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American Airlines question.

another AA problem.

I went to check on my ticket today and found that my middle name is not on my ticket. I have my middle name on both my driver's license and passport.

I did have it on my ticket. I know I had it when I booked the trip and in all the confusion that followed.

But it has been removed by someone at American Airlines probably during the last change.

I called American Airlines and spoke to someone who obviously did not have a lot of knowledge. He had to put me on hold for a very long time. while he spoke to a supervisor.

He came back on the phone and told me that the ticket will print out with only my first and last name. He told me that because I have TSA Pre, there will be no problem.

is this correct?

Some persons might recall that I had. a lot of problems with this flight from the get go. I am ready to cancel this flight and just pay for another fresh one. I should have done that in the beginning.

Posted by
5862 posts

I fly all the time and the ticket only has my first and last name. My middle name is on my passport and DL. I don’t have TsA pre. When I flew the other day internationally, my first name was spelled Emilymrs, instead of Emily. Zero issues. I think you are overthinking this.

Posted by
9392 posts

In some countries, having a middle name is not common. So shouldn't be expected. When I fly on Delta or United, my first and middle names are shown joined together as one name.

Posted by
17785 posts

I fly American Airlines between 15 and 20 times a year.

My airline tickets only have my first and last name. My passport and D/L have my middle name.

I have never had a problem boarding a plane, going through immigration, going through security, etc.

Middle names are not necessary as long as your first and last name match.

Posted by
1118 posts

Phil, you will have absolutely no problem.

My passport has my middle name. When I make my reservation I make certain my name matches my passport exactly.

My ticket and boarding pass never has my middle name. This has been the case with many flights including American, United, British Air and SAS.

Most of the time (for some insane reason) my name on the tickets come across with both my first and middle (no spaces) in the First Name field. Fortunately, it's never caused me issues. Since they have so much official data within the system, they don't really look that hard. Is it close? Good enough.

Posted by
568 posts

The only issue I can think of is if you're traveling to a country like Vietnam, where your Passport, your Ticket and your Tourist Visa have to match perfectly. This is not a common situation. My Tickets to various European destinations don't usually have my middle name.

Posted by
7236 posts

Most of the time (for some insane reason) my name on the tickets come
across with both my first and middle (no spaces) in the First Name
field.

This is how names are typically listed in the giant database systems that international airlines have used for decades. It is, in part, a legacy of when the systems were first computerized. At the time, the programmers probably just assumed that everyone had a "first name", a "middle name" and a "last name" (like them), and those were always written in that same order (because of course, everyone in the world was just like them...). This was back in the day when nobody considered that some people (in fact, the majority of people in the world) might not have names like John James Smith - except perhaps when singing children's songs - but for work, their imaginations didn't extend much beyond things like John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt.

Things like having both paternal and maternal surnames (very common in Hispanic and other cultures), listing the family name (surname) first, followed by "first" (given) names (typical in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and other cultures - no provision was initially made for those (I suspect the programmers were probably American). There are also people who have what was sometimes referred to as your "Christian name" or "saint's name". Hyphenated surnames have become more common than in the past, too. Some folks (my spouse included) have no middle name. Some people change or modify their surnames when getting married... etc. Many people have more than 2 or 3 names. One might think "names are so simple" but there are lots of potential ways for things to get complicated.

Nowadays different airlines manage these cases differently, but it's most common IME to list passengers by (what many of us call) your "last" name, comma, then the conflation of your first+middle name. For example, when John Quincy Adams flies to Japan, he should expect his name to appear on his boarding pass as ADAMS, JOHNQUINCY (and yes, generally, airlines use all caps).

It's not "insane", it's standard in much of the world (even if some airlines hide it from you when printing your boarding pass). You will often need to be aware of this, eg if you want to pick a seat or manage your flights online, get ready to enter LASTNAME, FIRSTMIDDLE.

Someday I'll legally change my name to some glyph. But then I won't be able to post here or use pretty much any electronic gizmo that requires a login, like my refrigerator, toaster or toilet. I'll be in trouble then.

For the OP: I wouldn't worry about it. Just be ready to use either LASTNAME, FIRST or if that doesn't work, in a pinch try LASTNAME, FIRSTMIDDLE.

Posted by
2895 posts

Thank you Chris and David

I am going to try not to worry but as a natural worrier, it is difficult. I need to work on relaxing more.