If Name different between Passport and Air-ticket

[Jusnel]

  On 11/6/2019 at 2:26 PM, Heartlander said:

Would like to ask if any here have this bad experience of making mistake when buying air-ticket online to share, specifically is putting incomplete name. Eg Adam Tan Ah Cow became Adam Tan, everything else correct.

Was hit with this when buying air-ticket to USA through Expedia recently. After taking long time to reply, its customer service team finally got back that as multiple airlines (Lufthansa and SIA) involved, have to forfeit the air-ticket. Really abit sian as the ticket quite costly. Really expensive lesson to go through.

The official reply was to go airport early to try to use the current ticket to board. In case got rejected, then buy another replacement ticket on the spot. But this is not really something acceptable for me, as too many uncertainties already. Firstly if rejected outright, replacement ticket is going to cost more even if available. If can go, then have to lun for another 3 flights for the whole trip including return leg. Really frustrating. But actually maybe need to lun only for 2 flights, as if caught during return flights, will be deported FOC right haha.

So if anyone has the misfortunate to go through this kind of bad experience, please let me know if possible for happy ending aka without buying another air-ticket. Please share only true experience if have, as time is running out fast. Many thanks in advance.

In case you are clueless, please do not reply as I am sian enough already thanks. 

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first of all, we shld be v careful when comes to DIY bookings.  I learned that i shld only do it when i'm at alert state of mind with no distractions and the computer i'm using is very trustworthy not to crash or hang and the bloody screen is big enough.  And i'm not rushing for time.

I also learned that some computers, especially company's computers, have firewall blocking pop up pages.  This will cause problems when doing DIY bookings.  and that's it, your booking is screwed up coz you don't know whether it went through or not.

I can't be doing DIY booking at the middle of night when i'm very sleepy.  Mistakes sure happen.

So yeah, your solution is to call the airlines directly.  Expedia or whatever, won't help you. 

some airlines, even Budget airlines, can be v helpful and responsive to your questions.  Some are damm screwed up. 

 

 

[Lala81]

My son's ticket was once booked in without a space between part of his name. But the airline said it's ok Lol.

[Mkl22]

just look at the machine readable part of the passport and will 100% never go wrong.

for SG passports.

PASGPTAN<<ADAM<AH<COW<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

TAN is always the Surname, LAST Name. denoted by after PASGP and before the "<<"

ADAM AH COW is given names.

 

Just key in like this and never go wrong.

[Jman888]

  On 11/7/2019 at 2:05 AM, Lala81 said:

My son's ticket was once booked in without a space between part of his name. But the airline said it's ok Lol.

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some airline dun allow space between first name. I tried to put a space Ah Cow keep getting rejected until i put AhCow then it went through.

[Soya]

I never dare book air tickets thru 3rd party sites coz I don't think they can help when screw ups occur. Always w the airline website directly.

 

[Stratovarius]

  On 11/7/2019 at 1:55 AM, Picnic06-Biante15 said:

The problem liase with "Surname" .....

Like @SiLangKia said, confusing signal.

In Ang Mo countries, surname comes last whereas in Asian, surname was in front before your name...

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First name is always your name. Last name is your surname or family name. If you have an english name like Keith Goh then its the same like those angmoh, say like David Beckham or Michael Jordon. If you only got hanya pinyin name like tan ah gao then have to swap things around. I just realize my sis have doing the opposite for years. She told me she have no problem boarding. 

[Ysc3]

  On 11/6/2019 at 3:00 PM, yishunite said:

I kena this before. My name was complete, but one letter spell wrongly. I didnt notice until about to board. LL i was told i cldnt get on the flight. After settling with airline they reissue new ticket on the next available flight at no cost but was damn f**d up

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Most ppl only angry when they get offloaded from the origin.

They don't realize the poop they will get in if they landed at the destination with incorrect documents.

Airlines will send to be strict cuz if they carry the pax, they will have to be responsible for the pax until the pax clear immigration at the destination.

