aktchi

I think my case is reasonably typical:

My Passport has my full name and I use it as ID for international travel.

My DL uses middle initial, and I use it for domestic travel.

The best I understand it, the new regulations don't require you to use the full middle name or the initial, but only that the name on the ticket exactly match that on the ID.

So I see two solutions:

(1) Try to get DL with full name. Then always full name on every ticket.

(2) Carry passport as well as DL on each trip. Then whatever the name on the ticket, I'd have the right ID with me.

If you are facing the same situation, what are you planning to do?

zman

I am planning to use my middle initial only which matches my Drivers License.
My passport has full middle name that I am NOT using in any reservations.
TSA will be happy if name, middle initial and DOB and sex match.
At least until they can implement their 25 digit unique flyer ID codes.
That should take them a few hundred years and will be negated by the Google time tunnel.

aktchi

zman: That's an interesting alternative I didn't think of. Let me see if I got it right.

(1) You are planning to use MI in every ticket; that along with DL is adequate for domestic travel.

(2) For international travel, you'd use the pass port to check-in (presumably airlines won't mind the mismatch), then use DL to go through TSA, then back to passport again.

I am worried about the check-in. Airlines are usually pretty eager to start implementing TSA regulations themselves. Is that not what happened with ID checks in the first place?

GUWonder

I would not change a thing. The TSA is going to be dealing with this kind of issue where names don't exactly match all photo IDs for the rest of your life and the rest of (In)SecureFlight's life.

GuyverII

This happened with my wife two days ago at MCO. TSA said "You don't have 'the' middle name on your boarding pass. Your passport has 'the' middle name here." He had to ask his buddy if it was ok to let her go. TSA buddy said fine.

This stuff infuriates me, especially the insinuation by using "the" instead of "your".

I made sure I wrote my senator and congressman about it

voop

My passport obviously has my full name, middle-name included, listed. That's the only way my country will issue passports. Fair enough, it's my legal name.

My company's travel-department has thus far refused to include my middle name in tickets etc -- not refused as such, but any requests to do so have failed spectacularly in getting results such as "all names on the damm ticket".

And, as some have observed, getting airline companies to change the name on the tickets after issue is not always easy or even possible.

With us not being in the US, the travel department folks are oblivious (or, at least, not sensitive to) to the antics of DHS/TSA and their like.

So I guess that the USians, by virtue of the DHS/TSA, thereby has found yet another way of keeping people from wanting to visit - complicating entry means that organizing meetings, conferences etc. in Canada is a very very attractive alternative.

I can understand that the immigrations folks would want full names, that's kinda their job (and they have that on the passports). Airlines want revenue-management, I get that, and so want to match tickets to passengers.

But the airport security services, which includes the DHS/TSA, should be satisfied with verifying that no "dangerous items" enter the aircrafts -- I do not understand how "name" enters in that at all.....

GUWonder

The (bad) reason name enters into this is because the paranoid cry babies in the US and elsewhere that defend the TSA's actions believe in the effectiveness of ineffective government blacklists being applied to passengers of common carriers. This is about an effort by the government to force free people to submit to being further monitored and controlled (and even seized) by way of processing them thru government databases -- in this case (In)Secure Flight.

(In)Secure Flight is DHS/TSA's de facto way of trying to punish everyone for criticizing the US government's aviation blacklists that still rely upon name(s).

bocastephen

If you think it will be a problem, buy a refundable ticket in a name that exactly matches your ID, clear security with that boarding pass, refund the ticket and travel with the correct one.

gj83

Let's say my name is Jane Eyre Doe. My DL and Passport both say Jane Eyre Doe.

My boarding passes just say Jane Doe and always have.

And @aktchi the airlines have been checking IDs for revenue protection before TSA even existed so i'm not sure of your point. Also, airlines do de facto exit passport control and are responsible for making sure international pax have the right docs to allow a person to enter another country. In that regard they do have a more important job at the time of issuing the boarding pass than TSA ever does.

aktchi

Here is an idea to consider: One day, when you are scheduled to leave for a specially boring trip/meeting, take a cab to the airport (and get receipt), have lunch, and come home. Then send your company an email that you were denied boarding by the security due to the name mismatch.

To make the experience more authentic, present an expired ID at the security and actually be denied entry. Now the way security works, you might get in anyway. If so, just turn around, get out and claim you were denied entry.

jason8612

Hmm OK I'm a bit confused on this whole new TSA crap..
for example
My DL has Jason Smith
My passport has Jason Billy Smith

My tickets are usually either
SMITH/JASONBILLY
SMITH/JASON
SMITH/JASONB

Now, if I use the SMITH/JASON would that also by valid with my passport?
If I use my SMITH/JASONB would that work for either?
What about SMITH/JASONBILLY? Is that only passport, or can it also be used with my DL?

I have a feeling to waste their time, ill use my Polish ID card and/or Polish passport. If they give me crap, ill take it to the sup every time.

AngryMiller

One of the better known TSOs addressed this issue a few times with a:

Because it does.
It is SSI.
Oblique references to Operation Bojinka.
9/11 (what good would any security plan be without a reference to 9/11)
Space aliens from Mars (just kidding, but since DHS uses Hollywood for threat scenarios might as well include that one).
And pretty much everything else including the kitchen sink.

Xyzzy

I'd do absolutely NOTHING. The TSA is just going to have to learn to deal with this issue. My four main pieces of ID have my name three different ways. Do you have any idea what kind of a pain it will be to get everything to match? Which government/agency do you think is going to put in a correction with no fuss just in order to satisfy thew whim of another another government/agency? How much will the renewals cost in time and money? Who will pay for that? I'll give you one guess.

JUST SAY NO! Instead, write your Congresscritter. That will be more effective.