slawecki

I booked two award tickets with United and United miles for myself and my wife IAD-NRT-IAD on ANA and ANA metal. I used her maiden middle name. her passport has her married middle name. she is afraid she will not be allowed either on the plane, or to enter japan, as the names do not match.

Thus far, I have been told UA issues the tickets. we have separate conformation numbers from UA and NH. UA has told me the information has been transferred to NH and NH must make the correction. NH has told me that UA issues the tickets and UA must make the name change .

If necessary, if I can, I will cancel the tickets if I can, as I have used 440,000 miles for these tickets. I would rather not do this, as first class award tickets on this flight are hard to come by.

Surely this is not the first time this mistake has been made. i recall seeing a posting on this exact subject, but cannot find it. What is the standard fix for this problem

dvs7310

ANA can be very strict about names matching perfectly. They tried causing an issue with me once becauae United prints middle initial after first name on UA issued tickets. There was some really junior staff at the business class check in counter who hadn't the slightest bit of common sense insisting that it was not matching so can't check in.

In your case, definitely get it fixed or carry legal proof of the change, if I recall, that is allowed.

As far as entering Japan goes, it doesn't matter. Immigration doesn't look at boarding passes for entry. I can't remember if they do on exit or not as I haven't used srandard departure immigration for a few years now since we have automated gates now.

Simon1

can you just explain what do you mean "maiden middle name and married middle name", as much as I know, middle names are not change ever it's only last or so called family names which can be changed by adopting spouse name.

GUWonder

At time of marriage or other times, people change middle names so that the name they had on earlier/other docs is not the same as the middle name on later/other docs.

Many people change middle names at least once -- some even change them multiple times in the course of life. The rules permitting name changes (or recognition of name changes) vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but this is done rather routinely by lots of people.

Married middle name = middle name after marriage-related name change
Maiden middle name = middle name before (or absent) marriage-related name change.

dvs7310

In this case, it may not matter at all. Putting any middle name on tickets seems completely discretionary, though US carriers try to say you have to, from much real world experience, you definitely don't. I would love to take my middle name back off of my United profile as it's created far more problems by being there than there would ever be by it not being there.

In your situation, first and last name only which presumably would match would suffice taking away any unneeded stress. You don't need any middle names on your significant other's ticket.

Simon1

Oh didn't know that thank you.

slawecki

in our world, it is common for a female to change middle name from given middle name(jane, alice) to prior family last name(jones, smith) one you may recognize is hillary diane rodham became, upon marriage, hillary rodham clinton. i listed wife name the equivalent of hillary diane clinton.

GUWonder

Indeed. Unless dealing with a rather common name, I find there more benefit to leave out the middle name(s) than to include them. That said, when the names are there on government ID and using DHS Trusted Traveler programs, excluding middle names can sometimes result in issues.

emrdoc

Is your wife upset that you didn't remember her name?

celle

That seems to be a custom related particularly to US citizens.
In other parts of the world, only the surname is changed and, in yet other parts, not even the surname is changed.

44 years ago, I retained both first and middle names (the names my parents gave me) and only changed my surname on marriage. My daughter and daughter in law have not changed their names at all.

Whatever you do, the principle is the same: Book your travel documents in exactly the same name as you have on the ID document you intend to use.

GUWonder

Japanese immigration officials allow lots of people in daily with ticketed name different than name on passport used at passport control. Same holds true for other OECD countries too.

It's not a custom limited to just US citizens. I also see this happen with people who have European, Asian or African passports.

slawecki

wife was able to contact UA awards desk. person was clear that no change could be made to ticket. she will add a note to TSA that constanceD (last name)is in fact constanceH.

while checking that itenary, i noticed that i am listed as geraldDDR( last name)!!!. i then checked old tickets. i have been traveling for years as geraldDDR(last name). i have a ph d in materials science. but avoid mentioning it. afraid if on a plane, will be called to deliver a baby or some such, whereas my specialty is keeping the wings on, and all the dials working in the cockpit.

i have been traveling for 20-30 years with incorrect ticket information.MRS, OR MR DOES NOT Seem to be added to tickets.

dvs7310

For your wife on this trip, I wouldn't worry about TSA so much. For non pre-check they aren't as fussy with middle names/initials, etc. Where I'd be very concerned is the NH check in desk in Japan when you return. Personally what I'd do is have her avoid the NH check in staff if at all possible. Use online check-in then either print boarding passes or use mobile boarding passes. If you are checking luggage put it all in your name and go to check in the luggage yourself with her out of sight. If they ask, I'd just say she's coming later and already checked in online. That's the only point in the whole process I've seen then give an exact name match much scrutiny.

Where I can see a small hiccup in this is at NRT F has a dedicated suite for check in rather than the general counters and then a fast track security for F passengers only. Once you pass security then you go to the same immigration queue as everyone else (Japan has no fast track immigration for premium cabins). There's nothing stopping her though from going through regular security with the mobile or printed boarding pass and in reality it'll only take a few minutes longer. Having said that, if you do that, I'd check the bags first and then leave the F check-in suite to meet her in the main lobby rather than go separate ways at security just in case anything does come up, but I've never seen Japanese security give the passport anything more than a quick glance.

nmh1204

In Europe, it would be two surnames, not a change of middle name.

EG, Hilary Diane Rodham Clinton would be Rodham Clinton, Hilary Diane - RC are her two surnames

Even Wikpedia says she still has her middle name of Diane. And that page is locked so can't be edited. So it appears there is no such thing as a married middle name, its just an aditional surname and the actual middle name doesn't change

A(fore) B(middle) C(surname) would not change their name to A C(middle) D(surname), it would be A B(middle) CD (surnames), sometimes with a hyphen.

If the OP lists both surnames as it appears in the passport, they'll be fine.

Never heard of such a thing as a 'married/maiden middle name', middle names are what the parents give the child and rarely change on marriage, you just get an extra surname here. Middle names are listed on passports along with forename as forename(s)

GUWonder

Middle names often change at time of marriage.

I have Asian, European and Latin American relatives who changed or acquired a middle name as a result of the marriage of themselves or of their parent(s). Not all of these persons are US citizens, and most of my relatives don't have hyphenated names on US or non-US passports.

It depends on where in Europe. And in some parts of Europe, the name in the relevant language or languages is technically translated most directly into "middle name" in English for the kind of maiden name retention you indicate above for non-hyphenated situations and is the middle name.