Uh-oh! Joseph’s ticket says “Joe” — will he be allowed to fly?

Here’s a question I get often: The name on my ticket doesn’t match the name on my ID. What now?

As most air travelers know by now, the Transportation Security Administration is in the final stages of implementing Secure Flight, which requires an exact match. How, exactly, that will make us all safer is beyond me. But there you go.

Joe Lukach has his reasons for wanting to know.

My sister-in-law recently booked reservations on Delta Air Lines online. She inadvertently used Joe instead of Joseph on the reservation form.

Delta said once a reservation is confirmed and paid, they can’t change it. They said they have documented a special remark on the reservation form about the name change. Do you think I will have a problem at the airport?

I asked Delta. Here’s what it said:

Carriers are slowly phasing in the Secure Flight program and their final implementation timelines will differ, but all are required to have the program fully operable by November 1.

At Delta we are phasing in the program and in August 2009 began making it optional for passengers to provide the data (name as it appears on govt. issued ID, DOB, gender). The date that this information will be required by Delta is still yet to be determined, but we are working to have the program in place well before the government’s November 1 deadline.

As for this specific case, the passenger should not have any issues at this point. Although as part of the regular ticketing process, we do want people to become familiar with the requirements so spreading that message would be helpful.

Consider it done.

So “Joe” vs. “Joseph” — not a problem. What about this one, from reader Saule Akysheva?

I am an international student in the USA. I bought a ticket from cheapair.com more than a month ago. And I have recently noticed that my last name and first name are flip-flopped.

I checked my profile on cheapair.com, and my name is written correctly there. I don’t know how that happened. I need to depart in 5 days. What can I do?

As someone who has had tickets that said “Elliott Christopher” on many occasions, I’d say he’s home free. After November, maybe not. But in the next five days, I don’t think he’ll have a problem.

I’m still puzzled by one apparent contradiction. If you forget your ID, you can still fly, under TSA rules. So how, then, can they match the name on your ID, if you don’t have an ID?

Just wondering.

(Photo: sanfamedia.com/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • Josh

    What I like best about Secure Flight is how the federal government is helping airlines make extra money with change fee’s. Make a mistake on your booking, oops, that will be $250 to change your name, sorry. Seems to me that if the government is going to require an accurate name they should also require airlines to allow changes at no charge. If it is so complex for an airline to change a name (which it has been stated is not the case) that they need to charge $250 (or anything) then whoever designed their software is an idiot and the airline deserves to go out of business.

    The argument that it takes a representatives time is also bogus. I am on the phone arguing with the rep already. The time it takes them to tell me no, argue with me, take my credit card info, and then change the name is vastly longer then the amount of time it would have taken to just change the name. One day maybe the airlines will wake up, though as a top-tier frequent flier I am not optimistic.

  • http://everything-everywhere.com Gary Arndt

    We live in a world where some names are shortened. Chris –> Christopher. Joe –> Joseph. Dick –> Richard.

    Not taking that into consideration is a flaw in the system. Human beings know the difference. There is no security benefit whatsoever to doing this name matching.

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

    I have often wondered about this because many people do weird things with my unhyphenated last name. Often they make it into a single word, which is incorrect. I agree with Gary that a system should take abbreviations into account; it should also take account of input error. Though I put my name in the system correctly, it often comes out wrong when tickets are printed.

  • Bill

    I can understand the diffiiculty in changing names in the paper ticket days, but now with computerized systems, it should be no problem. Clearly, the airlines have been getting ripped off for decades if they have computer systems where they “can’t change” a name. We should feel sorry for them and lawsuits should be launched against these outrageious software companies. Who ever heard of a system where you can change the flight, reissue boarding passes, and yet not change the name? Another flaw in these systems is the ability to charge for a ticket instantaneously and yet refunds apparently cannot be done for months. Clearly, these airlines simply have not been sold the correct systems. I cannot imagine a business today which would intentionally be so inflexible.

