Help - Passport problem !

[hoofie]

I hope someone can provide me with a helpful answer.

My wife, daughter and myself are booked to travel to Miami next Tuesday with BA - its all been booked through Thomas Cook.

We realised that the booking for my wife is in her married name, but her passport is still in her old surname and still valid for the US.

No problem, I thought, I'll call Thomas Cook and change the name on the booking. Much to my shock, the answer was "sorry, you can't change it at this stage, your wife will need to get a new passport" - this is despite us spending our own hard-earned money on this. Needless to say, this has thrown me into a panic and all sorts of nasty visions of being refused onto the plane/entry in the US etc are appearing. Thomas Cook say that the 'provider' won't change the name as the flight is full and they cannot release the seat as its a discounted ticket - this sounds like claptrap to be honest. Its just a name change !

I'd really appreciate it if someone could give me a clue as to :

(a) If my wife turns up at the airport with her wedding certificate and her passport, will BA let her on the plane ?
(b) Is it worth bypassing Thomas Cook and phoning BA direct, but I don't have a booking reference for them.
(c) Will US Immigration admit her into the US ?

I don't expect a concrete answer, but its a nightmare scenario if she has to get a new passport at such short notice, not to mention the exhorbitant cost.

p.s. When I pointed out to Thomas Cook that no-one asked if what the passport names on the booking, the answer was 'Tough - you signed the booking form'. No matter what, I won't touch them ever again. Caveat Emptor and all that, but I really feel let down by them.

[Omaha]

I'm sorry to hear of your predicament but my understanding is that the booking must match the name on the passport. Since 9/11, with stringent security procedures particularly entering the US, I've heard of other people in similar predicaments and they have not been allowed travel. Travel agents are normally emphatic about this as are airlines when documentation is sent/printed out and it is hard to miss it or fail to grasp the importance of it. I'm no authority on this but if I were you I'd be pulling out all the stops mighty quick i.e. getting onto passport office ASAP before close of working hours today. Good luck to you. :(

[Memetic]

The travel agent has nothing to gain by just refusing to do a change for you so I imagine that they believe that a change is not possible and unfortunately what they say is true, it is our responsibility whan booking to provide the right information.

Moving on...

Unless by saying still valid for the US you are implying that your wife for some reason needs a visa for the US, in which case this will be a whole lot more complicated. I'd book an appointment at the passport office pronto and get a new passport issued.

I had to replace a passport at short notice and found the service very efficent, booked the appoinment one day, showed up the next had the passport the same day. Details of the urgent service are here: http://www.ukpa.gov.uk/_3_urgent/3_contents.asp

Failing that you may find that there is a slim chance of leeway if you take your wedding certificate with you when you travel, but in the present circumstances I would not rely on that.

If you already have the tickets you could try talking direct to BA but I expect that as these are part of a package they are no change no refund. If they do agree expect to pay a fee. You could try offering to pay to upgrade your wife's ticket to a class that would allow a change, but ofcourse strictly speaking that is itself a change! A new passport will almost certainly be less expensive.

[Final 3 Greens]

You need to get your wife to a passport office, for a personal, same day, service - following the link that Memetic posted

Unfortunately that will cost you £89, but it will solve the problem.

[Lost_luggage34]

All good advice.

One must however, put a little of the onus on TC/travel agent.

They should have been absolutely crystal clear in explaining US immigration rules in light of the recent changes and tightening.

[Globaliser]

The requirement for the name on the ticket to match the name on the passport has been around for donkey's years - it is nothing new and it has nothing to do with 11.09.01 or any of the security changes that have been made after that.

"It's just a name change" has never washed, either. It's always been a right pig to do a name change after a confirmed booking's been made; even more so after tickets have been issued.

The OP would do well to follow the advice about getting a same day passport, and to do it quickly.

[mutt]

Hoofie,

Our ticketing people have access to our personnel records with names etc. Even then they will not issue a ticket to the USA without checking the name on our passports!

Do not try to travel to the USA without the passport and ticket corresponding, it wont be worth the consequences.

Enjoy the vacation.

Mutt.

[rsoman]

Thomas Cook say that the 'provider' won't change the name as the flight is full and they cannot release the seat as its a discounted ticket - this sounds like claptrap to be honest. Its just a name change !
********

True to some extent - as the booking would have been done by Thomas Cook on a reservation system and if they change it , the BA booking system may cancel the reservation as it is programmed to do. If seats were available, the airline computer would rebook you on a diferent airline record locator and all would have been fine. So nothing wrong in what the travel agent stated (yes I do agree that it still doesnt give him/her the right to be rude to you!). These procedures are put in place by airlines to ensure that the travel agents do not misuse the booking systems . If this was not in place you can be rest assured that there would be any number of fictitious bookings during peak periods made as soon as the seat is available for sale (in some case this may be upto 360 days in advance) and then there will always be a flood of name changes at the last minute.

