new alleged requirement freaking people out.. Middle Names..

[scar4711]

apologies for not searching.  i didnt go back far enough :(

[Sweetnspicy]

I just called to add my middle name and my husbands and the person I spoke too said if it’s on your ID or passport it should be on your edocs. My husband is also a “Second” or II so she added that as well. It took me less than 2 minutes. 

[mking8288]

Now, watch out & keep your eyes wide open for those Latitude numbers already in use and the possibility of being re-assigned a new one ... you don't want to lost those P+ perks and be treated from the bottom of the barrel again - between a current booking and anything new, booked after "fixing" and adding the M.I.   

 

Given the well established competency of NCL's I.T. Dept - trust them, just saying ... 🤞 

[Lou33]

3 hours ago, trummy said:

TSA Requirements

TSA requirements mandate that for all guests who have purchased air, Norwegian Cruise Line must provide TSA with Full Name (as it appears on your passport) that includes middle name if applicable, Date of Birth and Gender. Without this information you can be denied boarding the aircraft.

 

https://www.ncl.com/termsandconditions/air-sea-important-information

 

Great...So I provided our full legal names, as they appear in our passports, to NCL.  Our names show up correctly on our NCL edocs.  But we also purchased free/reduced air through NCL.  I see that our departing flight on United has our correct full legal names, but our return flight on EVA Airlines does not show our middle names.  EVA says they cant guarantee that immigration will let us through,  and that they will charge $100 each to change the names on our tickets to add our middle names.  

 

I called NCL, to sort this out and they say that their air department needs to handle this when they open tomorrow.  And they say that the air department probably won't talk to me directly, but my travel agent may need to request this for me.  He won't be happy about that.  

 

To complicate this even further.  We purchased seat assignments on EVA for $80 so that we can sit together.  EVA says if we change the names on our tickets, then we lose our seat assignments.

[HalfHand]

Also, FYI, if you are flying internationally you have to provide a middle name. We flew to Mexico last year, booked thru Southwest as normal, but were unable to check in at the Kiosk. Got to an agent, first thing she said was "they gotta fix that on the website" and added middle names for the both of us.

[Caroldoll]

6 hours ago, scar4711 said:

So, according to some people on facebook groups, a new requirement is that your middle name is now required on the cruise documents... or else you cannot sail..

 

and people confirmed the call center is saying this is true..

 

but... there's no space for a middle name on NCL.com, even creating a new account...

 

is this another case of the call center getting something mixed up? 🙂

 

So I had to change it to put in my middlename

[PyrHeaven]

2 hours ago, Lou33 said:

...but our return flight on EVA Airlines does not show our middle names.  EVA says they cant guarantee that immigration will let us through,  and that they will charge $100 each to change the names on our tickets to add our middle names.  

 

I called NCL, to sort this out and they say that their air department needs to handle this when they open tomorrow.  And they say that the air department probably won't talk to me directly, but my travel agent may need to request this for me.  He won't be happy about that.  

 

To complicate this even further.  We purchased seat assignments on EVA for $80 so that we can sit together.  EVA says if we change the names on our tickets, then we lose our seat assignments.

 

I manage a travel agency and can tell you that, even if your middle name is on your Passport, it is not required to show on your ticket. It IS however, required to be entered in the Secure Flight Passenger Data (AKA DOCS in the TA world). This is an entry behind the scenes and can be updated at any time at no cost to reflect the correct information.

 

It is best practice for your name to match exactly, including your middle name, but if you will lose your seats/cost you paid for them (unfortunately this is not uncommon, especially with international carriers), and NCL is not willing to correct, I would ensure EVA has correct information in your DOCS and not worry about it. You'll be fine!

[Georgia_Peaches]

9 hours ago, PyrHeaven said:

It is best practice for your name to match exactly, including your middle name, but if you will lose your seats/cost you paid for them (unfortunately this is not uncommon, especially with international carriers), and NCL is not willing to correct, I would ensure EVA has correct information in your DOCS and not worry about it. You'll be fine!

Thank you for this information. 

IMO it would be best practice for NCL to just provide a middle name field on their website so that all this could be avoided when booking.  

