refused boading at LHR due to nicknames on booking

Stephen_p1976

Hi!
We recently found out a family friend in Chile had cancer. Me and my sister saved up to book a flight to visit her. My sister found flights for £1600 for both of us.
Booked through Opodo, flying with Alitalia.
My sister had booked using Jenny instead Jennifer and Ste instead Stephen, which are the names we call each other.
Arrived at Alitalia check in we were refused boarding, they said we could cancel the seats and repurchase at £1200 each, which we didn't have.
They told us to contact Opodo to see if it could be changed, Opodo said they can only do 24hrs before and as we were at the airport it couldn't be done, and said we'd have to ask the airline.
With my sister now in tears at the Alitalia desk, as she had realised a mistake may cost us seeing our friend, the person at the desk said he had phoned the desk in Italy and they had said it could not be changed, we would have to cancel our booking and try and book another, my sister phoned Opodo and cancelled and we left the airport.
We managed to find another flight the next day for a similar price with a different booking site and airline, and managed to lend the money from family - exact passport names were used.
We have just returned after seeing our friend who is quite ill after chemotherapy.

Is there any way we might recover any money from the original booking?

My sister had not booked flights before, she buys a lot online and to her it was just like another purchase.

Any help or advice appreciated!

Ste

Caz3121

Stephen_p1976 wrote: »

Is there any way we might recover any money from the original booking?

have a read of section 3.3, should be some taxes to be refunded (less Opodo fees)
https://www.opodo.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/

richardw

I think they have been unduly harsh.
Shortened names have been used, not completely unrelated nick names.

unforeseen

I don't think they are harsh. It is standard that passport must match tickets. You can normally get away with omitting a middle name but that is the limit

Voyager2002

I am very sorry that you had such an expensive disappointment. It might be worth reading the "contract of carriage" in great detail to see if the airline did anything wrong that might give you a get-out, but I don't hold out much hope. In the long run, you will remember that you spent this time with your friend for the rest of your lives while the money wasted will not seem important after a few years.


Incidentally, Opodo is a terrible agent and best avoided, although in this case don't think they did anything wrong.

pollypenny

Surely your sister knows your names. It's not brain surgery that formal names are needed in most circumstances.

agrinnall

It's a very long time since I used Opodo so I can't be sure what they ask for, but every flight I have booked online for at least the last 10 years (and probably longer) is absolutely clear that you must provide the name exactly as specified on the travel document (passport for UK citizens), anyone not following those instructions must expect to have difficulty travelling.

jonesMUFCforever

Every flight I have ever purchased online has a warning somewhere that the names must match the passport!

richardw

Ste can easily be extended to Stephen with the addition of four letters, it’s not being changed to Simon. Things aren’t being changed, just corrected.

unforeseen

Change, correct? It's one and the same thing in this case. Opodo said they will not make any changes within 24 hours of the flight and I doubt any airline, booking company etc would make changes at the check in desk.

You may think its a correction. But Ste Jones is not the same person as Stephen Jones as far as they are concerned.

Caz3121

it looks like Alitalia only deal with very small corrections.. from the examples given (and likely for bookings made direct)

Names cannot be changed once the booking has been completed.
While the ticket is non-transferable, the correction of first or last name is allowed, in the cases listed below, with a supplement of €25 by contacting the Call Center.
Original Last name/First name: BATTISTA GABRIELLE -> Corrected Last name/First name: BATTISTA GABRIELLA
Original Last name/First name: GRAZIA DEMELAS -> Corrected Last name/First name: DEMELAS GRAZIA