Flight ticket name difference

Curlywurly26

I had booked a Flight at London Heathrow Airport to check into my flight on Saturday 4th September with my Partner for a trip to Bali. I had booked the flights with British Airways and the flight it self was with Qatar Airways. 

At the check-in desk I got told that I wouldn’t be able to board the flight as my name on my boarding pass (Alex) did not match the name on my passport (Alexander).

I didn't realise that when making a profile account with British Airways, it would use this name for the ticket as i filled in the correct passport information and assumed that the correct information would be sent across, as there was no prompt saying the profile and the passport information had to match.

I got told that I would have to change the name on my boarding pass to match my name on my passport. I was told by Qatar at London Heathrow Airport that i would have to call British Airways as i made the booking through them. I called BA and was on the phone for two hours before they told me the name couldn't be changed and i would have to cancel my flight.

I was then informed that my original ticket purchased was completely void and in order to board the flight I was going to have to purchase a completely new ticket. Which was four times the price of the original ticket and baggage check-in for the flight was closing in 1 hour which my partner had a ticket for. So i had little choose and i did and I managed to get on the flight with my partner. 

Upon getting through security, i called British Airways again to see if i could change my name for the return flights. The flights were split into a Malaysian airline and a British Airway flight and the flights were not for another two weeks. But i was told by British Airways that the name still couldn't be changed and i would have to cancel my flight and rebook another one again at four times the original price again. 

I was refunded for the return flights, but not the 'going out' and obviously the stress of the whole situation had a massive impact on the holiday and my finances. 

Has anyone got any advice or any way of getting compensation. I keep seeing forums saying that you should double check the information before flying. But when you think we have sent over the correct information and there was nothing prompting or no error warning when the airline has all the information can they really say they are not 'at fault' and its really hard to believe that a change cannot occur especially for the return flight. 

Thanks for reading and any comments. 

Mark_d

I'm very surprised to hear that they could not change the name on your flight booking for your return flights, even for a fee. You can try making a formal complaint to BA but you can't put the blame on them.  It was your error.

Whenever you travel, you are travelling as Alexander.  So this is the name you have to give to government agencies, airlines, hotels etc.  This is not something specific to you - it affects everyone who changes their name when getting married....until you get a new passport in your married surname.

Caz3121

you would be best to correct the name on your BA profile. They do ask for 'Name as on passport' but if logged in it may take the name from the name on profile so this needs to be correct.
re the return flight, I suspect the issue was that more than one airline was involved that do not necessarily use the same systems. I have seen many posts where a name correction/change would have been possible on a single airline ticket but not when more than one involved.
In hindsight you would have been better purchasing a new return ticket (for both ways) one-way flights are often more expensive than returns as you will have found