[1fast1]

Why don't world governments just standardise every field in passports, visa applications and air tickets to a single official "full name" which appears in a single format on all documents? No need commas etc. Just the entire name in the preferred order. And maybe have a fixed character limit with truncation beyond that, say 40 char including spaces. 

That way this problem won't arise. It arises because some systems follow the stupid AMDK convention of first name, last name and others don't. Even worse, there is no consistent agreement on whether the first name should precede the last or the last should come before the first with a comma in between. And don't even get me started on the "middle name" or middle initial or whatever. 

Just standardise everything. And if that fails just give everyone a number. I'd rather be known as World Citizen 3456769987 or something to that effect. Will save so much angst with this newborn naming crap. And your ethnic origin is no longer encoded in your name. Awesome.

Edited November 7, 2019 by Turboflat4

[Ysc3]

  On 11/7/2019 at 5:36 AM, Turboflat4 said:

Why don't world governments just standardise every field in passports, visa applications and air tickets to a single official "full name" which appears in a single format on all documents? No need commas etc. Just the entire name in the preferred order. And maybe have a fixed character limit with truncation beyond that, say 40 char including spaces. 

That way this problem won't arise. It arises because some systems follow the stupid AMDK convention of first name, last name and others don't. Even worse, there is no consistent agreement on whether the first name should precede the last or the last should come before the first with a comma in between. And don't even get me started on the "middle name" or middle initial or whatever. 

Just standardise everything. And if that fails just give everyone a number. I'd rather be known as World Citizen 3456769987 or something to that effect. Will save so much angst with this newborn naming crap. And your ethnic origin is no longer encoded in your name. Awesome.

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I like the world citizen part... You even have the 10digit 🆔 figured out already! 

[1fast1]

  On 11/7/2019 at 7:24 AM, Ysc3 said:

I like the world citizen part... You even have the 10digit 🆔 figured out already! 

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Haha yeah! 😂

[Lala81]

  On 11/7/2019 at 2:47 AM, Soya said:

I never dare book air tickets thru 3rd party sites coz I don't think they can help when screw ups occur. Always w the airline website directly.

 

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Yup. Same for me. 

[D3badge]

  On 11/6/2019 at 2:26 PM, Heartlander said:

Would like to ask if any here have this bad experience of making mistake when buying air-ticket online to share, specifically is putting incomplete name. Eg Adam Tan Ah Cow became Adam Tan, everything else correct.

Was hit with this when buying air-ticket to USA through Expedia recently. After taking long time to reply, its customer service team finally got back that as multiple airlines (Lufthansa and SIA) involved, have to forfeit the air-ticket. Really abit sian as the ticket quite costly. Really expensive lesson to go through.

The official reply was to go airport early to try to use the current ticket to board. In case got rejected, then buy another replacement ticket on the spot. But this is not really something acceptable for me, as too many uncertainties already. Firstly if rejected outright, replacement ticket is going to cost more even if available. If can go, then have to lun for another 3 flights for the whole trip including return leg. Really frustrating. But actually maybe need to lun only for 2 flights, as if caught during return flights, will be deported FOC right haha.

So if anyone has the misfortunate to go through this kind of bad experience, please let me know if possible for happy ending aka without buying another air-ticket. Please share only true experience if have, as time is running out fast. Many thanks in advance.

In case you are clueless, please do not reply as I am sian enough already thanks. 

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Had this issue before, but bought through SIA website. Went down to Ion SIA service centre they Glad do amendment for me. 
 

dunno is it because I bought through SIA direct 

[D3badge]

  On 11/7/2019 at 5:36 AM, Turboflat4 said:

Why don't world governments just standardise every field in passports, visa applications and air tickets to a single official "full name" which appears in a single format on all documents? No need commas etc. Just the entire name in the preferred order. And maybe have a fixed character limit with truncation beyond that, say 40 char including spaces. 

