£500 on the beach charge for changing to married surname on booking?

hellsbells1977

I booked a holiday via onthebeach -  mistakingly in my maiden name and sent a request via their website to change to my married name - some 5 weeks after my request they have emailed to say it will cost just shy of £500 to amend!

There is no facility to call them, only a 'query' facility to send them a message which I did within 24 hours later to ask why the charge was so steep and whether they could check the charge with British Airways  as the correction was only to my surname. Heard nothing 24 hours later other than to say that they have cancelled my request as i had not paid for the change in 48 hours. Any idea what I can do? WHo i can speak to? I am devastated that you can't pick up the phone to them..

turnitround

Why can you not just travel in your maiden name? Has your passport be changed to your married name.

TELLIT01

Check directly with BA. If you are recently married and booked in your maiden name they may accept the marriage certificate to authenticate the name.  From what I've found online, BAs charge for a name correction is nearer £50 than £500.

k3lvc

One of the downsides of dealing with an OTA such as OnTheBeach - any 'savings' (perceived or actual) are wiped out as soon as a change is made or a problem arises. In normal circumstances you could contact BA and make the change for a much smaller fee (or even free depending how good your sob story is) but as you've contracted OTB to deal with BA they have to follow the below and then they'll add their own fees

British Airways Trade Support | Name corrections

No point being devastated about it given it's a consequence of your choice but certainly something to bear in mind for any future bookings

hellsbells1977

Thank you everyone 

Yes I recently applied for a passport in my married name (which I am still waiting on weeks down the line but that's another story....and I have tried to call to see if they could  return my old maiden name passport which still has 6 years left on it..... but cant get through even after holding for 3 hours...so need to forget that course of action and hope my new passport arrives in time)

When I actioned the 'on the beach request' faciilty it says they charge £10 for any variations on top of the airlines cost. I therefore cannot workout where the additional £490 has come from and they have not provided a breakdown (it tallies with the cost of a new ticket) and they can't be contacted....and they have now cancelled my request so i am back to square one again...

Caz3121

hellsbells1977 said:

I therefore cannot workout where the additional £490 has come from and they have not provided a breakdown (it tallies with the cost of a new ticket) 

I expect that they have quickly looked at the fact that BA do not generally allow name changes (they allow typo corrections) so have treated this as a new ticket required. However, as per the link by k3lvc above it does seem possible. Poorly trained / limited after sales is pretty common with companies like this.

Westin

^^^ Agree with above.  

Bet they have quoted for a new ticket.  Have you checked ba.com to price up to see if the £490 is around a new ticket price?

Either try them again, or even try BA direct to see if they are amenable to changing or adding notes to your PNR.  I would mention to BA it took 5 weeks to get a basic response from OTB last time and the matter is unresolved. Both OTB and BA will be busy and difficult to contact unfortunately.

As you have found, it is potentially a time wasting and costly exercise to change incorrect names post booking and therefore so important to double check all are right before pressing the ‘Buy’ button.

TELLIT01

It is possible that it's been a typo at OTB.  Is there no way to contact them by phone?

sheramber

Stated in the terms  of business Change of title, initial, first name or surname after booking confirmation Supplier/Principals charge + £30 amendment fee per person to OTB On BA FAQ Outside this cooling off period, flight-only tickets are non-transferable and you will need to cancel the original booking and make a new booking for the new traveller (at current ticket prices). Please call us if you'd like more advice and assistance.

photome

sheramber said:

Stated in the terms  of business Change of title, initial, first name or surname after booking confirmation Supplier/Principals charge + £30 amendment fee per person to OTB On BA FAQ Outside this cooling off period, flight-only tickets are non-transferable and you will need to cancel the original booking and make a new booking for the new traveller (at current ticket prices). Please call us if you'd like more advice and assistance.

The BA faq read like that applies for a transfer  to another person rather than a name change from a maiden name to a married name

IvanOpinion

Is it possible that they meant £50 but someone somewhere has passed on the wrong amount?