My son and my husband have the same name on their passports. We've run into difficulty buying plane tickets as a family as the airline computer programs reject the concept of more than one traveler with their name. Has anyone run into this problem and found a solution?
Posted by
OP
Oakland, CA
4 posts
The problem is for international travel the ticket has to be purchased under the same name as on the passport. My son's birth certificate does not have a Jr or number. This was gift to his grandfather to continue the legacy of the name. Now I wish it was just a wee bit different. I'll warn my future daughter-in-law.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
When I book on United and Southwest, it now asks me for my birthdate. Isn't that the piece of information that is supposed to separate my name from a person with the same name on the no fly list? Your two family members with the same name most likely don't have the same birthdate and thus, should be considered two different people.
Posted by
OP
Oakland, CA
4 posts
Yes, they should be considered different people but on both American and British Airlines the computer couldn't handle it. And at Heathrow, my husband got pulled out by Homeland Security for a "random" search.
Posted by
OP
Oakland, CA
4 posts
That's what they called it...
Posted by
Freedonia
16247 posts
Yes, you can be pulled out of line at Heathrow because of U.S. Homeland Security. DHS has set up guidelines for flights to the U.S. Airports around the world that have direct flights to the U.S. must follow them or those flights won't be allowed in.
Additionally, The British refer to "Homeland Security" when they talk about their own border and internal security agenda. It is not the name of an official agency like in the U.S.
For those of you who don't know...if you see "xxxx" on your boarding pass, it's telling the security people that you are to go through secondary inspection. It's given either specifically or sometimes just randomly. So don't take it personally.
Posted by
Westside, RP, Germany
109 posts
Annie,
My husband's family has run into this problem as well, despite the fact that my Husband is a III and his dad is a II. We've gotten around it two ways:
Do a seperate booking. His parents book one set of tickets and we book a second set seperately.
Contact a travel agent or the airline directly.
I think that booking two sets of tickets would be the easiest (and cheapest) for you. Maybe one set with you and your son and another set with your husband and other child (if you have one). Then when you log in to do seat assignments you can just pick seats together for both reservations.
You could also try adding the III after your son's name even though it doesn't appear on the passport. I doubt they'll blink an eye.
Posted by
Lewiston, Idaho, USA
2092 posts
Annie, just be sure to check your tickets shortly before departure. One year I had purchased my Horizon ticket months ahead then my daughter's 4 weeks before our trip. Since she has the same first name and we were flying together, Alaska/Horizon canceled my ticket! It didn't matter that we--obviously--have different birth dates or that we had side-by-side seat assignments. Alaska/Horizon told me to use our middle initials as the last letter of our first names. It worked...and security didn't get upset.