Shortened name on flight booking - help!

chromeman

Hi All,

Need some advice. I've booked up for 6 people to go to Rome at the end of this month. 2 of my friends have now told me that their passports are lengthened names of the ones they normally use (e.g. Passport is Anthony, but is known as Tony and I have booked on Ryanair with Tony).

I looked on Ryanair and they charge £100 per name change (daylight robbery considering all it is is a 2 minute job for an admin assistant to change the names on their database...I haven't even checked us in online yet!).

I've also read a number of horror stories on a number of websites about people having to rebook the whole flight at the new rate etc.

Now, my question is, if the people in question took along say a driving license, maybe a utility bill and their passport, would they let us through?

Any advice is gratefully received!

Cheers,

Rob.

HXDave

sorry to say this, but knowing what Ryanair are like, i would very much doubt it.

Best option is to contact Ryanair ASAP. if it is a fact that they are called Tony, but their passports say Anthony, it may be something they will look kindly on. After all, it's not like you booked using steve, and his real name is robert.

Finally, if they refuse to budge and are adamant on charging a fortune to change - have a look at the cost just to re-book a new flight for the affected people - could work out cheaper.

Good luck

HXDave

chromeman

Thanks for your help Dave.

Just phoned and the guy did it over the phone for free! Was very surprised but won't argue! He's just re-sending me the booking confirmation.

So a note to anyone out there, call them before stumping up the £100 online!

dmg24

I am not surprised at all - the only time I have heard of Ryanair not making such a change for free or £10 is where the customer has left it until the day of travel. The lesson is, don't believe everything you read!

Heliflyguy

Good job the "admin assistant" didnt read your post about their "2 minute job" otherwise they might have charged you £100 (I agree its over the top) for your mistake.

charlie792

Heliflyguy wrote: »

Good job the "admin assistant" didnt read your post about their "2 minute job" otherwise they might have charged you £100 (I agree its over the top) for your mistake.

I think that a little unfair on the OP - it was an honest mistake, some people just don't use their full name with friends - heck I lived with my housemate for 2 years he thought my real name was charlie......

OP - Glad you got it sorted

chromeman

Yeah, I guess they assume people will just go online and pay without calling dmg24. Hey ho, I'm happy it got sorted!

And Heliflyguy, I never said it wasn't my mistake, I was simply saying that to charge £100 for such a small task is disgraceful and was proven by my phone call to them.

chromeman

Yeah, same situation with me Charlie, worked with this guy for 3 years, knew him as Tony, turns out his name is Anthony! Cheers for the post

melb

i've known someone called Spike for years - turns out his real name is Adrian! It was quite a shock

Heliflyguy

charlie792 wrote: »

I think that a little unfair on the OP - it was an honest mistake, some people just don't use their full name with friends - heck I lived with my housemate for 2 years he thought my real name was charlie......

OP - Glad you got it sorted

My gripe was with the OP belittling the job of anyone that works in such a role by calling them an admin assistant and saying that it will be a 2 minute job (was it?) when they have no idea how long a reissue would take and stating that all it neede was a change in the data base.

Voyager2002

Please note: what the OP needed was to correct a mistake in the name of the passenger. A name change is something completely different, and is needed when a different person travels instead of the original passenger. A hefty fee for changing who will travel makes perfect sense.