[BirdTravels]

11 hours ago, Lou33 said:

I called NCL, to sort this out and they say that their air department needs to handle this when they open tomorrow.  And they say that the air department probably won't talk to me directly, but my travel agent may need to request this for me.  He won't be happy about that.  

Yes. NCL is paying your TA a commission to handle your complaints. So, they will refer you to your TA for all issues regarding the reservation. And don’t want to deal directly with you. 

 

[CruisingSince1982]

16 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

No. This applies to everyone boarding the ship (with or without air)

 

Only applies to those flying. 

[CruisingSince1982]

10 hours ago, PyrHeaven said:

 

I manage a travel agency and can tell you that, even if your middle name is on your Passport, it is not required to show on your ticket. It IS however, required to be entered in the Secure Flight Passenger Data (AKA DOCS in the TA world). This is an entry behind the scenes and can be updated at any time at no cost to reflect the correct information.

 

It is best practice for your name to match exactly, including your middle name, but if you will lose your seats/cost you paid for them (unfortunately this is not uncommon, especially with international carriers), and NCL is not willing to correct, I would ensure EVA has correct information in your DOCS and not worry about it. You'll be fine!

 

100% correct. Required for air only.

[roger001]

I book through a very large travel agency.  Here is their guidance.  (My  emphasis).   

 

Please make sure the first and last names are spelled correctly and EXACTLY match the name that appears on your passport or birth certificate. Married women must use the last name on your passport or driver's license. Titles, middle names, middle initials and suffixes (Jr., MD, PhD, etc) are not required for booking purposes.

 

 

[Suite Heart]

NMN (No Middle Name)

 

I don't know if it was intentional on my parents' part, but I have no middle name on my birth certificate. Or any other document, for that matter. To top it off, I kept my maiden name when I got married. Made it easier than changing driver's license, passport, credit cards, etc. Also made it easier when I got divorced. (And re-married, years later.)

Edited January 3, 2020 by Suite Heart
addition

[NightOne]

So my passport and cruise docs both need to say McLovin ???

[Gershep]

16 hours ago, mking8288 said:

Now, watch out & keep your eyes wide open for those Latitude numbers already in use and the possibility of being re-assigned a new one ... you don't want to lost those P+ perks and be treated from the bottom of the barrel again - between a current booking and anything new, booked after "fixing" and adding the M.I.   

 

Given the well established competency of NCL's I.T. Dept - trust them, just saying ... 🤞 

You would think that NCL would add a middle name line on our Latitudes profile so we could add it.

[esm54687]

31 minutes ago, NightOne said:

So my passport and cruise docs both need to say McLovin ???

Only if you're from Hawaii

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, roger001 said:

I book through a very large travel agency.  Here is their guidance.  (My  emphasis).   

 

Please make sure the first and last names are spelled correctly and EXACTLY match the name that appears on your passport or birth certificate. Married women must use the last name on your passport or driver's license. Titles, middle names, middle initials and suffixes (Jr., MD, PhD, etc) are not required for booking purposes.

But,,, your very large travel agency is not the minimum wage check-in clerk working for the local port agent (not NCL) who has a set of rules to follow before they can check you in. You can waive the paper with the guidance at the ship as it pulls away from the port without you. Your emphasis should be the direction from the cruise line, not some third party TA or the cruise critic experts here tell you. Just saying....

[BirdTravels]

 

4 hours ago, CruisingSince1982 said:

 

Only applies to those flying. 

 

4 hours ago, CruisingSince1982 said:

 

100% correct. Required for air only.

 

100% Incorrect.

 

Per the letter below from NCL (for our cruise last month), it is required for ALL passengers (with or without air). We did not have NCL air. Denial of boarding the SHIP has NOTHING to do with air travel.  It has to do with the name in your NCL cruise ship reservation matching exactly the name on your passport. 

 

 

20 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Dear Valued Guest,

Thank you for making your reservation with Norwegian Cruise Line.

Please be advised that every guest must provide NCL with their full legal names, EXACTLY as they appear on their passports. If your legal name has changed since your document was issued (e.g., marriage or divorce), it is required that you update the document with the new name or provide an official supporting document (e.g., a state, county or province issued marriage license, divorce decree or legal name change document) of the name change. All documents must be the original or a notarized copy.

