Amending Name on Gulfair flight

kingscorpion1

Hi every one i need a urgent help. i booked a ticket from a travel agency called TRAVEL TROLLEY. After finding a suitable flight i bought a ticket for me and my mom. got the receipt straight away from them and after 48 hours i got a confirmation and when i double check the ticket, my mother surname was missing. i called them up and told them my moms surname is missing and they told me i have to cancel the ticket as adding last name is not possible. so i ask them the options and they offer me another ticket for my mother, told me the inbound  will not be on the same date and i have to pay £190 extra to cover the cost. i told them the original cost of my mothers ticket was £392 so you are charging me half the amount just to add her surname and on top of that she will get inbound flight on a different date. having the argument reaching no where i hang-up and decided to call Gulfair customer service. I talk to their CS agent regarding this matter, they told me they  can amend the name by sending my mothers passport copy to their email and i dont have to cancel the flight as i was told by the travel agent. today i got a email from Gulfair saying they can add her surname but i have to pay £120 to them for doing that. i feel thats kind of rip off just to add her surname even tho its my fault as i booked it from a travel agency website and i did write her complete name. 
Any help will be appreciated.

MATTR5

It's pretty poor design if the website lets you book without adding her surname
But tbh I'd pay the £120 - most cheap scheduled tickets are "non-changeable, non-refundable" so £120 is not the worst ive seen - it solves the problem - just be super careful in future 

kingscorpion1

MATTR5 said:

It's pretty poor design if the website lets you book without adding her surname
But tbh I'd pay the £120 - most cheap scheduled tickets are "non-changeable, non-refundable" so £120 is not the worst ive seen - it solves the problem - just be super careful in future 

thanks for the reply, i did check gulfair website and they do offer flexible tickets booked before 31Dec 2021. so i assume my ticket is flexible even they offer full refund if i cancel the flight. 

MATTR5

If you read that carefully I'm pretty sure they are only offering a refund if they cancel the flight 
It could be worth going back to them and saying "look it says i can make unlimited changes at no fee" but they cover themselves with the "any difference in fare" and really that's more changing route/date - there may be something in the small print
Good Luck but if they dig their heels in and say it's £120 honestly that's not a terrible result - way better than what the agency offered you 

Caz3121

Any refund from the airline would go to travel trolley. Any refund from travel trolley to you will be subject to deduction of the fees you agreed to

kingscorpion1

Caz3121 said:

Any refund from the airline would go to travel trolley. Any refund from travel trolley to you will be subject to deduction of the fees you agreed to

Tbh m not looking for refund. i just want them to add her last name. i dont know why its a big issue when her first and middle name is the same as her passport. 

ItsComingRome

kingscorpion1 said:

Caz3121 said:

Any refund from the airline would go to travel trolley. Any refund from travel trolley to you will be subject to deduction of the fees you agreed to

Tbh m not looking for refund. i just want them to add her last name. i dont know why its a big issue when her first and middle name is the same as her passport. 

It's not a big deal, but this is how these companies turn a profit. The profits on the tickets they sell are razor-thin.

Ultimately what you could do if you booked directly with the airline is immaterial, you didn't book with them.  You'd also be paying more (probably quite a bit more) if you did for the convenience of having flexible tickets and "free" name changes.

TELLIT01

Was nothing entered as Surname or was another of the mother's names entered instead.  I agree it's odd if no name was entered, but entirely the OPs fault if a wrong name was entered.

Westin

TELLIT01 said:

Was nothing entered as Surname or was another of the mother's names entered instead.  I agree it's odd if no name was entered, but entirely the OPs fault if a wrong name was entered.

TT’s booking web form asks for First Name and Last Name. I suspect perhaps the OP put mum’s middle name in the Last Name field.

For £4.99 TT offer a cancel for any reason option up to 23:00 on day of purchase (likely within the ticketing time for the airline). This might have been a good fall back to have taken to double check all the information on the reservation was correct.

As @MATTR5 says, £120 to make the change might be the simplest thing to pay and do on this occasion as I better doubt satisfaction will be gained from TT.   Hard lesson.

TELLIT01

The lesson to learn is to check and then double check information before clicking on Submit/Pay Now or whatever the final screen requests.  My sister-in-law had put return flights down for the same date as the outbound flights but thankfully asked me to check what she had done as they are coming on holiday with us.  It could have been the shortest holiday ever.

Worried_fool

TELLIT01 said:

The lesson to learn is to check and then double check information before clicking on Submit/Pay Now or whatever the final screen requests.  My sister-in-law had put return flights down for the same date as the outbound flights but thankfully asked me to check what she had done as they are coming on holiday with us.  It could have been the shortest holiday ever.

Indeed.

The last time I bought air tickets from LastMinute, I filled in and checked the booking form, then added my frequent flyer number. I was then about to press the 'buy now' button when I noticed that the date of departure had changed... to the day on which I was making the booking! It was a narrow escape.