Ticket name and passport name difference

I mispelled my husband's last name leaving out a letter.
It took me a few months to get it corrected but finally I spoke to an airline agent with the codes off the ticket and asked her to change the xyz to abc or something like that and it was changed - just like that - in two minutes with no cost. I had spent at least two months between the website I bought the tickets through and the airline. Where is Al from England when we need him with "those" codes that helped me. We miss you Al.
Just keep calling the airlines. You should eventually get someone that will help you. With a space missing I would think you would NOT have trouble with your ticket but call the airline and ask. Good luck!! Hopefully you have a few weeks to get your question answered.

Thank you Mrs. B and Kent. I'll try the airline a few more times to see if they will help me gratis, but if not, I'll go ahead and pay the money to correct the mistake. I don't know what I was thinking when I put in the middle name on the ticket reservation.

Thanks for the reply. I've called the airline twice and they don't want to budge on the $100 charge. I just e-mailed them and hopefully, someone there will help me for free.

I'm trying to get help from Virgin Atlantic, with no luck so far.

Kent, your post was helpful. I never had a problem, but I thought I was just lucky. (the one exception is that if your middle name is on your passport, the ticket only has to have your first and last name, but those must match exactly the first and last name on your passport). Thanks Kent! I was going to ask about that.

Thanks Lisa for the reply. It is sure horrible to have to deal with this. The name on the passport is "George Patrick 'lastname'" and the name on the ticket is "Georgepatrick 'lastname'"

Odd that youre called Karen in the posting... anyhow, if you happen to have bought your ticket through Expedia, it comes out that way. My first name is Tamara and middle initial is H, and it came out Tamarah. I called United airlines and they said it shouldnt be an issue. I know when I filled out my info, there was a separate space for the middle initial and since I have that on my passport, i wanted it to match, Unfortunatley, Expedias software runs them together.

Karen...ask to speak to a supervisor. They have more power.

Was the mistake your fault or the airline's? If yours, then you are at the mercy of the airline. If it's their fault, you shouldn't have to pay.

Ask for a supervisor next time you call.

Tami, George is my husband's name, so nothing odd there. I made the reservations and now I'm trying to fix the mistake. The mistake was mine since I was the one who made the reservations, listing both his names and not only his first name.

Thanks Frank for the reply. I think I better call the airline and pay for the mistake. It was my fault, and not the fault of the airline, since I was the one who put both a first and middle name on the ticket. I appreciate your comment and now know what I need to do.

Karen, is the only thing that is wrong that a space is missing between "George" and "Patrick"? That is, if your last name is "DOE", does the ticket read GEORGEPATRICK DOE?

The reason that I ask is that every time I buy a ticket from united, my first name and middle initial show up as one word. Instead of LAURA B DOE it says LAURAB DOE. I know that my name is spelled right on their frequent flyer site, but the ticket always seems to merge first and middle. I've never had a problem ...

Are you sure that you made a mistake and this is not just the way the airline merges first and middle?

That's the only problem. The first and middle name are spelled as one name, without a space. Instead of George Patrick, it's spelled Georgepatrick on the ticket.

The airline merged the name. On the receipt I printed, the space is there. It's just not there on the e-ticket they sent.

Then it looks like the airline goofed. Ask for a supervisor and explain the problem.

I'll call now and let you know what happened. Thanks

I just got off the phone with a supervisor from Virgin Atlantic and was told that they will only change it for a charge. The supervisor assured me that it shouldn't matter, but I'm extremely doubtful. When I explained that my receipt printed out correctly and it was the the e-ticket they sent me that was wrong, she reinterated that they will only change it for a fee, of roughly $100. All I know is the ticket reads Georgepatrick and the pasport says George Patrick. Do YOU think we'll have a problem at the airport? Now I don't know if I should pay the money or believe her when she said, "don't worry about it."

If the airline said it is not a problem then don't stress about it. The name is not spelled wrong.

As I mentioned earlier, I have often noticed that my ticket will show my first and middle together without a space and sometimes the boarding pass only shows my first initial.

Take your receipt to the airport with you so you can prove it is their error if they give you a problem.

Thanks Kent,
I agree wth what you have to say and am not going to bed until I call the airline with a credit card number. I know I won't be able to sleep until the ticket has been corrected. I appreciate your wisdom. Karen

Karen, Please look at the example in Tami's post.

