Often1

This is not a problem with the carriers, border (CBP), or TSA. The industry standard is that the order of the names is irrelevant, e.g. John Smith vs. Smith John is fine. What becomes problematic is when there are misspellings or the names are different.

For travel, you will be required to enter your passport data and may already have done so. Name order will matter there. Make certain that you don't mess that up.

forgiveomatic

It has been over 24 hours so cancellation is not an option. Broker told me to purchase new ticket using the value of this ticket at a cost of about $1000 since the fare class is no longer available. You have all given me hope to just go with it and to fly.

SteveHK

Directly from SHARES:

NAME CHANGE GUIDELINES: **NOTE: IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO CHANGE A NAME ON A TICKET THAT INVOLVES A SIMPLE ERROR ON THE NAME, SUCH AS NICKNAME, MISSPELLING, OBVIOUS TYPO, NAME REVERSAL CHANGES WITH DOCUMENTATION OF MARRIAGE/DIVORCE. FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL, UA MUST ENSURE ACCURATE APIS DATA IS COLLECTED AND IT MATCHES THE PASSPORT. FOR EXAMPLE, THE NAME ON THE TICKET CAN BE JON SMITH WHILE THE PASSPORT REFLECTS JONATHAN SMITH. APIS DATA MUST REFLECT JONATHAN SMITH - EXACTLY AS SHOWN IN THE PASSPORT, BUT NAME CHANGE TO THE TICKET IS UNNECESSARY.

Just ensure APIS is correct and you should be golden.

Xyzzy

That is absolutely correct. Name change to fix this is not necessary to fly. In fact, travel agents will almost always refuse to change your ticket when such errors are pointed out, citing exactly this guideline. But, as I pointed out above, mileage credit, elite benefits, upgrades, etc. that are associated with a specific name will nt work automatically in these cases. Be prepared.

YadiMolina

This just happened to me, one extra letter added to my child's surname by phone agent. I never noticed it on the email receipt until a few days before the trip. I called UA and asked about changing it, the agent she could do it, but it "took a few days". She strongly recommended doing nothing since it was so close to the day of travel, and "let them take care of it at the airport". I couldn't check her in on-line for the international flight into the US, because the passport didn't match. At the airport for the departure, the agent seemed to fiddle with the computer a bit more, but it was all good. Global Entry worked flawlessly.Obviously, whatever the agent did was just for that flight. He didn't correct the "ticket" because the name was still an issue on the return legs and we had to repeat the process.

traveler4ever

Hello everyone!
I have a quick question. A friend booked a ticket from FLL to FNA. Some is on United metal but he booked his ticket on Brussels Airlines. He inadvertently put his last name in the first name spot and his last name where his first name should've gone. He said he called Brussels Air and they said the only thing he can do is cancel his ticket and re-book. This can't be right, can it? His ticket was 2000. RT.! Doesn't seem it should be that complicated. Does anyone think maybe United could help him change his last to his first and his first to his last? Thank you for any responses that can informative!

jsloan

UA cannot do anything to change the name on a Brussels Airlines ticket. However, name mix-ups like that are common. I'd advise him to try Brussels again.

traveler4ever

He ended up paying 300 euros to switch his first name first and his last name last. Crazy, I say... Thank you for your reply though

Xyzzy

I'm sure he could have flown just fine with the names reversed. This sort of thing happens all the time. The nly problems would have been with earning mileage and such, which would have had to be taken care of manually.

Muerz

Quick question:
I booked a ticket for my father on Orbitz and I'm not sure what happened but it looks like their booking engine made a mistake.
I correctly entered his name "Aaa Eugène XXX" and it also shows correctly this way on the confirmation mail and on the trip itinerary page on the Orbitz website.
A few days ago, I got an email saying there was a schedule change for this booking and on this email it displays his name as "Aaa Eugcne XXX".
Should I be worried? What steps should I take now?
Thanks in advance for your help!

findark

I'm honestly surprised that a non-ASCII character survived anywhere in the booking system.. I would have just used an 'e'. My guess is it will cause issues, but other people probably have hands-on experience here.

dvielhab

Dear Fellow Flyers,

I am currently dealing with a rather tricky situation that I have been unable to resolve, hence my post here to seek some guidance.

I booked an award redemption using United Mileage Plus for a Lufthansa-operated flight from IAD to Germany.

The reservation is for three travelers (wife, infant daughter, and myself) with a travel date in December 2019.

Several months after making the booking, I noticed that my wife's last name was spelled incorrectly. In this context, "spelled incorrectly" means that two letters are missing (one in the middle and one at the very end of our last name). My daughter's and my name are spelled correctly. The booking was made through a United agent, who apparently misspelled the name.

I called the United 1K desk to resolve the issue. As I had dreaded, they simply referred me to Lufthansa, claiming it was the operating airline's responsibility (which I don't believe is accurate). Not having much hope, I called Lufthansa, which, as I had expected, referred me straight back to United.

Happy to be corrected if wrong, but I do believe that it is in fact United's responsibility to resolve this (as per usual, their customer service agents simply don't seem to be adequately trained to be of much help).

Has anyone been in a similar situation before, and may be able to offer some guidance on how it was resolved (assuming it was resolved)? As a secondary question, would my wife be denied boarding even with the slight misspelling of the name?

Would appreciate any help and comments.

Best Regards,

DV

Often1

This has nothing to do with LH. This is purely a UA issue. But, a minor misspelling won't present an issue. The IATA is still met. Do not raise the issue again as all you are doing is creating a problem.

At check-in with LH, your documents will be checked and it is possible that an agent will raise the issue and it may take some time to confirm with a manager that the discrepancy is OK.

For the benefit of others in the future:
1. If you book by phone, have the agent read back every detail, including name spellings. Do not feel rushed.
2. No matter how you book, immediately (but never more than 24 hours later) check every detail of the e-ticket when it arrives. This includes spellings, flights, and the like. Within 24 hours, anything can be corrected because it may be cancelled.

GRB051111

Can you elaborate on the general degree of deviation from the official ID name that a person would still be permitted to fly?

I find NATO phonetic alphabet particularly useful to make sure that the name is spelled correctly (I have 10+ alphabet-long, non-English name). The UA agents are invariably very well versed at this. Often, it makes spelling something via phone much, much faster.

mahasamatman

Welcome to FT, dvielhab!

There is no hard-and-fast rule, but omitting a letter or two, transposing two letters, or having similar letters (like B for P) would generally be considered reasonable. The important part to get right is the Secure Flight information.