My $800 mistake

jalIn just a few days, the next phase of TSA’s Secure Flight initiative goes into effect, which streamlines the watchlist matching process and requires air travelers to give the government more information about themselves.

Travel experts have already begun warning their clients about the repercussions. But Heather Lorusso didn’t have to wait for a Secure Flight problem when she booked a flight on JAL through Expedia.

When booking a trip from Tokyo to Beijing, I made the mistake of entering my companion’s name as “Chris” instead of “Christopher.”

Understanding that it was I who made the mistake, I was willing pay extra in administration costs to get those six extra letters added to his name. Unfortunately, with cancellation fees and having to buy a whole new set of airplane tickets through a different company I’ve ended up losing more than $800.

Whoa. Eight hundred bucks?

When I realized we might have some trouble at customs in Beijing, I called to get the matter sorted out. What I didn’t realize was that I was in for hours of being sent back and forth between Japan Airlines and Expedia.

One company would tell me they had no power to change the ticket and that I should call the other one back. This happened about six times, culminating in rude and belligerent treatment by a supervisor at Japan Airlines’ US office. After I was refused an explanation on why they were unable to change the name, and rudely denied access to speak with another representative, I had had enough and let Christopher sort the rest out.

Again, he called both JAL and Expedia – again to no avail. Finally we canceled our Expedia tickets, with a penalty of $250 per ticket and bought new tickets through Travelocity which were a few hundred dollars more than our original ones.

I’m really at a loss of what to do. Apparently, this problem is quite common and people have been able to get their money back, but I’ve run into a brick wall. I understand that the initial fault is mine, but I don’t think it is a mistake worth $800 and being treated very poorly by Japan Airlines for.

Is there anything you can do?

This is ridiculous.

Chris is a common shortening of the name Christopher. (I ought to know.)

I’ve had the name “Chris” on an airline ticket many, many times, with no problem. Expedia and JAL should have known that this was the same person and fixed it, rather than forcing him to buy a brand-new ticket.

Airlines insist they can’t change the name on a ticket for “security” reasons. But maybe some of the airline apologists who read this blog can explain how adding the words “topher” to a ticket threatens to send a plane into the South China Sea?

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

What we have here is a massive breakdown in communication, stupid rules and an apparently avaricious airline, conspiring to turn a passenger’s innocent mistake into a federal case. No wonder people don’t like flying anymore. They don’t even have to darken the cabin door to be mistreated.

I asked Expedia about Lorusso’s case. Yesterday, I heard back from her.

I woke up this morning to $150 in coupons in my Expedia account. There was no explanation so it must be because of you. I don’t think I’ll get the chance to use them as the rules and deadlines are pretty strict, but I’m just grateful that you tried to help. Thanks again!

I think these name-change shenanigans need to stop — now.

Considering how strict TSA and other government officials are about to get on exact name matches, this is hardly the right time to be throwing the book in passengers’ faces.

(Photo: Hyougushi/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • Kelly

    I totally agree! There is absolutely no reason why an airline shouldn’t be able to change a FIRST name, epecially adding some letters on to it. The ticket can be re-scanned/checked by the TSA and tada! Done….What’s the big problem? I am also so sorry that Miss Lorusso had to go through so much trouble and made to feel like that. Makes me not want to fly either anymore!

    Chris(topher): I think this is the most fired up I have seen you over one of these issues! : )

  • Lisa S

    Apparently business is so good that any business related to the travel industry can mistreat customers without concern to their bottom line. I was 14 the first time I flew on a plane in 1982. I miss TWA, legroom, seats wide enough to accommodate an adult-sized person, and the courteous customer service I know used to exist. I arbitrarily decided not to travel to Japan to protest their senseless killing of whales. While I am sure no one in Japan cares, the decision makes me happy, and there are plenty of other places to visit in the world. The situation described above, gives me a great reason not to fly JAL. These poor behaviors are reducing the number of people who travel. Businesses that complain about revenue ought to look to their own deficiencies first! All I can say is, “Buyer beware!”