That way this problem won't arise. It arises because some systems follow the stupid AMDK convention of first name, last name and others don't. Even worse, there is no consistent agreement on whether the first name should precede the last or the last should come before the first with a comma in between. And don't even get me started on the "middle name" or middle initial or whatever. 

Just standardise everything. And if that fails just give everyone a number. I'd rather be known as World Citizen 3456769987 or something to that effect. Will save so much angst with this newborn naming crap. And your ethnic origin is no longer encoded in your name. Awesome.

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This is about diversity and multicultural! Who should follow who? West follow east where surname start 1st or east follow west like “ZiYi Zhang”?

either way either side will protest as who is culturally superior 

[1fast1]

  On 11/7/2019 at 9:26 AM, D3badge said:

This is about diversity and multicultural! Who should follow who? West follow east where surname start 1st or east follow west like “ZiYi Zhang”?

either way either side will protest as who is culturally superior 

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But that's my point. 

You get to choose your name order. It doesn't have to match your national/birth ID documents in order (although the names must match in spelling, but hyphens and commas may be omitted for standardisation). Then all your travel documents will be permanently standardised to this name order you've chosen. This will be your "travelling" name from now on. You can use family name first, AMDK can use given name first (or you can be weird and write whatever order you want). Since the terms given/first and family/sur-name are never used in any travel document or ticket application by broad agreement, and there is only one long field for full name, there's no issue. 

So (for example) Singapore passport may no longer have the same name order as NRIC. No biggie, even the passport number no longer matches to NRIC, they're now separate documents. And it is still a secure identification system since your national ID name is stored in a national database while your travel name is stored internationally (and nationally, if Singapore wants to bother linking it in their database). 

If you insist on looking at it from the perspective of "cultural superiority", it's the AMDK that are being asked to cede theirs since right now we're being strictured by their first/middle/last name system. 

Edited November 7, 2019 by Turboflat4

[Soya]

  On 11/7/2019 at 8:42 AM, Lala81 said:

Yup. Same for me. 

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I onli use it to check what is the cheapest fare or what are the airlines w the timing that I want then go to the airline website itself to book

[Heartlander]

Happy to report satisfactory ending to this bad episode.

Remember I had specifically asked for sharing of real similar experience only? It is only because I had already intended to go down airline office to "bang table" to see if there is any solution to this, such as changing ticket or topup to get subsidized ticket or even more outlandish options. So was looking to gauge how the outlook is before heading down. Ticketing agent confirm cannot help, so have to approach airline to beg. And did learn something along the way so can handle similar incidence better next time..

The Lufthansa office staff at T2 gave a lot of hope. He explained that for Lufthansa for air tickets to be valid, there must be a first and last name. Eg for Adam Tan Ah Cow, so long as the Adam and Tan is put down, the passenger is safe. But if only Ah and Cow is put down, then sorry have to issue new ticket since it is considered a wrong name which will incur cost or might not be possible depending on ticket class. So our case is safe, no need to issue new ticket. And the airline cannot issue new ticket for our case as multiple airlines are involved on code sharing basis. And as multiple airlines are involved, we were advised better go SQ counter to confirm. But he assured us that worse case can put us on alternative flight operate by Lufthansa if SQ reject boarding though it will be super inconvenient, but at least better than nothing right?

The girl at SQ ticketing counter then gave bad news - for SQ so long as name on air ticket is different on passport then sorry no boarding. She was firmed to explain that this is SQ policy, too bad. And after listening to our sob story on how this had dragged for more than a month by Expedia blah blah blah, she pointed us to the service counter at check-in for clarification. The girl there after listening to our story that had been repeated for the umpteenth time, reassured us that there should be no problem boarding. Then she let on a industry secret. When passenger do checkin, the counter staff can actually choose to print the name on boarding pass to be from booking site, or from passport. Just need to request to print from passport, then ok already.  But if wrong name entered in air ticket, then sorry have to do name change to be issued new ticket.

