Hello,


I booked a flight with Lao Airlines and in the booking form, I entered by first name in the surname field and my surname in the first name field. Not only for myself, but also for my wife. So the e-tickets are issued in the name of Surname Firstname. Can't believe I did this, but it was late.

Is this going to be problem? Has it happened to anyone else?

I have emailed the airline and am waiting for their reply.

Thanks
Anthony

If this is for a domestic flight, they are unlikely to care. If it's international, they may cause a bit of a fuss about it, but it's unlikely to be a major problem.

I've had this happen twice - once with Air France for a French domestic flight (they pointed out my error at check-in, said it was OK but don't do it again), and once with Spanair for a flight to Tenerife from Germany.

In Spanair's case, they issued the tickets but could not process my credit card charge due to the name mismatch. They e-mailed me asking me to call them and then they reissued the tickets at the same price with the right order of names.

I don't know if this is a flight for which you hoped to earn FF miles, but I once had the experience, flying China Airlines, where this happened on a Round Trip from L.A. to Bangkok through Hong Kong.

It was caused by a glitch in their computer system

I was able to persuade the check-in agents that their system had made an error, so I was given boarding passes and allowed to board my flights, but to this day, I have been unsuccessful in getting my mileage credit for the flights - but, bizarrely, only in one direction. I believe that it's because when the check-in agent in the L.A. to BKK direction actually went through the rather tedious process of correcting both records, but the one in BKK took some type of shortcut to issue me a boarding pass, but did not actually bother to amend all of their records in doing so. So, I got screwed out of about 13K miles - and all of my appeals to their people after the fact have fallen on deaf ears - as they claim that their system has no record that I took the flight in question. But it's their loss as well, because I have never flown them again after that experience - in once instance consciously choosing to pay ~ $70 more for a Cathay ticket instead.

Sorry, somehow, my post was entered twice

Thanks for the replies.

It is for a domestic flight in Laos.

Anthony

since we have moved a bit passed the days following 911, it should be less of a problem.

But ahhh, I recall one time when my wife, who has a hyphenated last name, was nearly NOT let on a UA flight because--get this--the airline is not set up to print tickets with the hyphen.

AND, to make matters worse, she has a EU passport which actually SPELLS OUT the word "hyphen" in her language! So the last name is like 3 words, and it totally does not match up to the eye of an uneducated, unworldlly airline or security person.

Add this to the fact that everyone in the world except the US has the birthdates the other way (day month year) and you have a red flag up the yin yang!

We did get on the plane, but what a fuss!

Ask the airline to fix it. Send an e-mail or call.

This doesn't violate the rule against name changes. It's only a correction, but the name is the same.

I have emailed Lao Airlines. I am waiting for their reply.

Anthony

we hope you are right and with many airlines you probably are. But you know the score: "Oh I'm sorry sir, by POLICY of this airline, ANY change has a fee!..."

They COULD assess one just because they can.

Now, this is somewhat different, but something like it happened to an asian friend of mine... and many asians here may recognize this problem:

He is Hong Sik Kim.

His US passport says that name.

He has credit cards in that name.

BUT he goes by Harold Kim. (many Asian Americans do this for 'name-ease' reasons here. Go ask anyone who is Asian that you know. Most would agree.)

He has credit cards in that name. State driver's license in that name...

His employment pays him in that name and on and on.

He booked an international ticket, wasnt thinking about the issue, and realized after booking but well before flying that he should have put in the real first name. He was still him, but clerically it was different. He sent in proof and explained the problem and interestingly, the airline is an Asian carrier that flies regularly in the US.

They did not care. BOOM! $100 change fee.

Strangely enough, regarding the domestic portion of his ticket: personnel dealing with that part of the itinerary did not fault him for the error and gladly changed the name for free. Same airline.

Go figure.

I wouldn't worry about it one iota. As long as they can identify your eticket number and pull up your itinerary -- and they should with an eticket number and record locator -- a name order sequence mix-up by itself in Laos most definitely won't cause a problem. It is not unusual for Laotians to have their name order different than how it usually goes in most countries in Europe and the Americas for most people in said geographic areas.

Enjoy your trip.

Not worth it and not necessary to ask the airline to fix it or send an email or make a call.

A lesson in why less communication with the airline -- except on the day of travel itself and that too at the airport only -- is often the course of least resistance and better results.

I did that with a reservation for my husband and didn't realize it till I tried to check him in on-line and it wouldn't work. I called to find out what the problem was and they changed it with no problem at all- and no fees. This was a domestic US airline.

I hope you're equally lucky!