First Letter of Last Name Misspelled
Jun 6, 2017, 8:58 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 338
First Letter of Last Name Misspelled
I got a little overly enthusiastic and booked AtlasGlobal (partially operated by AtlasJet) multicity itinerary (OZH-IST-AYT-IST-OZH) on Expedia, before my traveling partner received her passport.
Lo and behold, the name in the passport is transliterated in a different way than what we expected. The first letter of the last name is “H” instead of “G”. There is no time to fix the passport now.
I contacted the marketing airline, and here is the response I got:
First of all we'd like to thank you for choosing Atlaglobal Airlines.
As indicated in the general rules, name change is not allowed. Ticket is non transferable. Names on ticket and passport must match each other.
You need to contact your travel agency, where you have purchased your tickets.
I called Expedia, and they are going to call me back after investigation. But these are non-refundable tickets and it has been over 24 hours since booking, so I do not think they can do anything, really.
What do you think I should do?
a) Just go to the airport, and hope we both are allowed to fly.
b) Buy a separate new ticket for the partner. Would the no-show in this case affect my ticket in any way?
c) Buy whole new tickets for both of us.
Lo and behold, the name in the passport is transliterated in a different way than what we expected. The first letter of the last name is “H” instead of “G”. There is no time to fix the passport now.
I contacted the marketing airline, and here is the response I got:
First of all we'd like to thank you for choosing Atlaglobal Airlines.
As indicated in the general rules, name change is not allowed. Ticket is non transferable. Names on ticket and passport must match each other.
You need to contact your travel agency, where you have purchased your tickets.
I called Expedia, and they are going to call me back after investigation. But these are non-refundable tickets and it has been over 24 hours since booking, so I do not think they can do anything, really.
What do you think I should do?
a) Just go to the airport, and hope we both are allowed to fly.
b) Buy a separate new ticket for the partner. Would the no-show in this case affect my ticket in any way?
c) Buy whole new tickets for both of us.
Jun 6, 2017, 9:35 pm
#2
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: PSM
Posts: 69,232
At worst you only need to buy one new ticket, not two.
Typically up to 3 letters as typos are considered okay and with G & H adjacent on the keyboard it is an easy "mistake" to justify.
No guarantees, but odds are it'll be okay in most cases.
Typically up to 3 letters as typos are considered okay and with G & H adjacent on the keyboard it is an easy "mistake" to justify.
No guarantees, but odds are it'll be okay in most cases.
Jun 6, 2017, 9:39 pm
#3
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
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Posts: 100,399
Could it be a typo in the passport that can be corrected?
Jun 8, 2017, 12:14 pm
#5
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 157
So in the US, near a major city, you'd be able to go into a local passport center (for example, here's the one in NYC: https://travel.state.gov/content/pas.../new-york.html) and get a corrected passport same day. They frequently help people who have lost their passport or have to travel suddenly and need a new passport. Does your country have something similar? I'm guessing by your itinerary that you're not in the US.
Jun 8, 2017, 7:09 pm
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 338
It is a Ukrainian passport, and passport queues are flooded now with both: people getting new passports and people exchanging old passports with biometric ones, due to visa-free travel to Europe supposedly opening up to Ukrainians soon.
Plus, in Ukraine it may not be that easy to convince the government how your own name should be spelled. It is not a typo. It is how the passport issuing agency decided the name should be spelled. There are mechanisms to protest that, but it is an involved process.
Basically, exchanging the passport is not happening before the trip.
I would just buy new tickets. Only I am afraid of making matters worse with non-show situation cancelling wrong/all tickets, or something (lots of reports on FlyerTalk, through the years, of that happening).
I guess I will just leave everything as is and get ready to pay walk-in rates in case the airline protests. That is unless Expedia can offer a good way to fix this; they still have not called me back.
My own fault for buying the tickets before the passport was ready. We did not expect the curveball with Latin transliteration at all.
Plus, in Ukraine it may not be that easy to convince the government how your own name should be spelled. It is not a typo. It is how the passport issuing agency decided the name should be spelled. There are mechanisms to protest that, but it is an involved process.
Basically, exchanging the passport is not happening before the trip.
I would just buy new tickets. Only I am afraid of making matters worse with non-show situation cancelling wrong/all tickets, or something (lots of reports on FlyerTalk, through the years, of that happening).
I guess I will just leave everything as is and get ready to pay walk-in rates in case the airline protests. That is unless Expedia can offer a good way to fix this; they still have not called me back.
My own fault for buying the tickets before the passport was ready. We did not expect the curveball with Latin transliteration at all.
Jun 26, 2017, 2:39 pm
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 338
To report after the trip: the misspelling did not cause problems. Out of three check-ins the first and last agents did not raise an eyebrow. And the second agent called somebody on the phone and discussed the misspelling, but did not question us about it.
Now, this is my personal experience, so please take it as such. The airline position is that tickets and document must match, it even says so in the in-flight magazine.
Now, this is my personal experience, so please take it as such. The airline position is that tickets and document must match, it even says so in the in-flight magazine.