passports

Michael, if your wife changed her name when she married, I believe she MUST use her married name on her Passport. The name used to book airline tickets must exactly match that shown on the Passport. Good luck!

She will need to have her name changed on her passport. Here is a link to the State Department's page that outlines the procedure. There are different forms depending on when the passport was issued. http://travel.state.gov/passport/correcting/ChangeName/ChangeName_851.html There are also ways to get it done very quickly by appearing in person if a trip is within the next two weeks.

This happened to my son. If you dont have time to change the passport, make sure, as one poster noted, that her airline ticket is in her passport name. If you have it as Mr and Mrs ____, they probably wont give her a boarding pass at the airport checkin counter.

What about couples who have just been married and whose name change has not been processed yet. Surely there is a work-around for this situation.

The Workaround: Book tickets in whatever name appears on your passport.

No one cares in Europe what your name is or if you are married. But the airlines and immigrations do. So make sure that the passport name absolutely matches the airline ticket. There are married people who maintain separate names with no problems.