  • http://waynedayton.tripod.com Wayne Dayton

    This is just another example of airline arrogance, and a reason why I, for one, will never cry when I hear of an airline going out of business, because they are reaping what they sow. This is a true up-and-front money grab, pure and simple. If it truly WAS about security, they would be letting the name be corrected for free or for a nominal $25. NOOOO…they want to gouge the traveler for $800 and somehow that makes them all feel safer. The only thing safe (for the short-term) are the jobs of those supercilious and sanctimonius lifers who think it is their due to have a job forever and collect a pension at age 65.

  • http://www.middle-aged-diva.blogspot.com carol cassara

    Shenanigans is a good word for it.

  • SirWired

    I can see why the rules against name changing exist, but reservation agents should have more flexibility to waive the rules for obvious corrections. (Changing to/from a maiden name, lengthening from a short name to a full name, fixing problems where a middle name was used instead of the legal first name, etc.)

    Unfortunately, I think this is another situation (like tarmac delays) where the feds need to step in to force the airlines to display common sense.

  • http://www.familyadventureguidebooks.com Bridget Smith

    Thanks Chris! My husband goes by his nickname so this is important information.

  • http://hodgespart.com Caroline

    Ugh. What a frustrating experience. Travel should be fun, adventurous and invigorating, not a tiresome beaurocractic morass. And $150 (while I certainly give you credit, Chris, for making some headway) seems a bit perfunctory on Expedia’s part, especially with all those restrications, goodness. The travelers here are good sports it seems. Kudos to them.

  • James M Barnes

    From experience I can tell you this….names can be changed and it’s quite easy. Back before the post 9/11 airline staff reductions I used to work in the training department for one of the legacy carriers, (most of my work was on the international side). While the regular Reservation Agent is unable to change a name on a PNR, (passenger name record), any Supervisor is able to. It’s pretty simple…change the name, add a waiver code and put an explanation in Remarks.

  • ptkdude

    I’ve had this problem before, too. I booked a WorldPerks ticket through Northwest (for a Delta-operated flight), using my correct name: Christopher. The Delta itinerary, however, merged my first name and middle initial: Christophera. Delta refused to allow me to fly because the name on the reservation did not match my passport.

  • Nancy

    A couple of years ago, I bought 4 tickets online from Hawaiian Airlines. When checking out, my virtual credit card program changed all 4 passenger names to my own and I didn’t catch it untill the transaction was complete. I immediately called Hawaiian and explained the mistake. They were wonderful, they fixed all the tickets and only charged me a nominal fee (it was the difference in price between buying online and buying on the phone). It could have been a disaster but they handled it beautifully. Since then I double and triple check everthing before I hit that final button.

  • carver

    LOL. Since no one defended the airlines, I guesst here are no airline apologists here. ROTFLMAO

  • Eros

    It has nothing to do with JAL.

    Usually when you purchase a ticket through travel agents the airline reservations have no authority over the ticket until the travel voucher (ticket) has been used or partially used. This is to protect the contracted pricing between the travel agent and airlines; most airlines work this way, not just JAL.

    If you booked the ticket directly with JAL, they might be able to do something with the name change (free of charge, speaking from experience!) since they received the payment for the ticket upon reservation. However, when you book through a travel agent, the tickets aren’t paid for by the travel agent until the travel commences or until the contracted payment time of the month. Your travel agent might not be willing to change the names on the ticket for you because they’re after the auxiliary revenue of ticket refunding fees.

    Fare differential could happen even with the airline’s own reservation system due to their complex yield management system, not to mention tickets purchased at two different time with two different contracted agents.

    Seeing as how your travel agent compensated you, it is evident that they know they’re the ones at fault. It is quite laughable actually to see how an English speaking company would make such silly mistake on common English names.

    Next time, book directly with the airline.

  • Koala

    More “security theater”. The US is broken in too many ways to count.

  • David Z

    It is quite laughable actually to see how an English speaking company would make such silly mistake on common English names.

    It seems Ms. Lorusso booked it online, so I don’t see how Expedia or Japan Airlines made a “mistake” here. And if Expedia gave that $150 voucher or coupon, that’s quite nice of them.

    Why Japan Airlines won’t allow that name change or correction, only they can say. Unfortunately Expedia, or any travel agent, can hardly do anything if the actual airline really won’t allow that.

