My brother, flying from heathrow today was unable to catch his flight (to tokyo) as the name on the ticket was “Tom” and on his passport “Thomas”. Is it allways that strict anyone else had this?. Any chance of recompence you think. Or just suck it up. The price at the desk for another ticket was double the original. Cheers.

Why wouldn’t you use your proper name as it appears on your passport to book flights?

Why was his ticket not booked in his actual name rather than some shortened version?

and yes, it’s always that strict because of terrorists…

Is he a bit simple?

Admitedly it is a **** up. the flight was booked on his behalf. And obviously not checked. Ah well

Well when living in Japan some airlines seemed incapable of correctly rendering our names (western, 2 forenames) as they appeared on the passport. Had a few nervous moments but never refused a flight…yet…

Normally up to 3 letters wrong I believe. I’ve had my surname misspelled before without it causing a problem but when we book flights we always make sure we have everyone’s full passport details.

Had similar but was able to change my name before my flight (again, done through booking company who decided to drop the first letter of my first name).

Was it a corporate booking? If so bill them and maybe they’ll check details better next time.

I once flew ith my name misspelled – typo and no not me- and they were fine with it

I assume someone UK or native english speaker would get thomas to tom but perhaps this was lost in translation?

Was booked by his friend. Problem started at a automated check in/passport control at Heathrow?. (Personally never flown from Heathrow). Would not let him proceed i gather. And when he went to the airlines desk they told him it was because of the name issue. Feel bad for him.

I don’t know how anyone can think that’s reasonable, or the brother’s fault- Tom and Thomas are the same name. It’s not a misspelling, it’s not the wrong name, there’s no possible malicious or dubious reason for it… Perhaps in a non english speaking country that might not be obvious and it’d be more understandable, but in the UK? Utter bullshit tbh.

Is he on the US swim team?

I was “detained” at a passport checkpoint at Heathrow once, ofr about half an hour

When the guy who took away the passport came back he explained that I had the same name as someone of interest to them and the computer had alerted him

… but then he thought to check the middle intial, so it was all OK and I could go on my way
I’m not sure but I’d have thought that level of sophistication might be standard on, you know, a border security system

Course, could’ve been another reason really and this was a cover story but a) it’s a shit cover story and b) I’m not an international criminal mastermind, honest

Bobby on my passport but haven’t been called that for 20+ years. Always book under Bob. Never had a problem

scaredypants – Member 
I was “detained” at a passport checkpoint at Heathrow once, ofr about half an hour
When the guy who took away the passport came back he explained that I had the same name as someone of interest to them and the computer had alerted him

Got that entering US, several years in a row. Just got taken off while they did various checks and told me to go. They weren’t allowed to tell me why but one finally did and turned out the guy on the watch list had exactly the same name and birth date, just different place of birth! Though I do wonder if they meant same birth year rather than exact day.

Daft thing is I had biometric passport and they’d already done iris scan in previous visits, so surely the computer would spot the difference.

With US you can file a request for review which I did, and you get a special reference you can quote on further stops. Eventually they stopped pulling me over.

As for the OP, I always book with short version of my first name but passport is the full length of the name. It’s an abbreviation that doesn’t change the first three letters though.

A few months back we were behind someone who presumably used his middle name most of the time and had booked tickets as such, but his passport had his first name first. They were still standing around looking very nervous when we left, but the staff weren’t sounding hopeful. I wonder what happened…

I could be wrong but I’m sure that when you book tickets does it not mention that your name should be the same as on your passport (at least in the small print)?

OP that’s pretty harsh as its clearly an abbreviation. I wonder if the flight was overbooked ? Did he check-in in plenty of time ?

@dk you are taking a risk there. I go by an abbreviated first name but always book with the full name as per passport

Yeah cos a passport has no other identifiers in it besides a picture, issuer information, place of birth etc etc. Bizarre that someone either here or abroad cannot equate Tom and Thomas as being the same name and as such calls foul on the passenger.

Bizarre that someone either here or abroad cannot equate Tom and Thomas as being the same name

Not really.

