Points Scrounger

This won't matter on an upcoming international trip as I'll be on a non-Pre Check foreign carrier. However, the trip is being arranged and paid for using a travel agent who feels that tickets MUST match passports exactly. So, what I believe she does with suffixes is to shoehorn them into the surname field as John (first) Quincy (middle) Public-space-III (surname). Does this cause a Pre Check mismatch failure on eligible carriers?

Normally, booking my own tickets, I don't use a suffix at all; the check in staff has never cared an iota, as long as they see Public on both passport and ticketing and the photo matches the person checking in. I don't want to get into an argument with this travel agent, a friend of a friend.

Thanks in advance!

pc95

Hi I had my Global Entry renewed recently and the border agent insisted on putting my middle name into their system so that the new global entry card now reads given name as (example) < John White > surname <Smith> whereas my old card read given name < John> surname <Smith>. Will this change the way TSA Pre matches up my name to the reservation on domestic flights? My application to Global Entry did originally have my full name including middle. On domestic flights before the renewal I have just put in "John" "Smith" with no middle name with no problems. Should I start adding the middle name now after the change? Or does it still not matter? Thanks.

mnbp

It matters. Your Secure Flight Passenger Information (first / middle / last / dob / gender) in each reservation needs to match exactly the information associated with your Known Traveler Number (the number on your GE card).

Exact match == TSA Pre (nearly 100%)

Often1

+1 - An exact match, no extra punctuation or spaces included, between the name associated with your KTN, in this case from GE, and the name under which your ticket is booked, will almost always assure Pre-Check.

SpammersAreScum

I have had GE for almost 4 years now. My GE card includes my middle name in my "Given Name". My middle name has never been on my BPs during that time. On relevant BPs -- well over a dozen -- TSA Pre has appeared 100%.

In fact, on a recent Citi TYP change of flights, the agent insisted -- over my mild objections -- on adding the middle name. Let you know how that went in a month.

televisor

I've booked flights (on UA) both with and without middle names, it made no difference either way, I always got Pre. DOB, first and last names matter. Passport data (which is independent of the main GE profile data) presumably matters for the GE machine to identify you, but doesn't affect Pre either.

flyertalkzork

My Global Entry lists my full middle name, while an upcoming flight on United only lists my middle initial. I was going to try to update the secure passenger information, but United is asking that I provide them with a government ID as proof of the middle name change... I don't feel like going through that hassle.

So, will I have issues with Pre-Check? I've added the KTN to my profile, and reservation.

Thanks for your feedback.

Newbie2FT

Yes, I've booked flights for people using only their middle initial (because they were reusing credits that only had a middle initial because a third-party had done the booking of the original flight) instead of middle name, added their KTNs, and they received PreCheck.

flyertalkzork

Thanks - I figured as much. It's just as you know, some people say you "MUST DO SOMETHING!!!" here, when in reality, maybe that's not the case. I experienced that with my dual nationality and not listing it on my application - was never brought up, and caused no issues.

dalehill

I recently booked UA tickets SFO-SIN--first time flying UA in over a decade; no status with the airline--put in all our info -- TT# (GE), passport info, etc., made sure I had everything exactly right (especially names!) and yet the tickets did not show my middle name and left off the middle name and the "jr" on my companion's ticket, so neither matched the names on our passports. Ugh.

You cannot fix this online; you get that message that you have to produce proof of identity by providing government documents that I have no interest in digging out and producing. If we were flying domestically, I wouldn't worry about middle names, "jr" etc. But out of the country, I want it right.

I phoned United and after being told that, yes, indeed I would have to produce docs to "change" the names, I pointed out that I'd put the names in correctly and it was United's software that changed the names and then insisted that I jump through hurdles to fix that. The agent was very nice and understanding. She made the corrections over the phone and updated the tickets to show our correct names. We lost our selected seats in the process, but I figured that would happen and just re-selected them.

Newbie2FT

Based on reports on FT, the PreCheck system actually seems to be fairly flexible as far as the exact formatting of the name. So while it's good advice to try to exactly match up the APIS PNR (name, gender, and DOB supplied to the airline) to the PreCheck information, we know the system can accomodate differences.

As far as listing dual nationality on the Global Entry application, that is actually a good idea generally and could have caused some minor difficulties for you if you'd been born in the UK. I've just responded to that post:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29563205-post175.html

rumboj

I just got pre check via NEXUS and have a flight tomorrow on AA. I added the KTN to my AAdvantage profile two weeks ago but when I checked in I did not receive precheck. My NEXUS application was done with my full name, which includes two middle names:

First Name: Jack
Middle Names: Jacob Paul
Last Name: Williams

However, my AA secure flight info has always only had my first and last name “Jack Williams”. The middle field is blank because AA does not have enough characters. It would read as “Jacob Pau”.

Is there any way to correct this? Will calling in allow them to input both middle names in my secure flight data? I am going on the premise that this is what caused me to not get precheck.

cheaptom

That could be why, yes. But it could also be a random thing. My wifed face a similar situation. She called AA and they couldn't resolve it the day before, but they suggested that she go to the ticket counter, before security, and have the ticket counter issue her a new boarding pass with the PRE-check symbol on it. It worked out fine. She spent 10 minutes in the ticket counter line in order to save an hour in the security line.

JujuJLT

GailG

I have read through various posts, but have seen several different answers. We bought tickets several months ago and just had our middle initial on the tickets. We applied for TSA PreCheck over the weekend and received our numbers today. TSA PreCheck has/required our full middle name as it matched our passports.

Will we still get TSA PreCheck if we only have our middle initials on the tickets? KTN numbers have been added.

TIA