That said , I still cannot believe that someone higher up in the airline reservation heirarchy (in this case BA) do not have the right to over ride the process and change the name in the BA system, provided that he/she is convinced of your case. Quite a few airline reservation supervisors (not airport check in staff) may be willing to do this if it is possible, as they do very well know that genuine errors do occur. So if I were you, I would still try to obtain the booking reference for BA from Thomas Cook (which they have no reason not to give) and try to speak to someone in BA customer service, explain your predicament and see if someone can help. Do this straightaway as you may still be lucky

I once worked as a travel agent and had a similar incident happen. I made a name change by accident (not boring you with details - in reservation systems this can happen quite often), but when I spoke to the airline's reservation manager, he was able to understand what happend and was able to rectify the mistake in the airlines system. Even though the airline was not BA nor the travel to US (it was to Singapore), since there is still time before the travel date, I cannot see why the same will not apply here.

Cheers

[Omaha]

The requirement for the name on the ticket to match the name on the passport has been around for donkey's years - it is nothing new and it has nothing to do with 11.09.01 or any of the security changes that have been made after that.
That is true but I've even spoken to someone who traveled before 9/11 on someone elses passport & got away with it, heavens knows what other corners were cut. You wouldn't get away with diddly tw*t now. :\

[hoofie]

Thanks for the assistance everyone.

My wife DOES have a valid UK passport so she will not need a visa for the US - its purely the name mismatch. Part of me says to go to the airport and just 'bluff' through it, saying it is a mistake, show them the weddding certificate etc. The fly in the ointment is that its the US - anywhere else I wouldn't be bothered so much.

I'm just amazed that I can't get something as simple as this done - surely it must happen from time to time, its not as if its a different person on the booking.

rsoman, I'll try and get the booking reference from BA - if they can't change it then we have no choice but to get the passport changed.

Whats galls me most is that its OUR money we are spending, but no-one appears to be interested in assisting the paying customer - it was a genuine oversight.

[Final 3 Greens]

HoofiePart of me says to go to the airport and just 'bluff' through it Whatever you do, don't try this.

Even if you managed to get on the flight, Mutt's advice is sound.

[Omaha]

The fly in the ointment is that its the US - anywhere else I wouldn't be bothered so much.
I don't know if that's such a sensible approach. Even flying in Europe the Airlines are stringent about the name on the ticket matching the passport or whatever identification the airline allows you use.

I don't believe you realise how seriously the airlines and authorities take this issue and they do have the power not to allow your wife into their country if she even manages to get on the plane in the first place which I would doubt, & believe you me they will exercise it.

Whats galls me most is that its OUR money we are spending, but no-one appears to be interested in assisting the paying customer - it was a genuine oversight.
No, it was a serious oversight & mistake on your part. A lesson learned I hope!

[rsoman]

Omaha
I think you are being too harsh. Mistakes can happen from anyone. And not everyone travels abroad frequently.

Mutt already mentioned his ticketing people wont even issue the ticket without checking the name on the passport. This is generally a common sense guideline put in place by many travel agency managements long time ago many years before 9/11 and if the same was in place in the Thomas Cook location where Hoofie purchased the ticket, the mistake made would have been caught out before it became critical.

I would assume part of the responsibility of a good travel agent is to do his/her job properly. They are the professionals , not the traveller (atleast in theory - I know of any number of travel agents who havent stepped aboad any aircraft in their life). Anyway I doubt if Thomas Cook would have been so rude if the passenger concerned belonged to any of their big corporate accounts! Oh no -then their staff would have been in the dock for failing to ensure common sense checks!

I should know . I started my working life as a travel agent (and worked in Thomas Cook as well ) before moving on to become an occasional SLF. Every so often I have come accross ticket for Mouse/Mickey Mr being issued as Mickey Mouse/Mr or Mickey/Mouse Mr despite all the documentation required being provided to the travel agent!.

So give Hoofie a break!

[hoofie]

Thanks for all your help, but its a bust.

After calling Thomas Cook this morning, a very helpful young lady phoned me back to say she couldn't give me the booking number for BA, but if my wife came in with her passport wedding certificate etc, they would fax the details on and BA would change the name on the booking !!

Excellent - my wife has therefore just run into Thomas Cook .... only to find that her passport (issued in a British Consulate when she lived abroad) is NOT machine-readable and therefore useless for entry into the US to start with......end of game. I could cry.. I never even considered that.

So its off to the Passport Office on Monday (the day before we fly) to get a new one issued on the spot. If it doesn't work out, just myself and my daughter will go and she'll join us a day or two later.

