Booked flight with wrong surname, £700 to change!

alex20111

Hi,

Last week I booked a flight for myself and my girlfriend to San Francisco from London and then a return flight from Las Vegas to London. The outbound flight is via Continental/United and the return flight is via Air Canada (though the whole booking is apparently operated by Continental). This was done through the online ebookers website.

Today I realised I had made the ridiculous mistake of typing my surname twice, so my girlfriend's first name is correct but I accidentally replaced her surname with mine!

This didn't sound like a massive issue to me, but after hours on the phone today I have pretty much exhausted all options. The only solution appears to be to cancel my girlfriend's flight (which was non refundable) and rebook the same flight with her correct name. I get £90 taxes back for the cancellation but the same flight is now £800 (we paid £580 before), so i will have to pay out around £700 to rebook!

Continental/United point blank REFUSE to change the name. Their justification is that it was booked via a travel agent and that it is a complete name change. They also mentioned their systems wouldn't be able to handle it. ebookers say they are unable to do anything because it is up to the airline. I've argued that the reason for such a policy is to prevent me from selling the ticket onto someone else, and that this is obviously an honest mistake. They already have the date of birth of my girlfriend, that is all the same, i just need to change her name, I'm not switching her with anyone else!

There is absolutely no flexibility in the call centres, and emails i have sent to customer services won't be answered for 7-10 days. Yet we are flying in 10 days and the prices are only going to go up!

The only other solution would be to get married, that seems quite drastic though.

I don't think that the ebookers website was clear at all that the tickets were non refundable, and that name changes would not be possible.

Is there ANYTHING I can do here? This is a lot of money to pay for a small mistake.


Thanks,
Alex

bbjohnny

alex20111 wrote: »

Hi,

Last week I booked a flight for myself and my girlfriend to San Francisco from London and then a return flight from Las Vegas to London. The outbound flight is via Continental/United and the return flight is via Air Canada (though the whole booking is apparently operated by Continental). This was done through the online ebookers website.

Today I realised I had made the ridiculous mistake of typing my surname twice, so my girlfriend's first name is correct but I accidentally replaced her surname with mine!

This didn't sound like a massive issue to me, but after hours on the phone today I have pretty much exhausted all options. The only solution appears to be to cancel my girlfriend's flight (which was non refundable) and rebook the same flight with her correct name. I get £90 taxes back for the cancellation but the same flight is now £800 (we paid £580 before), so i will have to pay out around £700 to rebook!

Continental/United point blank REFUSE to change the name. Their justification is that it was booked via a travel agent and that it is a complete name change. They also mentioned their systems wouldn't be able to handle it. ebookers say they are unable to do anything because it is up to the airline. I've argued that the reason for such a policy is to prevent me from selling the ticket onto someone else, and that this is obviously an honest mistake. They already have the date of birth of my girlfriend, that is all the same, i just need to change her name, I'm not switching her with anyone else!

There is absolutely no flexibility in the call centres, and emails i have sent to customer services won't be answered for 7-10 days. Yet we are flying in 10 days and the prices are only going to go up!

The only other solution would be to get married, that seems quite drastic though.

I don't think that the ebookers website was clear at all that the tickets were non refundable, and that name changes would not be possible.

Is there ANYTHING I can do here? This is a lot of money to pay for a small mistake.


Thanks,
Alex

I don't know about the airlines side of things, but I have a cheaper solution to bear in mind if worse comes to worse! She can change her surname to your surname at a solicitors and get a replacement passport with it to match the airline ticket.

Drastic, but cheaper than £700, and she can revert back afterwards. Obviously she'll need to replace her passport a second time to get her original name put back on it. But that won't cost you £700 to change her name once and her passport twice.

Hopefully someone has a more sensible solution regarding getting the airline to budge though. I know travel insurance could play a part if you have that at all? Best wishes, what an awful dilemma to be in over a silly mistake.

Bob_the_Saver

I can spell my name, first name and family/surname, I could before I went to infant school. I sometimes spell other words incorrectly, this is often to do with an excess of alcohol and late night post, but I can usually manage my name.
I often book in excess of 100 flights a year, but I never forget my name, I've had it quite a while now.

bbjohnny

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

I can spell my name, first name and family/surname, I could before I went to infant school. I sometimes spell other words incorrectly, this is often to do with an excess of alcohol and late night post, but I can usually manage my name.
I often book in excess of 100 flights a year, but I never forget my name, I've had it quite a while now.

Honestly, some people on here really are so incredibly rude and mean! I can't think why I don't come on very often.

He didn't misspell his name - he accidentally entered his surname in place of his girlfriend's surname. It was an accident, they happen. I've been able to walk since I was a year old but I still managed to trip up on thin air and fall flat on my behind a few weeks ago.

agrinnall

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

I can spell my name, first name and family/surname, I could before I went to infant school. I sometimes spell other words incorrectly, this is often to do with an excess of alcohol and late night post, but I can usually manage my name.
I often book in excess of 100 flights a year, but I never forget my name, I've had it quite a while now.

I take it you didn't bother to read what the OP wrote, he spelled his name correctly, it was his girlfriend's name he got wrong.

alex20111

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

I can spell my name, first name and family/surname, I could before I went to infant school. I sometimes spell other words incorrectly, this is often to do with an excess of alcohol and late night post, but I can usually manage my name.
I often book in excess of 100 flights a year, but I never forget my name, I've had it quite a while now.

Thank you for the constructive advice. I never implied that I forgot my name or my girlfriend's name. I do actually book quite a few flights a year for myself and my girlfriend, I haven't ever got it wrong before... Sadly this time it isn't just an easyjet flight to Portugal...

Living_proof

Use a travel agent next time. If they make a mistake they pick up the tab. You have just realised the cost of DIY travel for Dummies.

richardw

Try calling Continental's customer service in the US they may be more helpful.

claire16c

Could she just change her name by deedpoll and then get her passport changed by getting a 1 day emergency passport meeting? Im not sure how long the deedpoll thing takes to come back though.

Visiondvd

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

I can spell my name, first name and family/surname, I could before I went to infant school. I sometimes spell other words incorrectly, this is often to do with an excess of alcohol and late night post, but I can usually manage my name.
I often book in excess of 100 flights a year, but I never forget my name, I've had it quite a while now.

Why even bother posting ya !!!!!!.

alex20111

richardw wrote: »

Try calling Continental's customer service in the US they may be more helpful.

Yeah I've tried the US number but that just seems to go straight back to the same Indian call centre.