Question of the Week: I booked a flight in the wrong name - what can I do?

Former_MSE_Lee

Q. I've booked a Ryanair flight without thinking using "Matt Mawdsley" rather than "Matthew Mawdsley" that's on my passport. Ryanair's policy is they charge £100 for the alteration, that's £33 per letter!! (and more than flights cost). From Matt, by email

Martin's A: What a nightmare. It's a stark warning to always be careful with budget airline flight booking (see beat budget fees) our mistakes make them serious cash.

Of course, check in online, turn up at the airport and they may let you through - but when we asked Ryanair it said not, and you need pay £100 to amend online (though if flights are cheaper just rebook). If not you can be turned away for having an 'incorrect ticket' and forced to buy new flights (at premium last minute rates), plus pay for luggage and airport check-in, all which could add further £100.

bodensee_2

The only answer is never to book or travel with Ryanair. Their customer service is non-existent, their staff are rude and their real fares, not the rubbish quoted in adverts, are ALWAYS more expensive than easyJet to the same airport, or mostly in Ryanair's case the airport designated for the destination, Barcelona for example is Girona and is over an hour's travel. Why does anyone fly with this excuse for an airline? There must be millions of masochists in Europe!

catnicex

With regards to the problem of the topic, I really think that it is a matter of how much reasonable the people at the check in are...I happened to me twice in the last couple of years, once in Italy and once at Stansted, and both time I was allowed to board with no problem even though they spotted the mistake.
With regard to the previous comment about Ryanair...beh, I strongly disagree.
During the last 4 years I flew on average 14 times per year and mostly with Ryanair and I cannot complaint too much.
Several times I planned the flight in advance and paid a very cheap price...three four times even 2 pound for a return flight tax inc.
Over nearly 40 flight (times two since they all were return flights...) the flight was delayed not more than 3-4 times and just a couple of times for more than 1 h. My personal record with Easyjet is definitely worse (though not completely terrible).
Of course, when the cost of the flight is over 50-60 pound (return ticket) it is worth checking for other airlines but I have to say that I flew with British Airways, ALitalia, Air Canada, KLM, bmibaby, and another couple of carries, and I wouldn't consider my experience in terms of value/quality for money so better that with ryanair...(when I flew with Air Canada to Canada it was maybe worse...800 pound return for a seat that was as terrible as ryanair's ones and the only things that were better were the food and the free movies...many thanks, for 800pound!)
In sum, nobody is obliged to fly ryanair...and often many problems at the desk or check in or gate are created exactly by those people that are not regular Ryanair's flyers...so they simply ignore the terms and conditions etc... I will continue and I wouldn't call myself a masochist that, I think, it is a pretty offensive expression.

Tricia_Mc

I did the same with Easyjet, I was worried I would get ripped off for a large fee to change the name, but I emailed customer support and they corrected it for free
However Ryanair may not be so reasonable (I never fly with them on principle).

You certainly want to get it sorted out before you turn up at the airport, rather than worrying about whether you will be allowed to board or not.

petekeaney

I had this problem 2 weeks ago, other half had an extra "l" in her name on the booking (someone had made the booking for us) I called cust services and they just changed it there and then for free. I was expecting to be on the phone arguing about £100 for ages.

I would say give them a call, One thing I didn;t do was say it was my fault, I just said "I've just been online to check my booking and there is a spelling mistake in one of the names"..

kzc6y2

I double bluffed myself and booked family holiday flights in my maiden name even though I was getting married and changing my passport into my new name.

Not only did they charge me the amendment fee, they also recharged the credit/debit card fee again - which for 6 people there and back was also extortionate.

Having said that, I've learnt my lesson. For our holiday this year, there was a chance we might need to change the return flight for 3 of us so I booked 2 lots of 3 to minimise charges just in case.

It's just about knowing their rules. We never get caught out with baggage even though we saw loads of people checking in with overweight bags.

And both flights were on time so nothing to complain about.

Valor

Hi, I'm Matt(hew) Mawdsley.

Martin, thank you for selecting my question.

I can happily inform everyone that Ryan Air let me on (both ways) with no problems at all, so in the end it was a lot of worry about nothing.

But I will be more careful when booking flights next time!

Thanks again.

Matt.

kkgree1

My husband has this problem as the name on his passport is Alexander but he is known to all his friends as Alex. One of his friends always books the flights using "Alex" and touch wood, he's never been stopped at the gate (they check in online with Ryanair) and they've gone abroad for football games half a dozen times in the last two years.

Cailin

bodensee wrote: »

The only answer is never to book or travel with Ryanair. Their customer service is non-existent, their staff are rude and their real fares, not the rubbish quoted in adverts, are ALWAYS more expensive than easyJet to the same airport, or mostly in Ryanair's case the airport designated for the destination, Barcelona for example is Girona and is over an hour's travel. Why does anyone fly with this excuse for an airline? There must be millions of masochists in Europe!

There are destinations within Europe that only Ryanair flies to (if you don't want to pay a couple of grand for the flights), so I think arguments such as "I don't fly Ryanair out of principle" are not very clever. What are you gonna do if that's the only low-cost airline you can use?? Are you gonna lose your principles then or fork out 5 times more?
Personally, I think that if you do everything correctly, print off your boarding cards and don't go over the limit on your luggage, you're gonna be fine.
I had many more delayed flights with Lufthansa and BA than with Ryan (not to mention EasyJet, which my boyfriend calls LazyJet).
Fair enough, sometimes you made to feel like cattle, but generally it's a painless enough experience, often for less than £20 return (hard to find a train fare within the UK that cheap these days!).

Cailin

kkgree1 wrote: »

My husband has this problem as the name on his passport is Alexander but he is known to all his friends as Alex. One of his friends always books the flights using "Alex" and touch wood, he's never been stopped at the gate (they check in online with Ryanair) and they've gone abroad for football games half a dozen times in the last two years.

My friend actually asked the question at the airport (same situation: a diminutive used instead of the full name) and was told that the system only checks the first three letters of the first name. If that is true everywhere, I don't know, but sounds plausible.

Voyager2002

Cailin wrote: »

My friend actually asked the question at the airport (same situation: a diminutive used instead of the full name) and was told that the system only checks the first three letters of the first name. If that is true everywhere, I don't know, but sounds plausible.

That cannot be true: passports and boarding passes are checked BY HUMANS at the departure gate, and both documents normally give full names.