Tickets & Passports

[debnjoe1438]

Anyone know what happened to the search in a forum went to? I know I've seen discussion on Passports and Airline tickets, however I don't remember where.

 

Anyone have any experience TSA when the name on the ticket and the name on the passport were not EXACT matches? I am stress out as I have just noticed on my airline reservation, the last letter of my first name is the first letter on my middle name ie: Debora Hellen instead or Deborah Ellen. I've called United and they say they can't change my name because part of my flight is with Lufthansa  and to change this might cancel my Lufthansa portion. They say they put a note in the system for the ticket agents, and sent notice to Lufthansa regarding the name and this is enough. I asked the question, what happens if TSA won't let me fly? They say the only TSA issue would be I would not get to go thru the pre check line, it's the ticket agent who needs to have the correct name. I spoke to 3 folks at United.

 

Should I be worried? If my passport and drivers license match, would TSA recognize that one letter is moved over one space and all is good? Anyone else with this type of experience?

 

 

[RJ2002]

The search function is at the top right corner, just under your logon id.  However, when you click into the search field, you have to specify what area you want to search (i.e, the entire site, or just the current forum, etc).

 

I'll let others chime in on your name question.   My guess is that it won't be an issue for actually passing through security checks and boarding, once your passport is reviewed.  Agree that the only hiccup might be on the TSA-pre match. 

[debnjoe1438]

28 minutes ago, debnjoe1438 said:

Anyone know what happened to the search in a forum went to? I know I've seen discussion on Passports and Airline tickets, however I don't remember where.

 

Anyone have any experience TSA when the name on the ticket and the name on the passport were not EXACT matches? I am stress out as I have just noticed on my airline reservation, the last letter of my first name is the first letter on my middle name ie: Debora Hellen instead or Deborah Ellen. I've called United and they say they can't change my name because part of my flight is with Lufthansa  and to change this might cancel my Lufthansa portion. They say they put a note in the system for the ticket agents, and sent notice to Lufthansa regarding the name and this is enough. I asked the question, what happens if TSA won't let me fly? They say the only TSA issue would be I would not get to go thru the pre check line, it's the ticket agent who needs to have the correct name. I spoke to 3 folks at United.

 

Should I be worried? If my passport and drivers license match, would TSA recognize that one letter is moved over one space and all is good? Anyone else with this type of experience?

 

 

Thank you

[sumiandkage]

The airlines were early adaptors of computer technology and if you look under the hood of their current  computer screens, you'll still find a lot of clunky mainframe-based databases that are from times when hard drive storage space was dear enough to limit the number of characters allowed in a name field (and plenty of airline have no space for a middle name on your ticket at all)  and none of the different airline systems were expected to swap data with each other. 

 

So the major alliance partner carriers are used to seeing all kinds of names get mangled as the ticket information goes from system to system and different cultural norms do and don't get picked up (Iberia's second surname field needed to reflect common Spanish naming tradition  probably maps weirdly to other systems) and an experienced gate agent knows that you're not always going to get a letter perfect match because of system limitations. 

 

[debnjoe1438]

7 hours ago, sumiandkage said:

The airlines were early adaptors of computer technology and if you look under the hood of their current  computer screens, you'll still find a lot of clunky mainframe-based databases that are from times when hard drive storage space was dear enough to limit the number of characters allowed in a name field (and plenty of airline have no space for a middle name on your ticket at all)  and none of the different airline systems were expected to swap data with each other. 

 

So the major alliance partner carriers are used to seeing all kinds of names get mangled as the ticket information goes from system to system and different cultural norms do and don't get picked up (Iberia's second surname field needed to reflect common Spanish naming tradition  probably maps weirdly to other systems) and an experienced gate agent knows that you're not always going to get a letter perfect match because of system limitations. 

 

Thank you

[Globaliser]

17 hours ago, debnjoe1438 said:

I know I've seen discussion on Passports and Airline tickets, however I don't remember where.

 

Were you thinking of this thread? https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2635537-stressed-and-sad

 

I do wonder what is actually on your ticket, given that many airline systems don't distinguish between multiple names behind the slash. It's possible that your ticket is booked in the format SMITH/DEBORAHELLENMS and that when your reservation shows "Ms Debora Hellen Smith", it's just an artefact introduced by the decoding algorithm on the airline website rather than a problem with the ticket.

 

Although I would repeat the advice I gave in the other thread: try not to give the airline any middle names when you make the booking. As far as I can see, they only cause trouble. The place where you must accurately give middle names is when you enter your Advance Passenger Information, if you have to.

 

[debnjoe1438]

1 hour ago, Globaliser said:

 

Were you thinking of this thread? https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2635537-stressed-and-sad

 

I do wonder what is actually on your ticket, given that many airline systems don't distinguish between multiple names behind the slash. It's possible that your ticket is booked in the format SMITH/DEBORAHELLENMS and that when your reservation shows "Ms Debora Hellen Smith", it's just an artefact introduced by the decoding algorithm on the airline website rather than a problem with the ticket.

 

Although I would repeat the advice I gave in the other thread: try not to give the airline any middle names when you make the booking. As far as I can see, they only cause trouble. The place where you must accurately give middle names is when you enter your Advance Passenger Information, if you have to.

 

Thank very well maybe the board, thanks I'll check it out. I e-mail TSA and got a reply back which basically said minor things like that aren't typically an issue. If felt needed, I may have to show extra identification. Other than Passport and drivers license, what else would they want? Maybe I'll give them a call.

[6rugrats]

You don't need any additional ID.  You are way overthinking this.  There's nothing wrong with your name as you listed it.  You can call a hundred people, but the only one that matters is the person looking at your ID and your boarding pass.  And, they aren't even going to give this one a second look.