  • Dang

    In Dec 2009, my sister and brother-in-law bought a 2 Round-The-World Tickets on OneWorld by phone with 15 segments: Switzerland to UK to India to Hongkong to Vietnam to Australia to Honolulu to USA, etc…-The British Airways reservation agent made a wrong entry for the name of my brother-in-law. When the e-tickets arrived in their mailbox they call back BA to correct the name. As the error was made by the reservation agent, they try to correct it. According to them, the best way is make a NOTE to their reservations, because their reservations concern different airlines of the One World Alliance and would be very complicated to cancel and rebook with the correct names.
    It’s true that they cannot change the name on the reservations.
    They begins the RTW trip in January and everything goes smoothly until now, nobody hassle them about the name errors.
    - May be the non-Americans are less stiff about named error on the ticket
    - May be when the error was made by the Airlines, they know how to fix it correctly.
    The point is you can travel with the wrong name on the ticket if the airlines do the right thing on your PNR (Reservation).

  • Liz Falvo

    The logic I’ve always heard behind Secure Match is that it will help prevent no-fly list mismatches. You know, the ones where the 18 month old has to submit to a strip search because their name is the same as someone with [questionable] terrorist ties.

  • Monica

    My issue with this system is that it doesn’t account for all situations. For example, I use my full legal name, meaning I use my full middle name on all my IDs, driver’s license and passport. However, the majority of airline and travel websites only allow for first/last name on the reservations. I never do anything without my middle name. I have a vacation planned for next year flying from DCA to MCO. I am really dreading that I’m going to get some TSA agent having a bad day that is going to give me a hard time.

  • Sally Davenport

    I made reservations through my Continental account for Christmas 2008. I didn’t check to see that the name on the ticket would match my driver’s license (Sarah). When I was checked at the airport, they made a very big deal about the discrepancy between Sally and Sarah. I had to go through extra screening , then they very reluctantly let me fly to FL. I called Continental from Florida trying to get the name changed. I was told that nothing could be done because I had already used half of the ticket. An even bigger deal was made at the Ft. Lauderdale airport even though I arrived very early to explain the problem. I had to go through the special ” air tube” and had my luggage thoroughly checked . Once I returned home , I requested the name change from Continental. It took 3 months to get the change, including a copy of my birth certificate and license, and long distance calls ! But people with false identification get on planes all of the time!

  • Paul

    I’ve run into varying permutations of this stupidity.
    For whatever reason, when the Canadian government issued my passport they dropped my 1st name so it only reads Paul XXXXX. Add in some websites that require a 1st name and only allow an initial for the 2nd name and you can see where I run into difficulties.

    The government solution was to apply for a new passport, at full charge of course. They argue that they only print what is on the application so I must have made a mistake. Seriously, who ever saw a government form that didn’t insist on your full name?

    My other “government issued id” would be my driver’s licence, which of course reads differently with my full name.

    On our last flight the e-tickets read Mr F XXXX which took 15 minutes extra convincing the TSA agent who I REALLY was….

    Totally absurd!

  • Pat Morrissey

    I generally go by “Pat” versus my full name, Patricia — which is what is on my driver’s license. To me, this seems like a no-brainer and as much as I travel, I haven’t had one issue until a recent trip. Flying out of Philly with my husband one morning, the TSA agent made a big deal of my ticket and driver’s license not matching exactly and he made me go back and get my ticket reissued! Thankfully, it was one of those rare instances in which we had arrived early and had a respectable amount of time to get to our flight.

    If I was Joe, the moment I arrived at the airport, I would march up to the counter, explain the issue and see if they would give me another boarding pass with the name that matches. Otherwise, you may end up with an over-zealous TSA agent making you march to the back of the line — and miss your flight.

  • Kyle

    The new secure flight discriminates against Transpeople. I am physically female but I prefer to be referred to as male. People need to realize that SEX is the physical assignment and GENDER is the social role/identity that we have.

    The US Government continues to discriminate by not offering a selection for “prefer not to answer” or “not applicable” If I check “female” on the airline reservation, I am lying to myself even though the TSA will recognize me as female.

  • ptkdude

    As anyone with the name Christopher can confirm, it is normal for their name to show up as “Christophe” because there aren’t enough characters in the form being used.

    Will I be allowed to fly if my ticket reads Christophe instead of Christopher?

  • Mary H

    Won’t it be dandy when we are simply issued a number at birth to use on all documents every time.. Then the govt. will know who is who and where we are. Program it into the cell phone and no one will escape notice. I can’t help thinking there is some nefarious plan behind all this regimentation…..will our numbers be tattooed on our foreheads? Or have i been drinking too much coffee?

  • Joe Farrell

    the real issue is not nicknames, its getting the airlines to put the right name on the ticket since when purchased online, there is only room for so many spaces.

    The problem is most apparent when your id has a full middle name and the airline middle initial space is just that, only good for an initial.

