If you value your sanity, Don't EVER use Choice Air

[rusticfurnituremaker]

After spending over 9 1/2 hours on the phone today with Choice Air, Delta, and my travel agent, I am ready to shoot myself!  My cruise is in two days, and our plane leaves tomorrow (for Venice) at noon.  I tried to print my boarding pass today and found out Choice Air misspelled my middle name by one letter.  No boarding pass, no valid ticket, nothing! I spent the whole day calling the airlines, my travel agent and Choice Air, all who could do nothing to change this error (which Choice Air made but won't admit to).  Choice Air offered me the option of purchasing two new tickets at today's price for a flight tomorrow ($6000 plus) but did nothing else.  They said they corrected the errors, but when checking with Delta, they did not.  They kept telling me that "they understand how I feel".  Bull!!!  I am supposed to leave tomorrow and drive two hours to the airport with no valid ticket (says Delta).  Choice Air insisted that my travel agent of MANY years called them and gave them a new spelling of my middle name.  Bull again.  Every document I have for the cruise and everything else spells my name correctly....except the airline tickets.  Finally, they changed my name back to the incorrect spelling and told me "no problem".  I guess TSA doesn't care if the names match.  They and Delta insist that I can check in with the incorrectly spelled name (they have records of my 17 phone calls and it will be "fine, and TSA doesn't worry about middle names) .  I have cruised many times and have always made all my own arrangements for air.  I made the mistake of using Choice Air this time.  NEVER AGAIN.  They accept no responsibility for their errors and do not try to correct their mistakes.  Use them and wish for the best, but plan on screw ups.  No sleep tonight and leaving REALLY early for the airport...need all the time just in case the reservation is still screwed up.  Wish me luck.
  

[Wine-O]

You didn't notice this misspelling on your Choice Air confirmation when you first booked?  I always check that along with FF numbers and TSA PreCheck on my booking.

 

Hope everything works out.

[jelayne]

Good luck.   Was your name correct on the original confirmation from Choice Air?  If so I would take that with me. 

[rusticfurnituremaker]

4 minutes ago, Wine-O said:

You didn't notice this misspelling on your Choice Air confirmation when you first booked?  I always check that along with FF numbers and TSA PreCheck on my booking.

 

Hope everything works out.

It was correct on the original documents.  They insist that on March 1( several months after the original booking) my travel agent made a change online, changing the spelling of my middle name.  Total garbage.

Edited May 29, 2019 by rusticfurnituremaker

[JFontaine]

Here’s my advice.  Do not draw attention to it at the airport.  Have a second form of identification ready to show, like a license.  If someone does notice it, keep calm and ask for a supervisor if they don’t wave you through.  I know you will have a sleepless night, but my name is regularly mangled (middle initial added to first name, I don’t have a middle name), and it’s never been questioned.  I think the rule is that three letters can be off.  Good luck to you. 

[JFontaine]

By the way, if the mistake is something like Phillip versus Philip, and you are flying Delta on all legs, I definitely would not be worried.  Do you have a Frequent Flyer account with them? 

[rusticfurnituremaker]

57 minutes ago, JFontaine said:

By the way, if the mistake is something like Phillip versus Philip, and you are flying Delta on all legs, I definitely would not be worried.  Do you have a Frequent Flyer account with them? 

Skymiles yes, no special frequent flyer.  I sure hope you are right.  Glad to hear this has worked out for you!

[artvlay]

Good luck, keep us posted how you make out.

[hapster85]

I understand your frustration, but honestly, this sort of error could've happened regardless who you booked your flights with. There should be a changelog somewhere showing who changed what when, but the chances of your ever seeing it are pretty much zero.

Anyway, hope all goes smoothly and you enjoy your vacation.

[cruiserchuck]

Here is a link that I found to Delta's policy regarding correcting the name on tickets.  It appears that a correction can be made either by the travel agent or Delta.  https://pro.delta.com/content/agency/us/en/policy-library/self-service-exceptions/name-correction-policy.html

 

Edited May 29, 2019 by cruiserchuck

[abbydancer2003]

I once transposed to letters on DH's last name on a flight from SFO to Vancouver (I think).  I should have figured out when it wouldn't add his FF number, but I didn't.  I called United the night before and they pretty much offered to cut a new ticket at today's much higher price.  Bottom line, went to the airport the way it was and he got through security just fine.