Failure to comply with this requirement may result in denial of boarding.

Thank you for your attention to this very important matter.

We look forward to welcoming you aboard!

Sincerely,
Norwegian Cruise Line

 

Edited January 3, 2020 by BirdTravels

[Fk3908]

12 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

But,,, your very large travel agency is not the minimum wage check-in clerk working for the local port agent (not NCL) who has a set of rules to follow before they can check you in. You can waive the paper with the guidance at the ship as it pulls away from the port without you. Your emphasis should be the direction from the cruise line, not some third party TA or the cruise critic experts here tell you. Just saying....

So please show me the long list of passengers who have complained about being denied boarding (and have missed their cruise) by said “minimum wage check-in clerk working for the local port agent” for not having a middle name attached to their Edocs....I’ll wait....

[BirdTravels]

6 minutes ago, Fk3908 said:

So please show me the long list of passengers who have complained about being denied boarding (and have missed their cruise) by said “minimum wage check-in clerk working for the local port agent” for not having a middle name attached to their Edocs....I’ll wait....

So, please test the system for us. Please change your name on your Encore reservation next week so it does not match your passport and report back to the group here if there was any issue with  you getting through check-in. If you make it through, we will have one data point. 

 

Enjoy your Encore cruise. 

[Fk3908]

2 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

So, please test the system for us. Please change your name on your Encore reservation next week so it does not match your passport and report back to the group here if there was any issue with  you getting through check-in. If you make it through, we will have one data point. 

 

Enjoy your Encore cruise. 

I don’t need to change anything. My Edocs do not contain a middle name (visible) but my passport and secured flight data do. I’m quite certain that I won’t have any problems. If THAT was an issue, 1/2 the passengers on the ship wouldn’t be allowed to board. 

[Lem_On_Ade]

I'm going to share my experience with this....I sail in 15 days. I am also using the air promo. To date, I have not received any correspondence from NCL telling me that my middle name, or any name, needs to match my ID. A month or so ago when was first talked about on here I emailed my PCC asking him to update my booking but it was never done. After reading this thread today I decided better safe than sorry and called Norwegian. The first lady who I spoke to said that yes, it was necessary to have the middle name on my booking if it is on my passport. I was then transferred to another lady to update this. She wasn't nearly as friendly and told me that just because I had my middle name added to my booking did not mean that the airline info would be updated and I would have to speak to them also. She updated our info and transferred me to the air line department. After a brief hold with them, a gentleman came on the phone and said that updating that info would be no problem but that I also needed to be aware that just because my middle name is not showing up on my ticket doesn't mean that the airline or TSA won't be able to see it. So that's my two cents. I was told that it was required and I feel better having it done even if it wouldn't keep my from flying or getting on the ship.

[david_sobe]

This is why I purposely don't my middle name on my passport.  Exact match has been around for awhile but with the new ID requirements taking place at the end of this year things will get stricter.  Wait till those people who don't have the new ID turned away at airports.

[meggymay]

WOW, i'm glad I saw this post. We sail on Sunday, but are flying in to New Orleans tomorrow (NCL air). I never got a letter or heard anything about the exact match. I had our NCL PCC add our middle names to everything this morning, but i'm worried about going to the airport tomorrow.

 

How do I find out if my airline tickets have my middle name? (Sorry if that's a dumb question)

 

 

[Fk3908]

3 minutes ago, meggymay said:

WOW, i'm glad I saw this post. We sail on Sunday, but are flying in to New Orleans tomorrow (NCL air). I never got a letter or heard anything about the exact match. I had our NCL PCC add our middle names to everything this morning, but i'm worried about going to the airport tomorrow.

 

How do I find out if my airline tickets have my middle name? (Sorry if that's a dumb question)

 

 

Lol, you’ll be FINE. The panic that this has caused is just sad. THINK of all the folks who don’t have a middle name on their airline reservation but have it on their ID or passport. Have you heard stories of MASS amounts of folks denied access to their flight for this? Of course not. Enjoy your flight and cruise!