uwr

On pmUA, my middle name always got tacked onto the end of the first name. It was not the same issue as the OP, but it became a nonsense name.

To link my MP and OnePass accounts, I had to harmonize the names. My OnePass account didn't have my middle name, so I deleted the middle name on my MP account by contacting:

http://www.united.com/web/en-US/Cont...amechange.aspx

UA considers this to be a "simple name change," and it only took a few days in late 2011, but I don't know how long it will take now.

Now my boarding passes have my correct first name and no middle name.

highflier1979

I've never had a problem since they started running names/initials together

UnitedFlyGuy

It's not a mistake - how it is. My middle initial always merges with my name. Not an issue.

goalie

Gesundheit

AFB? If you're ex-Navy, I'd be pi$$ed but if ex-Air Force...

LEONIDES

moderation comment

It's amazing. Their IT systems can control F inventory, to squeeze out every single last red cent from their customers. They can delete RPUs the minute that the last seat in F clears. They can track dozens of waitless for elite members waiting for CDUs that will never ever clear.

But can they change a passenger's first name to the correct value, so that he is not publicly humiliated? Of course not.

Pat89339

^ nothing like a little Iron Butterfly!

cpsjr46

I once had a vendor buy my ticket and they put my name on my ticket as Chuck. My driver's licence says Charles. The "highly trained" TSA agent was not going to let me pass. I finally had a supervior called and he looked at the boarding pass and driver's license and let me go.

The best part of the encounter was as the supervisor was about 10 feet away, he turned back to me and said "What do you expect from a government worker?"

davewang202

I purchased a ticket via Chase's reservation system, and the tickets came out in the format of

FirstNameMiddleName LastNamePhd

So that greatly confused the security agents at Barcelona airport, as I approached the check-in counter, I had to pass a first line of security agents, and the agent insisted that I was not on the passenger list. After showing her my itinerary, she let me through to the United counter, and the United agent checked me in despite the conjugated name. Then the security agent came back to find out why my name was not on her list. They obviously resolved the FirstNameMiddleName issue as just a simple spacing problem, but then got really confused about the LastNamePhd business. There was a 30 second discussion on that topic, and they finally asked me why my last name was listed as LastNamePhd rather than just LastName. I explained that I didn't add the Phd thing myself, it was just how Chase ticketed it - as my name was listed as such in my Chase account. After about another 30 seconds, I realized that the issue was that they didn't know what "PhD" meant. They asked if it stood for "Physical Doctor" - that was interesting.

So the name spacing issue probably created more kinks overseas as well - there are government workers all over the world.

Wien737

Ten years ago my employer sent me on a trip and booked the travel for me through a designated travel agent affiliated with the organization. It was obviously done over the phone because my reservation was in almost the correct name...but with a T beginning my last name, not the correct P. I tried to get it corrected, but the travel agency pretty much told me "don't sweat it, kid; just explain when you get to the airport" and would not correct the reservation.

That morning when I very nervously tried to check in at the United Express desk at the local airport, the desk agent was in a quandary. She finally got the station manager's ruling: "You're not flying internationally, so we'll let you travel." Surprisingly, I had no hassles at the security checkpoint (and that tells you how long ago it was) or any problems elsewhere on the trip. Be that as it may, I do not let anyone else but me book my travel any longer. Not after that screw-up that almost cost me a trip.

(Now, the real embarrassment came with my medical insurance. My middle name starts with an "M," and the HR person who processed my insurance paperwork screwed up and put the "M" in the gender space. This caused me no end of hassle when I went to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription my OB/GYN called in for me. One visit to HR and one hilarious conference call with our insurance provider later, it was all straightened out.)

Loren Pechtel

Obviously you're transgendered!

I'm eternally being thought female (when I was born "Loren" was a male name, females got "Lauren". Now both spellings are female) but it's never caused much trouble.

Only once has it ever crept into medical stuff and that was very easily corrected as the very report that labeled me as female made reference to a piece of male anatomy.

Passmethesickbag

Great story - welcome to FT - Chuck!

Wien737

Ah, yes. I am also blessed/cursed with a name, and a spelling of that name, that works for either gender. That's caused me no end of headaches and generalized brouhaha over the years. I've sometimes wished I could say to my parents, "Look, what were you thinking with that? Couldn't you have named me Elizabeth or Melissa or something like that? Something that left no doubt, eh?"

Mike Rivers

I guess I didn't put my middle initial in my profile since this has never come up, but it remind me of an old story from my childhood of a man who had no first or middle name, only initials. Apparently this wasn't uncommon in the South. So his name was R. B. Jones. Some officialdom couldn't deal with that, and tried to enter him into the system as R(only) B(only) Jones, which of course came out as Ronly Bonly Jones.

mlx52

Seems UA fixed the issue with the suffix being added to the last name. Booked 3 reservations today, and all three correctly show my last name without blending the suffix. Now if I could just figure out how to get it to not put MR as part of my first name.

UrbaneGent

You can omit your middle initial when you book your ticket but you then have to make sure you have it removed from your MP account as well otherwise it may not get posted to your account - or the reservation won't go through.

I know domestically the TSA might understand, but internationally you will find someone that will give you a hassle. I was in a similar situation and I had to get my passport changed because of a tiny little difference.

UG