    On a related subject, American Airlines and AirTran used to allow us to do name changes for a fee. Until now, they still haven’t told us why not anymore. (and we’re not holding our breath for an answer…)

  • Jim

    I was on a biz trip with my boss, and the airline reversed his name order – his last name is a common first name, and his first name is, well, a common first name. Not only was the airline NOT going to allow him to check in, but they told him he’d have to buy a NEW ticket, and the OLD credit would only be useable by the person to whom it was originally issued – a person who DOESN’T even exist! Finally, a supervisor was called, and upon the dawn of realization that he probably knows the correct order of his first and last name, they booked a new reservation and credited the old ticket, and called the difference in fare a “customer compensation”. Unbelievable. The airlines are a bunch of money grubbers.

    Now, as for ID vs. ticket variations – in the first days of Secure Flight there will SURELY be a TON of Jim vs. James, Tom vs. Thomas, Deb vs. Debra variations. I would suggest contacting TSA via their web page (www.tsa.gov) and ask what the procedure is. There are currently procedures undertaken at the airport for persons arriving without ID. You may encounter an additional delay while the ID is sorted out, so I’d definitely get to the airport well in advance of your departure. Good luck!

  • Jim J

    This is another good example of why I rarely book through an online travel agent. I’ll sometimes go to Orbitz or Expedia and determine which airline has the schedules and fares that I want. Then I will go tho the airline’s site. Usually the tickets at are carrier’s site are the same as the online agent. Sometimes they are less expensive.

    By booking with the carrier, I avoid having to deal with a middleman. The online agents generally don’t stand up to the carriers when there is a dispute. All that they care about is retaining their commission. The carrier is generally earier to deal with.

  • Bill

    On the one hand, my expedia profile has both my correct full name and that of my wife – so it automatically prompts me for the proper names.

    On the other hand, although I realize why the airlines won’t change a name from Susan Smith to Fred Jones, there is no excuse for refusing to fix errors that were legitimately made.

    Perhaps when the United States government is making all of these rules for names, they should add one in that requires airlines to fix little mistakes like this for little or no charge – or lose their rights to fly into the USA.

    That would probably give airlines like JAL enough incentive to be a little more realistic about this.

    Charging change fees of $100 and more, or refunding and reselling tickets are intended for other things (changes in plans) rather than typographical or small human errors.

  • EEH

    As a kid, I hated the old-fashioned name that my parents bestowed me with because it was impossible to shorten or get a cute nickname from it. Now I’m grateful for that. The thing I worry about now is that so many people misspell it, even when I spell it out for them. Please folks, there’s an ‘h’ in Esther!

    My husband runs into the same problem that ptkdude did. His name is Eric and his middle initial is A and computers will turn his name inta Erica. Then not only does his name not match but he’s not the right gender, either.

  • Jasper

    This is just airlines abusing government rules enriching themselves. Exactly the same as what happened when it was decided that your carry-on drink and toothpaste were potential weapons. Airports never protested this non-sense? They now van charge four bucks for a bottle of water. Gaching!

  • David Z

    Perhaps when the United States government is making all of these rules for names, they should add one in that requires airlines to fix little mistakes like this for little or no charge – or lose their rights to fly into the USA.

    This is just an idle thought, but I wonder if the U.S. government itself (e.g. TSA) is preventing the airlines from allowing passengers to change names even for a fee?

  • carver

    @David Z

    No. There is no rule that prevents the airlines from changing a passenger’s name.

  • Steven

    Folks, this is such a great opportunity for the airlines to make extra MONEY (but blame TSA, so the airlines really aren’t at fault you understand) that you can be sure this will happen a lot MORE. JAL made significant $$$ off this couple. Multiply that by thousands of travelers! I must say I am surprised by JAL’s attitude… what happened here is a poor reflection upon JAL and would make me think twice about booking with them.

  • Joel Wechsler

    I think Expedia’s response was inadequate, both before and after the fact. They should have dealt with JAL to correct the situation, and arranged for a notation to be made in the PNR explaining that Chris is really Christopher. As a travel agent I have done this many times and have never had a problem when dealing directly with the airline. Ms Lorusso probably should not have wasted her time calling JAL because they did not issue the ticket. The responsibilty was Expedia’s and they should never have told her to call JAL. No wonder people are becomiong disenchanted with online agencies as Chris has reported.