Needless to say she is mortified and convinced someone is trying to tell her that she shouldn't go away...

Thanks for all the useful comments and suggestions - let this be a lesson to anyone else who finds themselves in the same situation - double-check your booking and passport details.

[strake]

OK, listen to all the advice already given which is good advice..

However, two weeks ago Mrs Strake and I travelled to Miami with BA. The ticket was in her married name but her passport was in her maiden name. Her passport had a visa for the USA (so she was not travelling under the Waiver scheme) also recently issued in her maiden name.
We had no difficulty entering the USA on sight of our marriage certificate .

Just seen my note crossed with yours. I understand the difficulty with the MRP.
Life is very irritating sometimes..good luck to you both. I'm sure it will work out in the end.

[Omaha]

I didn't mean too sound too harsh, I just think the documentation usually makes this issue obvious.

Enjoy your holiday in the Miami hoofie. I hope it all works out well for you, better safe than sorry. :ok:

Oh blimey, a non machine readable passport to boot! LOL :uhoh:

[skydriller]

I cant help but to think that alot of people here are making enormouse mountain ranges out of very small mole hills.......

I know it was a few years ago now, but when Mrs SD and I got married and went on our Honeymoon we still had her old name in her passport but the holiday booking and tickets etc were in our newly married names.....We had our marriage certificate with us on the advice of the travel agent and had no problems at all - in fact BA upgraded us when they realised it was our honeymoon and the crew plied us with champagne the whole flight!!

How many other couples do you think get married and fly away on their Honemoon without a problem??

Reality check I think!!!

Regards, SD..

[Globaliser]

hoofie: Excellent - my wife has therefore just run into Thomas Cook .... only to find that her passport (issued in a British Consulate when she lived abroad) is NOT machine-readable and therefore useless for entry into the US to start with......end of game. I could cry.. I never even considered that.I know it must be really frustrating for you to run into problem after problem, but the US not accepting non-MRPs without a visa has really had oodles and oodles of publicity over the last 18 months. Endless column inches in newspapers big and small. And there's heaps of advice all over just about every airline's website about this.

[WestWind1950]

When I got my named changed some years ago it was added to the back of my passport like a visa would be... a new passport didn't need to be issued. That would have been easy. But not having a maschine readable passport is the major biggy in this case.

Question: how can you tell if your passport is maschine readable? I know that mine (USA) gets placed on a screen and seems to get read, but it was issued in July 2001. I'm flying to Edinburgh this Saturday and intend to ask at the passport check-in, but it would I'm sure be interesting for all of us to know what the difference is. I flew into Gatwick last September with no problem so I assume it's ok.

Westy

[mutt]

WestWind1950,

Look at the last page of your passport under your personal details, if there are two lines of computer type with country of issue, name, passport number, date of birth and passport expiry date, then its a machine readable passport!

Skydriller,

There is nothing more soul destroying than getting refused entry into a country~! If the option is there, get the proper documents.


Mutt.

[Final 3 Greens]

Skydriller

I know it was a few years ago now With all due respect, a lot of things are not the same as they were a few years ago.

I think that your comment about reality check is dangerously misleading when US immigration is concerned.

[WestWind1950]

@mutt

Thanks! I'm "safe" :p

Westy

[hoofie]

Globaliser, I was well aware of the MRP requirement. It just never occurred to me to consider that my wife's passport wouldn't have it as she has used it frequently over the last few years.

However, her passport was issued in Jeddah some 9 years ago by the Consulate when she lived in Saudi Arabia - THAT passport didn't have the MRP at the bottom, yet her previous UK one did.

Anyway, the original post was about the lack of assistance from the Travel Agent - the MRP issue decided it in the end.

Skydriller, the whole thing started because I realised that any difference in the names viz passport and booking could cause major problems at the airport and at US immigration - I've heard from a number of people that US immigration will apply the letter of the law without any leeway and that in turn gives BA zero room for movement as well - 9/11 put paid to any kind of common-sense over these things.

[Globaliser]

Sorry, I misunderstood. And I do understand your frustration at it all.

[bealine]

......... That said , I still cannot believe that someone higher up in the airline reservation heirarchy (in this case BA) do not have the right to over ride the process and change the name in the BA system, provided that he/she is convinced of your case

Not true! A complete bew booking would have to be made.

Ever since I've worked in the travel industry, the booking name and passport name must correspond - and even on UK Domestic trips tickets are strictly "Non Transferable!"

The only way is a passport change!

[mutt]

However, her passport was issued in Jeddah some 9 years ago by the Consulate when she lived in Saudi Arabia - THAT passport didn't have the MRP at the bottom, yet her previous UK one did.

