Amend one letter on a named person on a booking

OrangeSteeler

Hi,

Can anyone help please.

I booked a holiday with a on line travel agent. I travel in 6 months time and have just noticed that one of the people I'm travelling with has had the last letter of their first name spelt incorrectly. The on line travel agent is stating I need to pay an additional £284 to change this. I've spoken with the airline directly and the tickets have not  been printed yet, however I must deal with the travel agent directly.                                                                                                                                                  The on line travel agent has stated I can cancel the booking and rebook, or I must pay the additional charge. I have currently paid off half of the cost towards the total amount of the holiday, which is quite a lot. I don't know if I will receive a refund for the amount I've already paid.

Does anyone have any advice on this please.

Thanks in advance.

silvercar

Which airline? Most schedule airlines will allow corrections free of charge, LC airlines sometimes allow amendments of up to 3 letters free. Your problem is persuading your travel agent to do the work.

If you just turn up at the airport there is every chance check in staff won't notice, but that is a risk.

NoodleDoodleMan

Do you know how much the airline would charge for such an amendment ?

It would be useful to compare with the OTL - in order to ask them to justify their high fee for this change, assuming there is a big discrepancy.

Are you comfortable naming and shaming the OTL ?

OrangeSteeler

Hi, having spoken to the on line travel agent is stating the charge is due to the airline. However the airline have confirmed its not them.
The on line agent state we have not checking booking information correctly but when we received it, it only stated first initials and then surnames of travelling persons. 
Not sure what the best course of action is.

elsien

Which online travel agent is it?

OrangeSteeler

Destination2

bagand96

OrangeSteeler said:

Destination2

They seem to be the current favourite for generating posts on here!

It could be that when they call the airline they're not explaining it properly and the airline are trying to charge.  "I need to do a name change" is not the same as "I need to correct a spelling error".

It could be that they are charging their own admin fees to do this (not unusual for most agents) and cheekily trying to blame the airline. However £284 would be a big admin fee! What do D2's T&Cs say?

Can you get a copy of the airline's terms where they say spelling errors can be corrected free of charge? Try their website. You could then forward that to D2 and ask for a breakdown of the £284.

sheramber

Who got the spelling wrong- you or the travel agent?

Westin

You need to be clear that this is not a NAME CHANGE but a correction to a name which was misspelled.  Up to three characters in a correction are normally allowed.  

Anna Smith to Anne Smith is fine and a spelling correction.    Anna Smith to Beverly Smith is a name change.

OrangeSteeler

Thanks everyone. It's not a name change you're right. It's more like, for example 'Jot Bloggs to Joe Bloggs'.
We are currently waiting to hear back from the travel agents. I will definitely be pushing the issue of charges to them as the airline is not an issue.

silvercar

Have a read of regular fliers who don’t bat an eye about these sort of issues:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/2153732-quick-question-about-double-barreled-first-names.html