Passport and QFF names different - Change?

[PaulyB]

Hello!
My daughter is booking a QFF trip online to the US on points next month and is booking online. She has realised that her Qantas profile that has automatically populated the booking only has the initial for her second name - so, Lindsay J instead of Lindsay Jane.

She has mistakenly (I think) requested a name change (which involved uploading a driver's license) which I am guessing will take her around the houses and may take ages. Unfortunately, she needs to make the booking to be sure of the seats.

Should she go ahead and make the booking or could that potentially cause even more problems???

All experiences really welcome as this is time sensitive.
Thanks!

 

[flyingfan]

All reports I've read are that middle names are inconsequential and that's been my experience - the middle can be there, not be there, be there only as an initial and it's ok as long as the surname and first given name are present (and in the right order). I don't recall seeing reports to the contrary even when the US - renowned for being very particular - is involved.

 

[PaulyB]

Thanks, flyingfan. This is very helpful.

My daughter has just replied that her biggest concern is that the first name in the QANTAS system is Lindsay J. Not just Lindsay. She has flown plenty domestically with no issue but this is the first o/s for a long time - and to JFK hence the hesitation.
What you say makes total sense but if her FIRST name is showing on the ticket as Lindsay J, I am wondering if that is a different scenario.

 

[flyingfan]

I don't know how your situation will go but you might get some views in this thread about SQ too:

A $5000 mistake. :(

Last year I was miraculously able to book 4 J seats (me, wife, 2 kids) on SQ to Europe using velocity points. Happy days. This week I realise one of the middle names of my son is where his surname should be. ie his name is missing his surname, thus its wrong on the booking! I called Virgin -...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[PaulyB]

I don't know how your situation will go but you might get some views in this thread about SQ too:

A $5000 mistake. :(

Last year I was miraculously able to book 4 J seats (me, wife, 2 kids) on SQ to Europe using velocity points. Happy days. This week I realise one of the middle names of my son is where his surname should be. ie his name is missing his surname, thus its wrong on the booking! I called Virgin -...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Thanks. Yes. I hadn't seen that thread but seen some awful ones and have had my own share of travails managing a OWA booking over the last 6 months. She may be best to wait until Tuesday and risk losing a flight.

 

[Pete98765432]

Thanks, flyingfan. This is very helpful.

My daughter has just replied that her biggest concern is that the first name in the QANTAS system is Lindsay J. Not just Lindsay. She has flown plenty domestically with no issue but this is the first o/s for a long time - and to JFK hence the hesitation.
What you say makes total sense but if her FIRST name is showing on the ticket as Lindsay J, I am wondering if that is a different scenario.

My QF profile has my first name as Peter M, and my passport has my full middle name, so a similar situation to your daughter’s. I’ve never had any issue at any international destination, including USA.

 

[PaulyB]

My QF profile has my first name as Peter M, and my passport has my full middle name, so a similar situation to your daughter’s. I’ve never had any issue at any international destination, including USA.

Thanks Peter. That is very reassuring. Only problem is that she had unwittingly requested a name change (she hasn't booked the flight yet). I'm getting her to see if she could cancel the request.

 

[kookaburra75]

My QF profile has my first name as Peter M, and my passport has my full middle name, so a similar situation to your daughter’s. I’ve never had any issue at any international destination, including USA.

Same here - and I haven't had any issues either. It should be all ok

 

[Seat0B]

My QF profile has my first name as Peter M, and my passport has my full middle name, so a similar situation to your daughter’s. I’ve never had any issue at any international destination, including USA.

Me too - exactly like this and I’ve had no issues anywhere in the world. I even asked on this forum before a recent trip and was told by others not to worry. And they were right.

 

[PaulyB]

Thanks for these confirmations. They do help.

So here is the question. Does anyone have any experience with the relevance of the Qantas FF name structure? That is - if they change it to Lindsay Jane (Jane as the middle name) from Lindsay J (all as first name) AFTER she has booked the flight, will it actually make any difference to the ticket?

For example, I have OWA flights coming up. My FF membership is John P but the actual ticket has my first name and surname only.

Flyingfan's post here still pauses me that it is better to wait, unfortunately until it is resolved.

A $5000 mistake. :(

Last year I was miraculously able to book 4 J seats (me, wife, 2 kids) on SQ to Europe using velocity points. Happy days. This week I realise one of the middle names of my son is where his surname should be. ie his name is missing his surname, thus its wrong on the booking! I called Virgin -...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Thanks!

