dmonnny123

So here's the deal...

I travel quite frequently domestically in the USA via DELTA airlines for business and pleasure.. That said, I have accumulated quite a bit of Delta Sky Miles, etc..

For a surprise trip for my wife.. I wanted to take her to Thailand!

I called Delta Elite support line.. And they told me their partner was Korean Air.. I should use Korean AIr.. After a 2 hour call we FINALLY found a departure date/ flight as well as return date/flight that wasn't a BLACKOUT date and had an AWARD TRAVEL ticket available in business class. I immediately used my sky miles to book that flight..

I gave the Delta rep my info, and mentioned that on my passport my name was spelled Daniel Josh Givens .. She asked me to spell out the names verbatim and then she confirmed.. All was well

As there was only ONE Business class award ticket available on Korean Air for that date/flight I had to actually purchase the other flight for my wife.. Pricey! But had to be done. I went online and purchased a full price ticket for my wife, same flight, same everything... tho non-refundable.

About 10 mins later, I received my email confirmation from Delta for my SkyMiles award ticket I booked for myself.. I noticed on the ticket it says, DAN GIVENS and not DANIEL JOSH GIVENS like my passport says and like I confirmed with the Delta rep!

I immediately called Delta to straighten this out and then the circus began. I sat on the phone with Supervisor, after supervisors, supervisor, Glovbal support supervior, Korean Airlines Delta liaison, etc etc. for over THREE HOURS!! only to hear at the end of the call that Delta had exhausted all of their resources and that their rep made a mistake. There was nothing they could do. Korean airlines WILL NOT allow a name change, and as it was an award travel ticket and there was the only ONE award travel ticket allowed to DELTA on those flights.. if they reissue the ticket.. it will cancel this reservation and then when we go to rebook the AWARD Ticket will be lost and gone and no more will be available ever on that flight! The supervisor's supervisor then told me she to keep as is, try my luck,, or that they could refund me my sky miles I used and to just BUY ANOTHER AT FULL PRICE?!?! These are $5600 tickets! I am literally furious as this was not my fault, and Delta admits it is their rep's fault..

I guess my questions are..

1) What do I do? Will I be ok as my first and last name are spelled correctly? Tho it is DANIEL on passport and DAN on ticket.... just missing my middle name all together on ticket ... DANIEL J. GIVENS is on driver's license. DANIEL JOSH GIVENS is on passport.

2) Could i just get a new passport? That just has DAN GIVENS on it ? Is there a way to do that? What can be done?

Im literally sick over this as that is a lot of money to me and I cannot believe Delta is leaving me high and dry...

poverty.jet.set

note the delta flight you bought for wife is concealable for free in first 24 hours after purchase (assuming itin starts in US)

dmonnny123

I purchased her flight via amex travel... and its been passed 24 hours..

That, and I'd like to know what my options are....

Can i get a new passport? shorter name? do i keep my sky miles account the same shortened version so it matches my ticket or do i extend that out to full name like passport?

Doc Savage

I suggest you don't use your real name as the example.

Chances are a simple truncation of your first name will not cause any problems. Ask DL to put a notation in your file about your full name and their error. Go to the airport a bit early to deal with any possible issues; I don't think you will have any problem.

Delta should give you the option to refund your wife's ticket if you choose, since this was their mistake.

I hope you are able to have a great trip.

dmonnny123

Thanks for the heads up! Im using a pen name Good looking out tho!

NotYouTu

Shouldn't be a problem, just have Delta (or KE) add a note to your ticket with the correct name. I do this all the time for my son, he's a dual citizen and his name is spelled differently on each of his passports. When traveling between those countries we need to use both (one to leave country A and one to enter country B), so I buy the ticket in one name and have them annotate the ticket with the spelling in his other passport.

Goldorak

I agree with the it here posters. You should be fine. You have to know that, outside the US, nobody cares about middle names and it's rarely used in a plane ticket

dmonnny123

What about the Dan vs. Daniel issue?

The middle name doesn't have me as worried as the dan vs. daniel

Often1

It's unlikely that a truncated name will be a problem, e.g. "Dan" vs "Daniel". Problems arise with pseudonyms such as "Chip" instead of "Harry".

I would not ask DL to make entries in the PNR notes. That is what causes problems. If KE sticks to its guns, a DL note won't help. But, the likelihood is that nobody says anything and, if they do, it's simply an easy, "oh, the system must have truncated my name...."

Simon1

You are absolutely right, my advice is always don't catch unnecessary eyes.

Doc Savage

This is probably the right advice after all. It seems fairly common for two different systems to sometimes truncate names and it is usually ignored.

AntoineD

You should have your skymiles account updated before you travel again, although it won't make any difference on this flight. The name on the account should always be your full name since that will automatically populate on the ticket unless you make a point to ask them to change it. That sounds like where the problem started.

And don't worry about the name. People travel under shortened versions all the time. I seriously doubt it will be a problem. If you have another form of ID reading "Dan" bring it with you in addition to your passport.