Airline-daylight robbery for name change?

dmg24

yes, as much as they like (as at present)

LuciferTDark wrote: »

Why should the airline be allowed to charge the difference between 2 tickets for a spelling mistake? it's still the same person flying on the same plane, in the same seat, on the same day. If they took the original ticket & destroyed it it can't be resold can it? This smells very cod like.

The OP has admitted that he put the wrong surname. Therefore how do the airline know that the ticket had not be resold?

exel1966

yes

The UK Govt.(like most others) also imposes fines of £2000 per passenger on any airline who carries a passenger without correct documentation. Travelling on a ticket which doesn't match the National ID/Passport exactly constitutes a failure to uphold these regulations.

khizman

exel1966 wrote: »

The UK Govt.(like most others) also imposes fines of £2000 per passenger on any airline who carries a passenger without correct documentation. Travelling on a ticket which doesn't match the National ID/Passport exactly constitutes a failure to uphold these regulations.

I have travelled on flights with my name wrong, never had any problems, in this case they had added an extra "i" in my name, the agent told me they will put a note on the reservation but should have no problems

jetboy

yes but a set amount

This wasn't alway standard practice in airlines. The idea of charging an admin fee plus the difference in price was to stop the once very popular trade of buying 'sale seats' for a few quid in generic names then flogging them on ebay and alike. There is no value in this anymore but alas the legitimate customer gets stuffed.

budgetflyer

I think arthurwat, you were just unlucky, if indeed you just made a genuine mistake with name, ie maiden name instead of married name, or such like.
The name change T&Cs are in place to stop speculators buying up cheap tickets in bulk to resell. Minor changes like spelling mistakes are covered for a nominal fee by most airlines.
Its just a pity you left it so late b4 noticing,thats why its cost you so much, last minute flights with budget airlines cost a bomb.
Over all, I think the system works for the majority. The minority get wacked, but the majority benefit. Thats democratic and fair IMO
Not that you need reminding now, but the lesson has to be in future CHECK, RECHECK and finally CHECK AGAIN b4 paying.

Sore as it is, this one bad transaction may just benefit you. I bet future online(and offline) transactions will be done with much more dilligence.Thats how we move forward - make a mistake, learn, benefit next time :-)

arthurwat

yes but a set amount

budgetflyer wrote: »

I think arthurwat, you were just unlucky, if indeed you just made a genuine mistake with name, ie maiden name instead of married name, or such like.
The name change T&Cs are in place to stop speculators buying up cheap tickets in bulk to resell. Minor changes like spelling mistakes are covered for a nominal fee by most airlines.
Its just a pity you left it so late b4 noticing,thats why its cost you so much, last minute flights with budget airlines cost a bomb.
Over all, I think the system works for the majority. The minority get wacked, but the majority benefit. Thats democratic and fair IMO
Not that you need reminding now, but the lesson has to be in future CHECK, RECHECK and finally CHECK AGAIN b4 paying.

Sore as it is, this one bad transaction may just benefit you. I bet future online(and offline) transactions will be done with much more dilligence.Thats how we move forward - make a mistake, learn, benefit next time :-)

Point taken budgetflyer, but I still consider the charge excessive. Also, I hope it will benefit others who have read this thread to avoid similar!!!

duchy

The OP typed the wrong surname completely from what she says-eg there were 2 Smiths and 2 Jones's and she put in 3 Smiths and 1 Jones by mistake-if I understand correctly. In those cases it is common to be charged more than an admin fee as it often is a name change in reality.
Low cost carriers are a lot less flexible than legacy carriers-for example I've called both BA and AA in the past and made a name change the same day as I booked and because the computer's overnight run had not been run yet I was able to change at no cost (I'm not careless-I used to be a travel agent and it was clients who "remembered" later that passengers still had passports in their maiden names-despite been asked at the time of booking.)

vikingaero

I typed in the wrong surname once. It's because us Vikings have complicated names. Rather than call up and faff around changing it I quickly booked another ticket for 1p and about another tenner in tax.

hammy_the_hammer

yes, as much as they like (as at present)

years ago when you travelled with the large airlines you had to have something resembling your name . i'm sure with BA it used to be quite a few wrong characters before they even bothered changing it (ie not just 1 or 2)
a compromise they could look at maybe is give your passport number as well when you booked

Woby_Tide

hammy_the_hammer wrote: »

years ago when you travelled with the large airlines you had to have something resembling your name . i'm sure with BA it used to be quite a few wrong characters before they even bothered changing it (ie not just 1 or 2)
a compromise they could look at maybe is give your passport number as well when you booked

If we can't type our surnames god help trying to transcribe passport numbers