friend with her DL account and noticed that in the Secure Flight section in her profile she had her name as "Sally B Doe". I told her we have to correct it & asked what her full name is on gov't ID. Well, her driver's license says "Sally Beth Doe", but her passport says "Sally Doe" (how this happened is beyond me). Anyway, which name should go in Secure Flight (BTW, she has been flying with just the middle initial in there with no problems, but I told her we have to correct it because she can have a problem down the line)?
Last edited by rubesl; Sep 3, 2011 at 7:09 am
Sep 3, 2011 | 6:23 am
#2
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Join Date: Jul 2001
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I was helping a friend with her DL account and noticed that in the Secure Flight section in her profile she had her name as "Sally B Doe". I told her we have to correct it & asked what her full name is on gov't ID. Well, her DL says "Sally Beth Doe", but her passport says "Sally Doe" (how this happened is beyond me). Anyway, which name should go in Secure Flight (BTW, she has been flying with just the middle initial in there with no problems, but I told her we have to correct it because she can have a problem down the line)?
Flight fields with misinformation -- willful or not -- doesn't necessarily cause a problem down the line, and it may even help prevent a problem down the line. But as I said, there is no approach that can be advised which guarantees an increase or decrease in problems stemming from "Secure Flight" use.If in this kind of situation, I would just do as I've been doing for years now and change nothing.
Sep 3, 2011 | 8:17 am
#3
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In this case, I don't think it really matters. They would probably care if one said Beth Sally Doe and the other Sally Beth Doe, but middle names and initials don't seem to draw much attention long as they are the same.
I could see
Sally Doe
Sally Beth Doe
Sally B Doe
all being the same person. If it was Sally Jane Doe on the ID they may care, but not is it's fairly obvious.
From the FAQ's on secure flight they actually address the middle name issue
I could see
Sally Doe
Sally Beth Doe
Sally B Doe
all being the same person. If it was Sally Jane Doe on the ID they may care, but not is it's fairly obvious.
From the FAQ's on secure flight they actually address the middle name issue
If the name printed on my boarding pass is different than what appears on my government ID, will I still be able to fly?
Secure Flight is a behind-the-scenes process that TSA and airlines collaborate on to compare the information you provide against government watch lists. The additional data elements that you may be asked to provide, such as date of birth and gender, serve to better differentiate you from individuals on the government watch lists.
Due to differences in boarding pass systems, boarding passes may not always display the exact name you provided when booking your travel. The name you provide when booking your travel is used to perform the watch list matching before a boarding pass is ever issued, so small differences between the passenger's ID and the passenger name printed on the boarding pass, such as the use of a middle initial instead of a full middle name or no middle name/initial at all, or hyphens and apostrophes should not cause a problem for the passenger.
Secure Flight is a behind-the-scenes process that TSA and airlines collaborate on to compare the information you provide against government watch lists. The additional data elements that you may be asked to provide, such as date of birth and gender, serve to better differentiate you from individuals on the government watch lists.
Due to differences in boarding pass systems, boarding passes may not always display the exact name you provided when booking your travel. The name you provide when booking your travel is used to perform the watch list matching before a boarding pass is ever issued, so small differences between the passenger's ID and the passenger name printed on the boarding pass, such as the use of a middle initial instead of a full middle name or no middle name/initial at all, or hyphens and apostrophes should not cause a problem for the passenger.
Sep 3, 2011 | 4:52 pm
#4
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 1,972
I was helping a friend with her DL account and noticed that in the Secure Flight section in her profile she had her name as "Sally B Doe". I told her we have to correct it & asked what her full name is on gov't ID. Well, her driver's license says "Sally Beth Doe", but her passport says "Sally Doe" (how this happened is beyond me). Anyway, which name should go in Secure Flight (BTW, she has been flying with just the middle initial in there with no problems, but I told her we have to correct it because she can have a problem down the line)?
The SecureFlight data is not printed on the boarding pass and is used in exactly two purposes. The first is that it's used in the comparison with watch lists. The second is that if there's a "close enough" watch list match, the airline, not TSA will request an ID (called a "verifying identity document") to compare with the SecureFlight data. This process is extremely rare, but contains the answer to your question: the name in the SecureFlight data must match that in whatever verifying ID document she'd use if asked by the airline for it.
The name on the boarding pass is from different fields in the record and the ID shown to TSA should match that one. Note that the middle name is not always shown on the boarding pass.
That all being said, nobody is likely to ever care about the difference between "B" and "Beth" as a practical matter.
Sep 4, 2011 | 9:58 pm
#5
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My drivers license says the equivalent of "Beth Doe" and that is how most people know me. My passport says "Sally Beth Doe" (my legal name), and my professional documents list me as "S. Beth Doe."
So far so good, as I use my passport as ID and no one has gotten bent out of shape (yet) when the ticket says "Beth Doe." Cruise lines however do insist that the international cruise ticket be in the same name as passport, though I have not had trouble with international air.
I'd hate to have to go through the trouble of a legal name change to "Beth Doe," but I might do it to avoid always being called "Sally Doe" instead of "Beth Doe."
do you think that TSA and DHS will get even stricter about the exact matching of names?
So far so good, as I use my passport as ID and no one has gotten bent out of shape (yet) when the ticket says "Beth Doe." Cruise lines however do insist that the international cruise ticket be in the same name as passport, though I have not had trouble with international air.
I'd hate to have to go through the trouble of a legal name change to "Beth Doe," but I might do it to avoid always being called "Sally Doe" instead of "Beth Doe."
do you think that TSA and DHS will get even stricter about the exact matching of names?