 

[Seat0B]

Thanks for these confirmations. They do help.

So here is the question. Does anyone have any experience with the relevance of the Qantas FF name structure? That is - if they change it to Lindsay Jane (Jane as the middle name) from Lindsay J (all as first name) AFTER she has booked the flight, will it actually make any difference to the ticket?

For example, I have OWA flights coming up. My FF membership is John P but the actual ticket has my first name and surname only.

Flyingfan's post here still pauses me that it is better to wait, unfortunately until it is resolved.

A $5000 mistake. :(

Last year I was miraculously able to book 4 J seats (me, wife, 2 kids) on SQ to Europe using velocity points. Happy days. This week I realise one of the middle names of my son is where his surname should be. ie his name is missing his surname, thus its wrong on the booking! I called Virgin -...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Thanks!

As far as I know, changing your QF FF name DOES NOT automatically change the ticket name. You have to specifically apply to change that and pay an (exorbitant from memory) name change fee. My daughter changed her name when she got married. She had not originally planned to do so, and so booked ticket under her old name. Then decided to change name so looked into it all - if she changed her passport, she would be compelled to change the ticket to match and had to pay a fee for doing so. She decided not to change anything until after the trips she had already booked.

In a similar vein, but less critical, I changed my title with QF FF program a while back, and that definitely did not change on the tickets I had previously bought. Although that doesn’t matter as much as having your name right!

Finally, I’d be very careful in today‘s call centre environment about calling up to change name on a ticket. You DEFINATELY do not need to cancel the ticket and re-book, no matter what the customer service person tells you. If they even start down this path HUACA.

 

[RooFlyer]

In a similar vein, but less critical, I changed my title with QF FF program a while back, and that definitely did not change on the tickets I had previously bought. Although that doesn’t matter as much as having your name right!

I've been thinking of changing the title in my QFF profile too but have wondered how that might interact with passport for international flights. I can't imagine it would make a difference - hopefully the immigration authorities don't care what you call yourself in an airline points program.

 

[Seat0B]

I've been thinking of changing the title in my QFF profile too but have wondered how that might interact with passport for international flights. I can't imagine it would make a difference - hopefully the immigration authorities don't care what you call yourself in an airline points program.

This is exactly how it went for me . They could not care less what your prefix is, only the name counts and as per the OP question, the middle initial on ticket/BP and full name on passport was not a problem for me anywhere.

 

[Flyfrequently]

My QF profile has my first name as Peter M, and my passport has my full middle name, so a similar situation to your daughter’s. I’ve never had any issue at any international destination, including USA.

@PaulyB and @Pete98765432 same.
I have travelled for nearly 30 years as
Kxx_xxn A, never an issue.
Only had to change my QFF from Kxx_ in 1994.

 

[flyingfan]

I've been thinking of changing the title in my QFF profile too but have wondered how that might interact with passport for international flights. I can't imagine it would make a difference - hopefully the immigration authorities don't care what you call yourself in an airline points program.

Titles don’t flow through to immigration authorities - you could knight yourself for all they care.

 

[RooFlyer]

Titles don’t flow through to immigration authorities - you could knight yourself for all they care.

Funny you should say that ...

 

[PaulyB]

Titles don’t flow through to immigration authorities - you could knight yourself for all they care.

Oh that is so funny. But really underscores how she was worried. So basically, even if she changes how her name appears in the QFF it makes no difference to the ticket. Thanks! I will update everyone as to how this resolves...

 

[PaulyB]

Well as promised, here is an update - surprisingly early. My daughter received an email about 30 mins ago confirming that the name change had been made. That is 24 hours since she sent the license as requested and before she told me!

So she confidently went ahead with her booking and is now ticketed. Seats still available including the inaugural QF from JFK via AUK to SYD.
Thanks for the encouragement and information. FYI, she had rung a couple of call centers yesterday and was shocked to discover that her dear old dad was pretty right about the quality of info. 2 calls - 2 different sets of info. You kept us sane.

So, all's well that ends well. As you have all said - totally unnecessary to have gone through the process but, that's how we learn!

Thanks!

 

[Seat0B]

Glad it ended promptly and well. This forum is full of helpful people, isn’t it!

 

[Seat0B]

Funny you should say that ...

Although I did have to prove I was “entitled” to the new title/ prefix I requested. Once I did that, they changed it very quickly for FF purposes.