passport name?
 

My passport name includes my maiden name as my middle name. I just booked an airline ticket using only my middle initial as my middle name. Therefore, my airline ticket name is not idential to my passport name. Do you think I'll have a problem when I fly?

No.

And welcome to FlyerTalk!

Yes. Welcome mvianello! :)

As noted above, a 1-3 letter difference in the name on the ticket and your passport (or FF account) shouldn't pose a problem.

I disagree - strongly. Only using the middle initial or no middle name as well as the first and last name is fine. But if the first and last name do not match EXACTLY as on your passport, you have a chance of being hassled, especially overseas.

I have a friend whose first name on her passport was different from her first name on her ticket - Sandra vs. Sandy. She was almost denied boarding by the airline. They finally let her check in and board after much discussion. This is serious stuff, especially after 9/11. Always be sure your first and last names match exactly as on your government-issued ID.

And though it may seem obvious, I know people whose names on their FF accounts do not match their legal first and last names. Big mistake since you need to book the ticket in your legal name and the airline might question whether that is actually the same person named on the ticket as on the frequent flyer account.

As for the OP's question with her middle name, she's fine. I never ever spell out my full middle name, although my passort obviously has it and so does one of my credit cards. Driver's license does not. In responce to her questiosn, she's fine.

I guess YMMV. I'm talking a letter here, and a letter there. Sandy and Sandra would have worked w/ my experiences... Christopher and Chris- maybe. Jermaine and Buster- nope.

Jermaine and Buster? Good god! The creativeness around here is hilarious.

Not in mine. I was queried in Paraguay because my signature of 10 years ago doesn't match my signature of today!

A long time ago I had trouble getting on a BA flight from ORD to LHR because somehow at the travel agent they had misprinted the ticket with "Mrs." HelsinkiFlyer and I´m Mr. HelsinkiFlyer. So even if my name on the ticket was absolutely identical with my passport they gave me a hard time. I had noticed the mistake when flying out, but they told me that it shouldn´t be a problem. They were wrong.

fti, yes that could be a problem, but itis not what the OP was asking about. Using a middle name, rather than a first name (or viceversa) is pretty standard and often women have their maiden names substituted, etc. and that is never a problem, especially not if you have any ID whatsoever to back it up. As both names are writtn in this woman's passport, there is no problem whatsoever in any country on earth.

I was disagreeing with chexfan's statement not with the OP. My comments were sustantiated by two other posters after mine. The problem arises when the exact name on your ticket does not match exactly with at least two of the names on your passport (last/surname for sure and either first or middle name).

The OP will be fine. The most that will happen to the traveller is being asked to give a brief explanation of how that happened or to satisfy the check-in agent.

I've travelled with people when either I or they have had their names sliced and diced in every imaginable way possible. Even with first and last names switched, the biggest trouble has been giving a one-minute explanation of how that could happen and why it's not necessarily incorrect. I've seen people travel who have "FNU" as their last or first name -- and FNU was not a name, but just an entry.

Even for countries that do APIS-type things, name variations don't cause a major problem (for the traveller) as long as the passport number or the name (or its variation) is not flagged/blacklisted. Have a good trip and don't worry. Even in the US, the worst that generally happens is getting haraSSSSed at the security checkpoint.

Do I need to find old boarding passes where my first name is misspelled to show that a letter here and a letter there is not an issue?

What would be the point? If some anal-retentive wants to go there, you would be in the position of showing him/her where that is covered in their rule book. And if it ain't in the rule book, it don't exist; come to think of it, sometimes when it is in the rule book, it still don't exist.

Just hope you don't have to deal with one of these bottom feeders.