But throughout the whole process, something is clear is that there cannot be any discrepancy in name on passport and ESTA. If that happens, cannot even board the plane from Singapore.

So now can sleep better at night already. And hope this bad episode of mine can help you to deal with similar incidence if unlucky to happen on you or close ones. But really stressful siah.

 

[Unltd]

  On 11/7/2019 at 2:05 PM, Heartlander said:

Happy to report satisfactory ending to this bad episode.

Remember I had specifically asked for sharing of real similar experience only? It is only because I had already intended to go down airline office to "bang table" to see if there is any solution to this, such as changing ticket or topup to get subsidized ticket or even more outlandish options. So was looking to gauge how the outlook is before heading down. Ticketing agent confirm cannot help, so have to approach airline to beg. And did learn something along the way so can handle similar incidence better next time..

The Lufthansa office staff at T2 gave a lot of hope. He explained that for Lufthansa for air tickets to be valid, there must be a first and last name. Eg for Adam Tan Ah Cow, so long as the Adam and Tan is put down, the passenger is safe. But if only Ah and Cow is put down, then sorry have to issue new ticket since it is considered a wrong name which will incur cost or might not be possible depending on ticket class. So our case is safe, no need to issue new ticket. And the airline cannot issue new ticket for our case as multiple airlines are involved on code sharing basis. And as multiple airlines are involved, we were advised better go SQ counter to confirm. But he assured us that worse case can put us on alternative flight operate by Lufthansa if SQ reject boarding though it will be super inconvenient, but at least better than nothing right?

The girl at SQ ticketing counter then gave bad news - for SQ so long as name on air ticket is different on passport then sorry no boarding. She was firmed to explain that this is SQ policy, too bad. And after listening to our sob story on how this had dragged for more than a month by Expedia blah blah blah, she pointed us to the service counter at check-in for clarification. The girl there after listening to our story that had been repeated for the umpteenth time, reassured us that there should be no problem boarding. Then she let on a industry secret. When passenger do checkin, the counter staff can actually choose to print the name on boarding pass to be from booking site, or from passport. Just need to request to print from passport, then ok already.  But if wrong name entered in air ticket, then sorry have to do name change to be issued new ticket.

But throughout the whole process, something is clear is that there cannot be any discrepancy in name on passport and ESTA. If that happens, cannot even board the plane from Singapore.

So now can sleep better at night already. And hope this bad episode of mine can help you to deal with similar incidence if unlucky to happen on you or close ones. But really stressful siah.

 

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Yeah, what I would expect, name must match your travel document to be safe... the passport

[Throttle2]

  On 11/6/2019 at 2:26 PM, Heartlander said:

Would like to ask if any here have this bad experience of making mistake when buying air-ticket online to share, specifically is putting incomplete name. Eg Adam Tan Ah Cow became Adam Tan, everything else correct.

Was hit with this when buying air-ticket to USA through Expedia recently. After taking long time to reply, its customer service team finally got back that as multiple airlines (Lufthansa and SIA) involved, have to forfeit the air-ticket. Really abit sian as the ticket quite costly. Really expensive lesson to go through.

The official reply was to go airport early to try to use the current ticket to board. In case got rejected, then buy another replacement ticket on the spot. But this is not really something acceptable for me, as too many uncertainties already. Firstly if rejected outright, replacement ticket is going to cost more even if available. If can go, then have to lun for another 3 flights for the whole trip including return leg. Really frustrating. But actually maybe need to lun only for 2 flights, as if caught during return flights, will be deported FOC right haha.

So if anyone has the misfortunate to go through this kind of bad experience, please let me know if possible for happy ending aka without buying another air-ticket. Please share only true experience if have, as time is running out fast. Many thanks in advance.

In case you are clueless, please do not reply as I am sian enough already thanks. 

Expand  

Yes ecperince before on SQ due to change in online booking system used in my previous workplace so my full passport name wasnt updated.  Luckily i checked a day before the flight but paid USD50 for SQ to reissue.