  • Kevin M

    Actually, lots of people have said they understand why an airline won’t allow a name change from, say, Fred Jones to Sue Smith.

    I don’t.

    It’s a ticket. As long as there’s time for the airline to run the name past the gauntlet of security screening lists (and if they can do it for a walk-up ticket, they can certainly do it on a name change in advance), there’s simply no reason the airlines *can’t* allow a ticket to be transferred.

    Except that refusing to do so makes money for the airline. BigXYZ company may send two people every week from Houston to Atlanta on Monday and back on Friday, but the people vary from week to week, and who’s going isn’t usually decided until the middle of the week prior. Under the current system, BigXYZ has to wait till then and buy tickets at the less-than-7-day walkup price, in order for the names to match. If tickets were in essence transferable, BigXYZ could simply pre-buy two tickets for every Monday returning every Friday, at the 21-day advance fare purchase price. They could even watch for fare sales and book even cheaper.

    Everyone complains about baggage fees, food for sale, and the like, but this is the original, mother-of-them-all gouging fee. When you buy a ticket to something – anything – anywhere else in the world, whether it’s for a bus, a movie, a stage show, a museum exhibit, a concert, or whatever, you can give it away or sell it. Only in the travel world, for some reason, is there a problem with transferring a ticket from one person to another.

  • http://www.cutcat.com Regina

    The airlines have become much stricter about these things. I got married two months after 9/11, but strangely enough, I didn’t have a problem with my ticket. My passport, which had my maiden name, did not match my ticket for our honeymoon destination, as we thought it would be better to have our tickets in the same last name and we bought the tickets way before 9/11. All I had to do was bring a copy of the marriage certificate and there was no problem. I doubt that would be sufficient now.

  • David Z

    @Joel Wechsler

    Our own agency sometimes sends a notation also (Other Service Information or OSI in airline lingo for the end users out there) to the airline, especially for name corrections. The problem is not all airlines accept that, but we notice some international ones won’t accept it.

    You must be doing something right to not have had a problem so far, including the international ones. :)

  • http://parkrideflyusa.com/blog Sharon Hurley Hall

    Absolutely outrageous! I’m glad your intervention got some result.

  • xuxasdad

    Eros – I am not sure where you received your erroneous information.
    First, the error was made by the client who entered the wrong name information online with Expedia. Whenever a ticket is issued, the only people who can change that ticket are: 1. The issuing agency, in this case Expedia, or the airline (JAL). Had this person booked with a traditional travel agency most likely the ‘live’ person would have challenged ‘Chris’ to make sure it was the passengers legal name. The real peril here is when people choose to be their own travel agent. There are times that dealing with a professional can avoid these problems. Expedia, like most OTA’s (Online Travel Agencies) exists on volume, not relationships.
    Lastly, your comment:
    ‘However, when you book through a travel agent, the tickets aren’t paid for by the travel agent until the travel commences or until the contracted payment time of the month. Your travel agent might not be willing to change the names on the ticket for you because they’re after the auxiliary revenue of ticket refunding fees.’
    is totally inaccurate. When any travel agency, including OTA’s issue a ticket, the form of payment is processed immediately, and not by the travel agency. The Airline Reporting Corp (ARC) is the conduit for all airline transactions. The credit card is not, nor is the sale, and never should be, processed by the travel agency. The charge on this clients credit card would have reflected a charge by JAL. Airlines tomorrow are spending the money they earned from selling tickets today.
    Obviously I am in the travel business, I have heard these stories before and undoubtedly will again. A reputable, traditional travel agency, probably would have caught this before ticketing by asking the correct questions, however, had it not been caught, would work with you to resolution. I am aware of more than a few incidents where the airlines simply noted the correction in their system and were not looking for blood (as airlines usually do these days). Short of dealing with a traditional travel agency, I would have recommended escalating the issue within JAL until you got the answer you wanted.

  • http://elliott.org. patrick

    Delta does the same thing and refuses to budge on their $250 charge for 5 mins of work on an International flight./ All they had to do was change the first name; nothing else. It was the same person known as Kathleen but her passport reads Catherine. They lost 4 customers and didn’t care. I have filed a complaint with the Dept. of Transportation but have not heard back yet. I suggest you do the same with Expedia and JAL.