    This whole thing is insane. My frequent flier account at Delta was merely Joseph Farrell — when I used my miles for an upgraded cross country ticket, I tried and tried and tried to have them issue the ticket in the correct name. I needed to speak to the Delta Skymiles people to have my ticket issued. I asked them to update the name for secure flight – and their internal corporate policies required that they issue in the name on the account. I told them politely that I needed to update my information for secure flight. You could hear the ‘what? huh?’ going on in their voice. I asked for and received a supe – who told me not to worry, since frequent fliers are screened once and clearance is put in the account. I told her that was not my point – I wanted my name on my id to be the same as it is on my reservations – there is only room for an initial. So NO ONE gets a full name through secure flight from Delta apparently.

    Why, Osama Bin Laden could become Osama B. Laden and no one at TSA would know the difference – and instead of immediately arresting his rear they’d tell him he needs to go to the ticket counter to have his full name put on the boarding pass. Of course, if he is flying for Fox News then he becomes Usama which will really screw up the TSA.

    I would argue that change fees would not be assessable since the fee is so that DELTA can comply with the law, not the passenger. Delta is liable to collect the correct information and submit it in advance of the flight – not the passenger. Thus, its not a change, it is merely compliance with Delta’s federal law obligation . . .

  • Stephanus Surjaputra

    I’m just glad that the airlines seem to be better at copying our names correctly with whatever we put on the form.

    You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve gotten postal mail from advertisers with the name as Stephanie and they use Mrs. as the salutation. If I see that, it automatically gets tossed.

  • Nancy Krause

    I purchased tickets for my son and a friend on a flight to LAX on Virgin America. I somehow got the friend’s last name wrong – Palmer instead of Porter. Virgin America made it very easy to change – fax the flight info along with a copy of the driver’s license. The correction would be made at no additional expense.. Luckily, my error was discovered 10 days before departure, so we have a happy ending. I wish I could fly Virgin America to all the places I travel.

  • Ames

    Monica – My eight year old son was often mixed up with an older person who seemed to have some flying challenges so we could not get boarding passes on line. After about two years of this and sending the TSA all sorts of documentation, we have found the best thing to do is put his full name or at least his two middle initials (that is another advanture!) after his name as if they were part of his first name. “John Jacob Jingleheimer” as first name and “Smith” as last, or “John J J” as first if there is limited space. We have not had any problems with the airlines or the TSA. It reads exactly as his passport does and people figure it out, the computers see the spaces as just part of an exotic name and they manage too. He’s now thirteen so we’ve done this domestically and international with several different airlines and countries.

  • LeeAnne

    This name thing has caught me several times. My name is LeeAnne (no space), and I ALWAYS enter it correctly. Even so, I’ve received tickets with the name separated into Lee Anne. If I’m doing it online, often everything will look fine when I enter it, but when I get my actual eTicket the name will be split up. I have tried to change it by calling the online agency and/or airline, but they either demand that I pay a change fee (screw that – *I* didn’t make the mistake!) or simply say that everything will be fine, don’t worry about it.

    But it’s NOT always fine. This has caused me problems several times at airports – extra screening, screaming and yelling at the counter, almost denying me boarding.

    I’ve written so many letters I can’t even count them. I was especially pissed at Delta once – they were the ones who insisted that I pay the change fee or I wouldn’t be allowed to fly, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS THEIR MISTAKE! I consider this a criminal fraud, taking my money for something they wouldn’t allow me to use. I threatened to take them to court for defrauding me out of my money, and they went ahead and made a “notation” in my file. Yeah right – they STILL held me up at the airport for an extra 30 minutes of extra screening.

    I’ve now taken to entering my name either all in caps (when possible) or as “Leeanne” to avoid this. But this doesn’t help when I’m making reservations over the phone. Even when I tell them repeatedly that my name is ALL ONE WORD, it still often comes out as Lee Anne once I receive the documents/tickets.

    I guess I need to change my name so I won’t get harrassed and defrauded.

  • Ames

    Kyle, I am sorry that there is a conumdrum like this for you and that this is just one more hassle added to others you face because there is this assumed need to assign labels. Is there a way for you to just fill in the blank with the answer that allows you to travel with the least hassle? What ever your outward appearance is, is most likely to be accepted by someone with the skill set of a TSA inspector. Or whatever will be simplest if you get selected for secondary screening? I understand this is critical to you, but don’t let a check in a box take over your understanding of who YOU are. The TSA does not really care as long as they can make sense of your paperwork in 30 seconds and let you pass through the gates.