I also looked at several of my old e-tickets and boarding passes. These are some of the different examples of what showed up for LAURA B. DOE

DOE\LAURAB

DOE\LAURABMS (as in Ms. Laura B Doe)

DOE\L

If you had only put the middle name or if you had spelled the name wrong it might be an issue. But you said that you spelled the name correctly and your receipt is correct. The airline told you that you did not have to change the ticket. Get the name of the employee who told you that. Bring your receipt with you to the airport if you are worried. Your receipt from the airline shows the correct name and the ticket just has it concatenated the first and middle. But certainly you should not be paying $100 for this if you spelled the name correctly.

Example:

Here is my confirmation email from United:

Airline ticket number(s): 01673970XXXXX United confirmation code: S3ZXXX
Main contact: Tamara H DXXXX

and here is my eticket info:

To: London Heathrow Airport
12:15 pm, Wednesday, April 01
TERMINAL 1

Seats: 32H DXXXX/TAMARAH Confirmed

Anything you put in the middle name area will usually run together with the first name. This also happened on my last flight and it wasnt an issue. I think they just want your money. You should contact passport control via the airport and ask about it.

This whole name thing was also a concern on my trip to Madrid two weeks ago. I don't have a middle name (hooray!), but my mother does, and it is listed on her passport. But the airline only had her middle initial on the ticket, and it printed squished with her first name (example: Jane Kelly Doe (name) printed JANEK DOE). I'd never flown US Airways (and I don't have this problem with my usual airline, Northwest), and their website made me really panic, since they stress that the name on the ticket must exactly match the passport. We stressed all the way to the gate, only to have it be a non-issue.

To echo what the last couple posters have said, I always use my full name when ordering tickets. Airline tickets, rail reservations, etc. have often merged the first and middle names together. It has never, ever been a problem (still the same name shown on the passport). No one has ever even batted an eye at it.

How about if you just skip the middle name? Wouldn’t that be easier for the future? I also had Orbitz run my son’s first and middle name together. No one looked twice at it. But based on that I decided, from then on, to just skip the middle name. Passports have a middle name because, I guess, they have to, right?

But I have not flown since then and already booked 2 tickets that way for a flight coming in June. When I filled out the forms online only the blanks for the first and last name had an asterisk indicating they MUST be filled out. This was my first time buying tickets since the case with my son so I was paying attention to that.

Don’t tell me know that I am going to have a problem leaving a middle name OFF a ticket! Neither of us has a common name, so it’s not like we could get confused for someone else.

It sounds like it is not your mistake Karen. If the name was printed correctly on the invoice but not on the e-ticket then it is the airline problem. I don't understand why you should give in and pay the 100 dollars.

If you are really concern, did you get the name of the guy that you spoke to on the phone? Is it possible to email someone and get a written proof saying that it does not matter? Or would bringing the invoice help?

I can't imagine an airline would be charging their customer $100 for a mistake that they make - ie if it is right on the invoice, why isnt it right on the e-ticket?

Linnea: Exactly. The easy solution is to just use your first and last name when buying an airplane ticket. I can't think of a reason why a middle name or middle initial is needed when buying an airplane ticket.

I goofed when putting in the middle name. I've sure learned my lesson and will never do it again.

His name is George Patrick middlename lastname, so I should have only put his first name, even if he goes by the first two names.

Linnea, I'm a bit confused by a portion of your post, so apologies if this is not helpful. It doesn't matter if your name is common or not, it has to be correct. They don't get to make that call.

With that said, yes, I agree with you and Kent, you don't need to put your middle name on your ticket, (so it's better not to), but if you do then it has to be correct. (Just to clarify, running the two names together doesn't make it incorrect.)

Thanks for the post. That's the only problem. The two names are run together.

airlines don't take spaces or hyphens, therefore if your first name is George and your middle name is Patrick, you will be fine (as they will only show it as georgepatrick regardless of if there's a space) you will be fine with your name on the ticket like this (as long as your last name is on there too such as smith/georgepatrick)
Don't pay to remove a middle name when it's already on your ticket properly
i am a travel agent, so I hear about this all the time, but you're fine

Essy, Your reply takes a load off my shoulders. I feel SOOOO much better after reading it. I've learned my lesson. Thank you so very much.