Hi everyone, I'm new here and have an issue that is worrying me. I live in Japan and recently bought a ticket on Expedia for a one way flight from Tokyo to Amsterdam, via Emirates airline. I will return using air miles with another airline. unfortunately, I stupidly put my name in backwards AND failed to put my middle name on my reservation at the (Japanese) Expedia website. The website says very prominently that the name must be entered as it appears on one's passport. I leave in 10 days and contacted Expedia about this issue. Expedia basically told me that I need to cancel the ticket and repurchase. I called Emirates directly and they told me that I need to deal with Expedia but: "All we can do here, we will send a message to all airport to take our flights without any problems." Does anyone have experience with a circumstance like this? Is this something I should worry about? My friend works for JAL and said that they typically charge $50 to make such changes to tickets at the airport and they are a bit less authoritarian about such things in Japan, but they are still very much by-the-book. I've heard that Emirates has great service and on the face of it, in the age of computers, this seems like such a basic problem to fix. But I'm going with my fiancé and if I get to the airport and am told that I need to repurchase a new ticket, it will be a real problem. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Posted by
2081 posts
hi, NOOB alert! everyone starts from zero! if you look at your confirmation you probably received by now, there will be a help number to call or email address. give them the confirmation # and relevant information. IE. First name: abcd Middle name: 1234 Last (sir name?) Name: xyz if you can cancel and repurchase the tickit w/o alot of hassels and $$$, i would do it. Im not sure how it is over there, but over here, they will confirm your name on the ticket with your passport. also, waiting in the ticket line just to clear that is in my opinion a pain. I would do whatever i could to make it right now instead of having to wait in another line needlessly, but thats me. i did the same thing but gave a wrong email address. they corrected it that day. happy trials.
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
If you can't get this done by phone, go to the airport now and talk to someone in customer service - no guarantee but in my experience people are more likely to look for solutions when you are standing in front of them. And take as many pieces of identification with you as possible that show your name correctly, you must take your passport. Several people I know have had to buy a new ticket at the airport, it's no joke. I had a mistake on a ticket once but because I booked with the airline directly, they handled it over the phone in a couple of minutes.
Posted by
OP
Tokyo/Portland
3 posts
Thank you both for your answers. Zoe, I will definitely take the e-mail and assorted IDs. Unfortunately, the airport is 2 hours (and $60) away. I suppose I could go during the weekend... what a pain. I might gamble it and try to deal with it there on the day. I'll go early in case there are issues. I read on a similar posting elsewhere on the site that some people don't put their middle name on their tickets and don't have problems. Otherwise, my name is fairly unique... just backwards on the intinerary. I'll keep you posted!
Posted by
Washington, DC
870 posts
Hi, This is such a nerve racking situation. I'm sorry you are dealing with it. I asked a friend in the "know", and he stated that rather than maybe driving all the way to the airport, find a travel agent in town and they may be able to help you. Give that a try first (and save the drive and inconvenience of going to the airport), and see what they can do. They deal with all kinds of situations, and may know a good way of dealing with this. Maybe find an agent that specializes with Emirates.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
Thanks for the update!
Posted by
OP
Tokyo/Portland
3 posts
Hi everyone, I thought I should come back and report on what happened. Thankfully, nothing. I was able to board the plan without any problems. My fiance works for Japan Airlines and she asked someone at their counter what usually happens in this situation and they said typically, they'd charge about $40 at the counter to fix it, if it rose to the level of needing a fix. Simply having your name backwards didn't seem to cause any problems though. The Emirates plane was fantastic. very new. The service on the other hand was surprisingly bad. It took them about 2 hours to serve food and clean it up. I think they had a bunch of new cabin attendents or something because they seemed fairly clueless. Otherwise though, it was great and I'm thankful they didn't hassle me about the name problem.