Passport names and plane reservations

[Chicago Boy]

Be very sure your airline of choice has the same name that is on your passport. On November 22nd I went to check in on line with our carrier for our flight on the 23rd from Chicago to Barcelona and could not check in so I called the carrier. Turns out the names on our passports did not agree with the names on the plane reservations. At first I was told to contact our travel agent because we could not be issued boarding passes under the circumstances. I told the agent our travel was closed and therefore she could not help us. The agent contacted her surpervisor and for $50.00 a person they would make the correction so we were able to fly the next day. According to our travel agent and Choice Air everything was done properly and this should not have happened. Not sure who made the mistake because no one is owning up to it. My point is just be very sure everything is in agreement. The kicker is when the boarding passes were issued the names on the boarding passes did not match our passports and TSA cleared us anyway. By the way, we loved our Trans Atlantic on the Equinox from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale and we also found flying on a foreign carrier to be much more pleasant and civilized than flying on any of the domestic carriers who fly to Europe from the states. Here is wishing everone very happy Holidays and a wonderful 2014

Edited December 21, 2013 by Chicago Boy

[cle-guy]

Be very sure your airline of choice has the same name that is on your passport. On November 22nd I went to check in on line with our carrier for our flight on the 23rd from Chicago to Barcelona and could not check in so I called the carrier. Turns out the names on our passports did not agree with the names on the plane reservations. At first I was told to contact our travel agent because we could not be issued boarding passes under the circumstances. I told the agent our travel was closed and therefore she could not help us. The agent contacted her surpervisor and for $50.00 a person they would make the correction so we were able to fly the next day. According to our travel agent and Choice Air everything was done properly and this should not have happened. Not sure who made the mistake because no one is owning up to it. My point is just be very sure everything is in agreement. The kicker is when the boarding passes were issued the names on the boarding passes did not match our passports and TSA cleared us anyway. By the way, we loved our Trans Atlantic on the Equinox from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale and we also found flying on a foreign carrier to be much more pleasant and civilized than flying on any of the domestic carriers who fly to Europe from the states. Here is wishing everone very happy Holidays and a wonderful 2014

 

It's Airlines, not TSA that enforces the international travel regulations.

 

Airlines can be hit with severe fines for each person they allow to travel internationally who doesn't meet the specific documentation needed to travel. Where you may have been fine all along the way with a name error, some customs agent either in the US or Spain could have made it an issue and fined the airline. I've been told these type of fines can be up to $10,000 per occurrence. It's why airlines like you to scan your passport, then they check at the counter, then many flights will recheck passport to the boarding pass again before boarding.

 

These days with travel, WE all need to verify names match travel documents EXACTLY to avoid similar delays. When travel confirms come in, IMMEDIATELY verify all names, middle name.initial etc. match the passport or whatever identification will be used for travel.

 

If you have any frequent travel accounts, take the time now to look them all up and make sure they all exactly match your passport

[gimletgal]

Definitely the airlines! A year or two ago the frequent flyer programs I belong to all emailed me to alert me to make sure the information on their site matched what was on my passport. I also make sure that the cruise line info matches as well. Travel is hectic enough without any unforeseen hiccups!

[librarylady19]

Thanks for the cautionary tale. When. I booked choice air for our May med cruise I noticed that Azamara had no middle names listed on out cruise reservation and specifically asked CA to include them. Think I will go back and recheck the air reservations to be on the safe side.

Our Illinois drivers licenses only have middle initial which adds to the confusion when traveling domestically.

Gl

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited December 22, 2013 by librarylady19

[lais]

Tsa will NOT let you through security unless the names match.

[Keith1010]

Certainly the airline should catch this at check in and if not then the TSA should.

 

Most importantly it is wise for each person to check this because otherwise they might have a real problem when checking in for the flight.

 

Keith