Yep it’s not the same name. Always check and always use your full passport name.

I had this problem once and we just needed to get the staff to change the name on the system. There was of course an admin fee.

I have four names of considerable length that will not fit in their entirety on most forms.
If you think I should remember which agencies can accommodate which number of characters I should use for my name then you are a bigger bell end than you have currently appeared to be.
😀

Similar happened to me, coincidentally flying to Tokyo (Jake/Jacob). No real problems in Perth (WA) and Singapore. A lot more hassle checking in for the return from Tokyo. Maybe your brother has been saved from being stranded in Japan?

I never have my middle name when booking (or having booked) flights and its never been an issue, even though my passport has my full name..

I’ve had this on domestic uk flights – Mike vs Michael on the passport, but only warned, not stopped.

I use the shortened version of my name all the time, in years of travelling I think one check-in person in Geneva has commented on it, and corrected with pen on my luggage slip.

I’ve had the same issue, also with banks. My accounts are in the name of Rob and someone I do work for always calls me Robert and makes the cheques out in that name. often refused when paying in… Daft if you ask me.

I have a friend that has a double barrelled surname that he only uses half of. Has flown several times booking under the half name while the fullname is on his passport. They’ve mentioned it a few times but never actually stopped him from flying. (It has always happened when someone else has booked the flights.)

might have been ok with Thom

It’s pretty much always been this way.

I’ve been flying with work for +30 years and whenever someone is booking a flight for me I always remember to tell them my ‘Sunday’ name.

I never have my middle name when booking (or having booked) flights and its never been an issue, even though my passport has my full name..

Middle name isn’t a problem (mine is the name I actually use in real life rather than in bureaucracy life. And the stated first name and last name on the passport have to equate to the one on the ticket IME.

My eldest also had a problem when he recently bought a house, it seemed that every bit of official documentation had a slightly different set of names for him… He’s 3 first names and 2 second; my ex-wife remarried when they were young and she hadn’t updated any existing, so then added new and he himself has added new. Needed to officially change his name in a rush to get the mortgage 🙂

I have four names of considerable length that will not fit in their entirety on most forms.
If you think I should remember which agencies can accommodate which number of characters I should use for my name then you are a bigger bell end than you have currently appeared to be.

You’re very quick to throw around the insults, maybe you should calm down Alexandrainos Buckinghamshire- Fitzwilliam-Smythingtonbury.

I had a bunch of hassle flying out of LHR where my flight had been booked with my middle name and surname transposed as a double barrelled surname. I got the flight, but it seemed such a simple mistake I was surprised it was an issue at all.

I have four names of considerable length that will not fit in their entirety on most forms.
If you think I should remember which agencies can accommodate which number of characters I should use for my name then you are a bigger bell end than you have currently appeared to be.

Who are you talking to?

easyJet always get confused as to which is which when I travel with my son (who has same first name).
They almost can’t cope. Despite different ages, photos and middle names..

I’ve had this on domestic uk flights – Mike vs Michael on the passport, but only warned, not stopped.

Don’t need a passport to fly in the UK. I’ve not been asked for ID on a domestic flight for years.

Easyjet, Ryanair and FlyBe all require ID to get on Domestic flights. The only one that doesn’t seem to care is BA

It doesn’t need to be a passport though. I’ve flown Easyjet with only a work ID, when my passport was being renewed.

An elderly family member is a Viscountess and that’s on her passport, I’ve had loads of hassle booking stuff for her as its a title that reads ‘The Dowager Viscountess…..’ ridiculously that’s how it appears on the passport.

Hmm, sounds like bad luck to me.

I recently had the reverse – my name was correctly spelled on the flight booking, but my newly-minted renewed passport had my name and DOB both wrong.

Not fun at 5am with tearful wife and child to be told you might not be able to go on family holiday! Thankfully airline realised it was genuine mistake and let us through. Coming back in was a bit hairy though, and passport was seized by border control so I have to apply for another one…

I assume someone UK or native english speaker would get thomas to tom but perhaps this was lost in translation?

This is why Thom beats Tom. 😀