Hi, I have a problem and hopefully someone here can help. My name, according to my birth certificate and the SSA, is Bob Cohen Smith (not my real name, but for illustrative purposes). I've always used all three names; my passport reads Cohen Smith/Bob, and my work ID and credit cards have all three names on them. My old drivers license also had all three names on it, reading Bob Cohen Smith. Thus I always entered my travel information as Cohen Smith/Bob.

Well, I just moved to a new state that put down my license name as Smith/Bob C., saying that my name had to match my birth certificate and not my passport. This has left me with a license that says one thing and a passport that says another. Meanwhile, all my FF programs are registered as Cohen Smith/Bob, since that's how it used to be.

So now I'm not sure how to deal with this situation. I'm not going to go through the hassle of changing my passport. So when I fly domestically, this leaves me with some bad options:

a) buy tickets as Cohen Smith/Bob, carry my passport with me to prove my identity, and risk losing it
b) buy my tickets as Cohen Smith/Bob, and hope that TSA won't freak out when they see a drivers license that says Smith/Bob C
c) buy my domestic tickets as Smith/Bob C, my international tickets as Cohen Smith/Bob, leave the FF number blank whenever buying tickets under whatever name is not on the FF account, then hope that the FF programs will allow me to claim mileage even though I flew under a different name

None of these options seem great, but I am wondering if anyone has any experience with (b) or (c). I'd like to think that either the airlines or the TSA would be flexible about this sort of thing but I'm not sure that there's any particular reason for me to think that they will be. So any advice would be appreciated.

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

(d) get a passport card in Cohen Smith/Bob and use that.

You have no "situation" to deal with.

No one will bat an eyelid at the license not matching exactly the passport. Just keep on flying. Book however you want to. Put C in the middle field of bookings or put Cohen. Again, no one will care and it won't cause any problems.

They are fully aware that some states list full middle name and some states don't. It won't b any problem at all.

Or leave it out. I have traveled a lot this year under various sort of name permutations and the TSA has given me no fuss about it.

Thanks guys. just to be clear, what im talking about is not about differences to a middle name (ive gathered from TSA that differences in middle names are still acceptable) but differences to my last name - as in, the last name on the ticket will be COHENSMITH/BOB and my drivers license will just say Smith/Bob C. but perhaps you're right that TSA won't care.

With the TSA there is little certainty except in the certainty that they are inconsistent. The TSA can make a fuss about anything, nothing or everything. Either way, best of luck in dealing with CBP, TSA and the airlines.