 

[cruisequeen4ever]

That’s so stressful!! May tomorrow go smoothly for you; good luck! 

[grandgeezer]

I've used Choice Air seven times with no problems no hassles. I do it all online at their website and after I get my Record Locator number I go to the airline's website and choose my seats. Since they were all one way to/from Europe on transAtlantics, we saved thousands of dollars over booking directly through the airline.

[rusticfurnituremaker]

Leaving for the airport now.  Thanks for all the suggestions and best wishes.

amy

[jimbri]

Good luck!  

[gold1953]

good luck .. Each airline has it's own rule for changing spelling. Ait Canada was 72 hours before the flight only. Our connecting airline was 3 months before. Our TA knows the rules for each and helped us

[Luckiestmanonearth]

I usually print out all confirmations after booking just in case. Not sure if you have a hard copy showing the correct version at time of booking.

 

With that said, I trust Delta will do the right thing at the airport and correct the name

[Presto2]

Reading from the UL, what is Choice Air? This is the 2nd time in not so many weeks that someone has posted really negative things about them.

 

We've booked our flights with Celebrity but am guessing (hoping) it is nothing to do with the UK ?????

[Wine-O]

8 hours ago, rusticfurnituremaker said:

Skymiles yes, no special frequent flyer.  I sure hope you are right.  Glad to hear this has worked out for you!

 

Skymiles is a frequent flyer account.  Delta should have your correct data.

[Wine-O]

1 minute ago, Presto2 said:

Reading from the UL, what is Choice Air? This is the 2nd time in not so many weeks that someone has posted really negative things about them.

 

We've booked our flights with Celebrity but am guessing (hoping) it is nothing to do with the UK ?????

 

Choice Air is also referred to as Sea2Air.  It's a Celebrity & Royal Caribbean travel agent.

 

I've heard both good & bad.  So far we've only had the good.  If you are booked thru them, you have to continuously check in on your flight/seat assignment as sometimes flight changes or aircraft frame change and you are not notified,  and you are randomly reassigned seats nowhere near where they were on the other flight and not together.

[Presto2]

3 minutes ago, Wine-O said:

 

Choice Air is also referred to as Sea2Air.  It's a Celebrity & Royal Caribbean travel agent.

 

I've heard both good & bad.  So far we've only had the good.  If you are booked thru them, you have to continuously check in on your flight/seat assignment as sometimes flight changes or aircraft frame change and you are not notified,  and you are randomly reassigned seats nowhere near where they were on the other flight and not together.

 

Thanks for the clarification. That has nothing to do with our flights then. Glad we are in the UK with Jet2 airlines !!!

[waterbug123]

14 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

 

Thanks for the clarification. That has nothing to do with our flights then. Glad we are in the UK with Jet2 airlines !!!

 

I think, though not 100% sure, that you still would have gone through ChoiceAir/Air2Sea if you booked air through Celebrity.  They are the 3rd party travel agent arm of Royal/Celebrity, not the actual airline. 

[waterbug123]

OP- I know you are in the car now and likely won't see this, but at this point I agree  with the poster who said just check in without drawing attention to the spelling discrepancy.  Likely it won't even be noted.  Delta often merges people's first and middle names into one long name, and if it's long enough the middle name doesn't appear in its entirety.  Some people book tickets with no middle name, even though it appears on their ID.  Never say never, but I doubt you'll have any issue with either check in or security with a slight spelling error on a middle name. 

[Presto2]

1 minute ago, waterbug123 said:

 

I think, though not 100% sure, that you still would have gone through ChoiceAir/Air2Sea if you booked air through Celebrity.  They are the 3rd party travel agent arm of Royal/Celebrity, not the actual airline. 

 

Oh, thanks for the heads up for that one. We have been able to book our seats and in-flight meals on-line directly with our airline so that should stay the same. Will keep checking though now just incase :-)

[waterbug123]

4 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

 

Oh, thanks for the heads up for that one. We have been able to book our seats and in-flight meals on-line directly with our airline so that should stay the same. Will keep checking though now just incase 🙂

 

Whether or not you can choose seat in advance can vary by airline, routing, and ticket fare class.  You might book through Celebrity one time and be able to select them in advance, and then book again but end up with a different airline or a different type of routing, or a different ticket fare class and NOT be able to select them in advance.