Anyone managed a name change on Virgin Atlantic?

BungleGirl

My 6 year old daughter is going to Orlando in October with my sister and her family. I went round there today and saw that they haven't booked her name as it is in her passport. She has both mine and her fathers names in her passport but she just uses my name at school and for everything else.

My sister called the travel agency today and they said no changes - have to cancel with no refund and rebook!!!

What chance have I got if I ring the travel agent and beg and grovel? I've just tried ringing Virgin Atlantic who siad that I would have to speak to the travel agent.

I worked as a travel agent for about a decade but it was a while ago - I know that back then we managed to sweet talk various companies into letting us off fees - does that kind of thing still happen?

Please don't flame me for this question - I know that it was our mistake it's just that I don't have £400 to book another ticket and the thought of telling my daughter she is not going is just unbearable.

As another thought - can you only renew passports within a certain amount of time of them expiring? I know that my sister and I had our names on our passports changed and my parents had to send proof that we had been known by a different name for a certain amount of time - they provided school reports, letters from school etc. I think my daughters passport is valid for another three years though.

steve821

Bungle - Not able to answer your question, I am sure the travel agent will help eventually. What is the cost of a straight name change?

But from bitter experience do not forget that your daughter will need letters of authority from you to enter USA with another person, had real problems with my God Son almost sent back at desk but for a sharp thinking brother.

Steve

BungleGirl

Thanks for that info Steve, what did the letter have to say? I didn't realise she would need a letter!

My sister called travel agent and they won't do a name change, they said we would have to cancel the flight with no refund of the £418 my sister has paid and then book another ticket with the correct name at a cost of £418.

It seems so wrong when it is going to be the same little girl in the same seat - it's not like we are changing it over to a different person

reehsetin

ive seen someones passport with proper note in the passport saying 'also known as miss x'
dont know any details though

richardw

Call Virgin and try and persuade them to do the change, if they won't, call again a few hours later and a different person may do it.

Poppy9

You can renew passports and the unexpired time is added to the new passport. To enter the USA your passport must be valid for a minimum of 6 months upon entry.

I renewed my DD passport in December 05 as we were travelling to the US in Feb and her passport would only have 5 months unexpired at the time of travel.

Ring the passport office for help. I found their helpline quite good.

Afitos

I have just looked on Virgins site and they tell you how to apply for a ticket refund. Don't know if that would be an option.

Also though if this is booked out of a brochure don't they usually say they will charge for any changes?

I agree with previous post too, keep calling Virgin Atlantic and try different people .

Just reading in the back of Virgins Florida brochure:
'Important note: Name changes or departure changes are not always permitted by the carrier and/or hotelier. Where possible we will make the necessary arrangements, although some carriers/hoteliers treat name changes as cancellations and charge accordingly. If airline tickets have been issued, any changes made to a booking may mean you having to pay for the cancelled ticket and purchasing a new ticket at full cost'.

There seems to be quite alot of room for negotiation! Have tickets been issued? If not then it reads that there will be no charge.
If all else fails carn't you get a new passport a bit drastic i know but might be cheaper.
Keep trying and Good Luck!

khizman

last time I had a problem on another airline, the travel agent put a note in with the booking saying that the name is slightly different.

Sam_Bee

Scheduled airlines restrict name changes to prevent people buying all the cheap tickets early and reselling them.

It's not meant as a way of penalising genuine errors. Your travel agent sounds like an @rse. Things like this and people booking in their maiden names are fairly common, and airlines are used to it as long as proof is provided.

Trouble is it will be very difficult to do it without support from your travel agent. Try contacting Virgin Customer Sales first, and keep calling back till you get someone sympathetic (i.e. if the first person doesn't want to know, say goodbye and try again - it's my rule of all call centres - you will eventually get somewhere!). See what they say. If they say it is possible, take a name, then speak to your travel agent, quoting Virgin. If that doesn't work, speak to your travel agents supervisor. And then their boss.

If that doesn't work, ensure you get your tax back on the ticket (should be around £160). Then ensure you tell everyone not to book with said travel agent.

Virgin used to offer a certain number of favours (for us it was 9 a year) of fixing errors for free before they started charging us. I don't know (in fact I doubt) they still operate a similar system.

Oh, and the above is presuming your travel agent is being obstructive, and unhelpful. They could be telling the truth, and just appear unsympathetic due to how you wrote your message!

Good luck btw!

colettemhughes

i work in travel and because it was a cheap ticket they do not authorise name changes - a new ticket would need to be bought. You can however claim the airport taxes back for the original ticket which would be around £150.00

Voyager2002

What a frustrating story!

Firstly, I think that Virgin are telling the truth, and the name change would have to be authorised by the travel agent. So I suggest that you speak to a manager in the travel agency. Make a point of NOT using the words "name change" which sounds as if you plan to use the ticket for someone else. Make it very clear that you want to correct a booking error.

If they still don't help, then change the name in her passport to match the air ticket (!). You will probably need letters signed by both her parents stating that she is now know by (insert new name) for all purposes: you can't have someone with two different names! There is a fee for changing the name in her existing passport, but it might be more cost-effective to get a new passport in the new name and allow them to cancel the old one. Up to nine months of the unexpired time on the old passport will be added to the life of the new one.

Anyway, please check the US embassy website about the documents that your daughter will neeed for travel without a parent. They are very serious about this, and you will probably need to see a notary (a sort of solicitor) to get the necessary papers.

Oh: that story about needing a passport valid for six months after the end of your trip is simply not true. That is a rule for many countries, but not the USA.