Why you should never use your middle name when booking a flight
Tis the season to be travelling, and the last thing you want is a hold up at the check-in counter because of an error with the spelling of your name.
Aviation Manager Andrew McLeish offered some advice to travellers on question and answer website Quora, stating, “When buying your ticket, don't give your middle name(s).
“The name fields on the ticket are first/last. Including your middle name increases the chance of error and incurring a change fee.”
Airlines can charge up to $100 to change the name on your ticket – even if the error wasn’t your fault. Skipping the middle name offers one less chance of a spelling mistake occurring.
This is especially the case with phone bookings or when you book through a travel agent where you aren’t typing in your details yourself.
McLeish offers some more advice to make travelling a hassle-free experience.
- Book with the exact same name on your passport: "Just ensure that if you are double-barrelled, the other name is officially part of your surname," he says. Don’t get caught out like many honeymooners do when they book with their married name.
- Use the drop down options for your title, rather than typing it yourself. "If they have a drop down field, use it. I kid you not, a month or two ago we had customers booking through the website who manually typed in the title and also used the drop down. So we had MR DOCTOR JOHN SMITH and MRS DOCTOR JANE SMITH," he explained. "They were embarrassed when we called but less happy when they incurred a name change fee of £60 ($A106) per person."
- Confirm the booking and check your tickets. "If you are phone booking and have an unusual name, spell it, even if the agent says they have already. This means if the name comes up incorrect, it is on the phone recording that you spelled it and they got it wrong. Liability no longer yours," he advises. "When you get your confirmation through, for Pete's sake, check it. Carefully. It only takes a moment but if you don't it can be expensive.
Have you ever had to deal with an incorrect name on your airline ticket? We would love to hear your story in the comments.