Frequent flyers with multiple different names

[ajd]

So, my mother has a frequent flyer account that I opened for her many years ago but that has been sitting dormant for a while as she's forgotten it exists.

This past year, she's done a moderate amount of flying on QF and MH that might make the points worth claiming (probably just for a short haul domestic, but still).

The problem is that as a Malaysian woman who married an Australian, she's ended up with:

(a) her Chinese family name and given names on her Malaysian identity card, Malaysian passport and Australian immigration papers,

(b) her English name, with my father's surname, on her Medicare card, Centrelink documents, credit card, and pretty much every other kind of documentation, and

(c) her Chinese given names with her English surname on her drivers' licence - because you simply can't fool the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority, who were evidently one of the few organisations that insisted on proper change of name documentation back in the day. She has a marriage certificate for the surname, but not the given names...

(Also three different signatures to match each name, too...)

Her QFF account is currently in name (b), which is what she typically uses when booking domestic flights, but when booking international flights she obviously uses (a).

How well does Qantas handle this situation?

I rang the service centre and they advised me to gather as many identity documents as possible and email it through so they could update her record, but I'm curious whether anyone here has practical experience as to how well QF and *O partners handle points posting in this case...

 

[Simo]

Make the phone call. The FF Number would track it all once she had this sorted.

 

[big_RED]

Sorry for hijacking this thread but I couldn't see anything in the forum search that was similar to my question that already existed so thought I'd ask here.

My wife's last name has now changed to my last name, so when applying for the HSBC CC she used her new name. Issue is, her Qantas FF membership is in her original name so HSBC cannot transfer the bonus points to QFF as the names don't match, even though the FF number does!

HSBC require a lot of documentation to change her name, and Qantas apparently need her new passport (which she doesn't have).
I've found this Qantas FAQ page which seems to say it's extremely easy to change her name (just need a marraige certificate & name change as proof) - but I also wondered, could my wife just create a brand new QFF account with her new married name, get the points transferred from HSBC, and then do a family transfer from the new QFF account to her current QFF account?

Thanks!

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Probably set to become more difficult if the airlines can no longer accept a FFer card as ID at check-in (as they so often do currently with dom flts).

As an aside, PNG is a laugh with names as names often change at will (I know one guy who changed his surname to Torana as he liked the car). This causes all kind of drama as Air Niugini insist on photo ID, where PNG Air do not ... so most locals (many of whom have no ID) tend to only use PNG Air to travel. Cunning ploy by PNG Air to corner a market! Sorry for the hijack!