Although this is not specifically AC-related (although the flights will be AC flights) I thought this would be the best place to get an answer to my question (but the mods can feel free to move it where it belongs if necessary).

My son will be getting married next year and is planning a honeymoon in the US. This got me to thinking about how they need to handle customs and immigration, assuming that his fiance changes her name when they get married. Since they won't have any official documents showing his wife's new last name, what is the protocol for booking airline tickets and dealing with customs and immigration? I know there's probably a simple answer since this must happen all the time but it's one of those things I've never thought of before.

Book everything in the maiden name and travel with that name. When they get home they can work on getting her ID changed over.

+1. Same thing happened when my wife and I got married.

Once they have their marriage certificate, they can get her a new driver's license/health card. From there, they can get a new passport and credit cards with the married name.

And yes, a new Aeroplan card with the new name

This was the case with my wife and I about 8 months ago. We left for honeymoon in the US the day after we were married. The short answer is - life will be less complicated if she doesn't change her name until after the honeymoon.

The name change process took quite a long time. The certificate of marriage from the ceremony has to be submitted to the government by the officiant, then several weeks later once it is "in the system", the newlywed spouse can apply for an official marriage certificate from the government. Once that's received (again, weeks later), you start the process of changing names on various pieces of identifiacation, which also takes weeks. All in all, this is a 6 month process, minimum.

So...the long and the short of it is, maiden name for tickets and ID into the US for the honeymoon!

Hope that helps!

As others have said, book airline tickets in the maiden name. That is what will be on the passports. Changing the name on the Aeroplan account subsequently is not a problem.

When we were married, my wife changed her name on all docs except her passport,
she maintains that in her maiden name. So all flights ( and AE) is in maiden name,
everything else is in married name.

Thanks to all for the responses. Makes sense when you think about it. I'm a little more sensitive to these things now that trans border travel has become much more "difficult" since my wedding day.

I still go through this with my wife of 5 years, who changed her name immediately upon our return from our honeymoon (as others have suggested.)

Her name used to be: 2 first names with no middle name, then her maiden last name.

After we were married, she kept first name #2, maiden last name as middle name, and my last name.

EVERYTIME we travel I need to verify what the hell her name is! ha ha