Award ticket purchase in a future name
 

I am looking at booking an award ticket soon for a trip to MAD in April 2014. I recently got married and haven’t changed my name yet because our marriage certificate in being held up by the state due to a clerical error. I have Gold status and really want to book soon before these flights at the lower mileage rate become unavailable.

Can I purchase a rewards ticket for my husband and I under my future name and still receive the Gold benefits such as seat selection and not paying the award processing fee?

Other information
• Currently no documents have been changed ie Passport, driver’s license or DM account
• By April all of the items above will be changed
• The flight I am looking at booking is flown completely on US metal.

Thank you :)

You can book in whatever name you want. Just make sure you have the ID, which you say you will, by the time the flight departs. Also make sure you get your FF account last name changed, too.

If you are only booking personal travel and have full control over what name goes on the booking, I'd say just book in your maiden name, and leave your passport and your US account in your maiden name till after the trip. While you do have plenty of time to get a passport with your new name, there's all sorts of stuff that can slow down that process (as you've already seen with your clerical errors at your county records office). If you need to fly domestically until then, just use your passport as your ID. Then change all your accounts to reflect your new name once your International travel has ended.

(This is actually one of the reasons I did not take my husband's name when I married, as we do a fair bit of International travel and I just couldn't find enough time between any two trips to get everything changed, and didn't want to risk having to pay for name changes etc).

How plebeian turns out to be the story of the acclaimed feminist who was thought to avoid taking husband's name out of principle, whereas the true reason was being cornered by a tight schedule. Sad, sad. . .

Well, considering that it is far easier for me to republish the publications I've written than it is for me to get an airline ticket changed, I think it's more of a sad reflection on the airline industry that the future travel got more consideration.

They really do make it hard when it comes to traveling and name change. But why would the airlines change their ways when they can make $200 off a name change. I have a window of no travel December to January that I am hoping to get everything changed as soon as possible.

Question if I booked with maiden name:
I understand that I could book a ticket in my maiden name and then fly with a passport in my maiden name. But does it send off alarms if I change my name legally and then travel with a passport in my old name that technically doesn't exist anymore? I am more worried during customs that when they scan the passport that something happens. Or are the computer systems not that smart.

Question if I book with new married name:
As it is when I book a flight for someone else I can’t get them in a preferred seat unless I am on the PNR, wouldn't this be like booking a rewards flight for another person. And would there be problems if I put my DM account number under another person’s name (my future married name).

Since you're already married (though recently) it would seem to me that the simplest thing to do is change your passport. FWIW, you can get expedited handling by getting the forms, filling them out, having whatever documentation is needed (including appropriately sized photos) and stopping by your congressperson's office. Explain the situation (with a small white lie that you need the new passport quickly because the trip isn't far in the future) and they'll expedite it and it will be FedExed back to you.

I used that procedure for every passport renewal but one since crewmembers were required to have a valid passport since we could be rerouted even when not scheduled to fly internationally. For a normal renewal it usually only took a week so I'd just plan my schedule around the renewal.

Alternately, you could go to a passport office - most large cities have one. Again take the passport form and documentation and you can usually get same day service - I did that once and the normal renewal took about an hour so just eat lunch, shop, or whatever to kill time. I grabbed lunch and the new passport was ready when I got back to the passport office. I'd call ahead to make a morning appointment since a mid to late afternoon visit might not get you the new passport till the next day. As I recall, they won't mail the new passport - it has to be picked up in person.

Jim

My suggestion is to give up trying to change your name. My wife never did. It was not really doable to get passport, drivers license, multiple ff accounts, and airline tickets all sych'd to a new name at the same time. Booking a ticket under a name that doesn't yet exist is asking for a headache if there is a hang-up in the process. For TSA Pre-Check, the ticket, ff account, and ID all have to match.

Your social friends can still call you Mrs Hubby's name.

There's no linkage between the passport database and your drivers license database or the county clerk's office. I know quite a few women who have changed names on their drivers license or even just wiht the clerk of the court, and not changed their passports, and travelled in and out of the country just fine.

Yes, that is correct. You shouldn't change your name till you are ready to change your DM account, and you shouldn't change your DM account till you're ready to change your name. Book the ticket in the name you wish to fly under but if that is your married name, start the DM name change process now.

Or you can be plebian like me and just not change your name :D

Do these women have GE? Reason I ask is Mrs AT has a different last name on her passport and drivers license - I was under the impression they had to match when you go for the interview.