The UK consulate in Jeddah only obtained the ability to produce MRP's in 2004.

If your wife had show up with her old passport full of Saudi visas and exit/re-entry stamps, she most probably would have had a inner cavity search. :):)

Hope that the vacation goes well.

Mutt.

[skydriller]

No offence taken...

I know US immigration is bad, I have been over there regularly over the last 5 years or so due to work requirements. I whole-heartedly agree that checking everything out before travel is emminently sensible as opposed to being turned back.

Having thought about it a bit more, I have to ask the question though.....What do newly-weds on honeymoon (or otherwise travelling having just been married, for example in my case we got married in France but were living in the UK at the time) do these days? What is the line from the Holiday companies and Airlines regarding this as I imagine that the discrepancy of maiden and Married names must occur quite alot. As I recall, I didnt even think about the issue myself at the time, and suspect alot of others wouldnt either.

Regards, SD..

[Globaliser]

skydriller: Having thought about it a bit more, I have to ask the question though.....What do newly-weds on honeymoon (or otherwise travelling having just been married, for example in my case we got married in France but were living in the UK at the time) do these days?The sensible thing is to book the tickets in the pre-marriage names and travel on the pre-marriage passports. (To use totally non-gender specific language.) That's absolutely legal and unobjectionable.

And then sort out the name change two weeks later, or whatever. It's hardly going to matter in the context of the rest of one's life.

But then most of my friends never seem to get round to changing anyone's name at any time after that, either.

[rsoman]

Bealine - Ever since I've worked in the travel industry, the booking name and passport name must correspond - and even on UK Domestic trips tickets are strictly "Non Transferable!"

**********

Bealine- we are not talking about changing the name from Mickey Mouse/Mr to Donald Duck/Mrs in this case.

The surname changes, the first name remains the same, and the case is genuine. I am not saying all and sundry can do it, but the airline reservation controllers- generally higher up in the heirarchy ( but not not the travel agent) does have some authority to do so. And if you read one of Hoofie's posts, this was confirmed by BA as well!

Believe me, I have worked a few years with the reservation toy your guys are playing with.


As for tickets being non transferrable, well a ID check for domestic trips is not a must everywhere in the world. I have made three trips in the last two months in two different airlines, and I was not asked for any ID (nor was I required to carry any!). However be rest assured I was travelling on my own ticket !

Cheerio

[Final 3 Greens]

skydriller: Having thought about it a bit more, I have to ask the question though.....What do newly-weds on honeymoon (or otherwise travelling having just been married, for example in my case we got married in France but were living in the UK at the time) do these days? The Passport Agency will also issue a passport in the married name up to 3 months before, but it can only be used after the marriage ceremony. As this means surrendering the current passport, it may not work for everyone.

rsroman

I have always found Bealine to be genuine, truthful and helpful on this forum.

If he says that the ticket cannot be changed without a new reservation, then I for one believe him.

[rsoman]

Final 3 Greens
****
I have always found Bealine to be genuine, truthful and helpful on this forum.
****

I am not for one moment suggesting he isn't.

However like quite a few others here in PPRUNE, I also have some relevant experience in the industry in question, and when Hoofie had started this thread, requesting some help, I thought I could give an option, based on my understanding of the industry (which may or may not excced any other person's in this forum - that is irrelevant) which he can explore, that is all.

Cheers

[bealine]

No offence taken guys, but I would advise rsosman, your advice is not up to date enough with BA developments.

Short of management intervention, (and a normal customer will not get within half a mile of a BA manager and certainly would not reach one by telephone), authority to effect a name change, waive change/cancellation fees etc have been removed from all operations and reservations staff and supervisors.

We have a wonderful department at Waterworld called "Revenue Protection and Compliance" and disciplinary proceedings are likely if anyone of us failed to adhere to the rules!

[rsoman]

Hi Bealine
Thanks for that. All I wanted to prove was that even in BA it is possible- even if not for the Commoners , atleast the Lords can do it! One reason I suppose is that atleast some of the call centre work is now handled in more salubrious climes under contract, now that WNS has got the chop.

As I mentioned earlier, I had worked long enough playing with your toy, (even before you guys started using it) to know what is possible and what not , from a system point of view . Anyway it appears that BA no longer believes in delegation of responsibilty but rather in consolidation!

[hoofie]

We've just returned from our holiday to the US. My wife managed to get her new passport in the end the day before we flew.

Thanks to all who replied with suggestions/brickbats etc - all appreciated.

[Memetic]

That's what we like, a happy ending :)

[Globaliser]

That's great, hoofie - thanks for letting us all know.

[TightSlot]

Well done! Hope it was a good holiday

[Jordan D]

Alls well that ends well.

Jordan