  • Debbie

    I fly Delta and was given the same information, that there would be no confusion using Debbie vs Deborah. It we never an issue until my last flight of 2009 when TSA refused to let me through because “Deborah” was not on my ticket. I had to go back to the Delta counter where they reissued at no charge a new ticket with Deborah instead of Debbie. They were closing the doors on the plane when I finally got there but let me on. Be afraid, be very afraid if you don’t have your full name on your ticket, no matter what anyone tells you.

  • Sean

    I’ve noticed on the United website, that when checking in or when looking at an existing reservation, there is a place to “confirm” your Secure flight information, which I assume is where you’d be able to correct misspellings of your name, however mine is usually correct, so I don’t know if it actually works.

  • http://www.imageswritten.biz Susan

    I hyphenate my last name and I have YET seen an airline get that right. They smoosh it together into one long word, and/or smoosh it together and remove some letters in a seeming random way.

    The TSA is high if they think this name nonsense is going to be helpful… as usual we are addressing NONE problems, creating more problems and resolving nothing…

  • David Z

    lawsuits should be launched against these outrageious software companies.

    Um, for what exactly? I realize that seems like a good idea, but…you need a demonstrable or enforceable cause to do so.

    Among the airlines I’ve dealt with with his issue, it seems it depends if their software can indeed process name changes or corrections. American Airlines recently told us they allow the former with a fee, and it’s a little bit time-consuming when doing the latter.

    International flights with “incorrect” names are a nightmare, moreso those with multiple carriers. Those are practically impossible to fix.

    As a few mentioned, character limit is another issue. If your name is like Sivasubramunian, there’s a risk the airline’s or travel agency’s computer system’s character limit might not include everything.

    Coupled with any maybe government agency’s requirement for airlines for this and that, and you’ve got a cesspool. With no immediate resolution in sight.

  • Joe Farrell

    The major problem with SecureFlight in the continental US is when does the info get sent to the TSA? We have discovered with the panty bomber that the info for foreign flights is not transmitted until after the aircraft has departed. . .

    So, if Secure Flight is designed to prevent someone from getting on an airplane who should be be on an airplane – when is it sent to TSA? 24 hours? Well, then all you need to do is buy a ticket 6 hours before the flight and accept the SSSS search from TSA. They would not have caught the pants explosives using the inspections then in use – and the terrorists will now adapt to the new system.

    What if they send it in 2 hours before the flight? Then many people have checked in already – and have printed boarding passes – and since TSA only checks names against names – the ONLY defense at that point is to stop them at the gate = again assuming that TSA has sent a ‘bad name’ stop to the airline.

    So – you can see why secure flight has so many holes you can see through it . . . thus – name matching is irrelevant since unless they can stop Osama B. Laden at the gate, after he has checked in . . .

    I’d like to buy a ticket in the name Usam AB. Laden and see if it gets flagged or if I can walk right to the TSA screener. . .

  • Liz

    I had a minor heart attack over this one when I bought tickets on Alaska Airlines for myself and my dad. Mine went off without a hitch, but while I remembered to use his legal first name instead of his nickname, dad has 2 middle names. There wasn’t enough room to enter them both, so I used initials A.T. Then I find out that his driver’s license only has one middle name because our state doesn’t recognize more than one! Adding to my confusion, both of our reservations came back with just first and last names, even though I know I input mine correctly.

    Happily, Alaska grants 1 free change within 24 hours of booking the tickets so I wasn’t quite in full-scale panic mode. Even more happily, the very nice reservation agent on the phone corrected the Secure Flight info for dad and assured me that the tickets would print correctly even though their reservation system didn’t show middle names. We got back from our trip on Saturday and had no problems whatsoever.

    Unfortunately, until the airlines’ systems are capable of addressing name quirks, these issues are going to continue. While Mary H’s post was tongue-in-cheek, I wonder if such a number wouldn’t be a bad idea for flying purposes (not used for anything else). After all, we already have social security numbers to identify us for other purposes.

    As for Kyle’s dilemma, I too sympathize with you. I believe eventually we will adapt our language to include gender-neutral words, but it will probably be a long time in coming. Perhaps it would be easiest to think of the reservation question as referring to sex (physical) instead of gender (identity).