Last name booking not matching passport (but does match driving license)

[Flockameanie]

I'm flying in a couple of days on EasyJet (to Spain) and just realised that I must have used auto-fill, or something, when making the booking cos my last name is wrong. My last name on my passport is a non-hyphenated double barrel (eg. Jane Jones Smith), but for some inexplicable reason I booked as Jane Smith. I only just noticed when I went to download my boarding pass. It will cost me more than the flght originally cost to change it (£110).

However, my driving licence is in 'Jane Smith'. My credit cards are 'Jane Smith'. Just my bloody passport is 'Jane Jones Smith'.

Do you think they'll let me on the plane (becuase I do have official ID - my driving license - that matches the name on the booking)?

I am sorry, but your ticket and boarding pass MUST match your passport. You might be able to change it but you will have to pay a fee.
I had to do this recently and it was the travel agent that got my first and second names the wrong way round. Luckily I spotted it straight away.
Have a look at the airline's website.

If it’s not hyphenated doesn’t the Jones bit just look like a middle name? I only ever put firstname surname on bookings.

Usually ticket and passport must match. Nothing else is relevant. Will you get away with it, nobody here can say for sure. Personally I would be too afraid of being denied boarding to risk it but only you can make that decision. Hope you get to go.

Last name on my passport is 'Jones Smith'. Last name on ticket/booking is 'Smith'

Ah I see what you mean. Hmmm, I feel like it’d be fine once you get past check in and if you have other ID with you but obviously I am not the check in staff (if I was, I’d defo let you on!)

I have many surnames and all my flights are on first given name and last surname never had an issue

Thanks!

That’s encouraging. Altho I’m intrigued by the ‘many last names’ scenario!

I really can’t decide if I should chance it or stump up £110 (😮) to change the name on the booking.

It's more than 3 letters wrong. It's in fact a totally different surname. Change it now before it gets even more expensive to change.

It can be slightly different where this is necessary for the booking. My surname is hyphenated and includes a letter not present in the English alphabet. I have therefore to frequently input my surname incorrectly, listing it as two separate parts (a la Spanish surnames) and with a wrong letter. That goes through fine despite it not matching my passport.

Yours sounds too far from the passport. Passports split surnames and forenames into separate lines, so they're not going to think that the Jones is a middle name. It's a big risk.

Your driving license does not entitle you to cross borders. As such, what's listed on it doesn't matter in this instance.

Pay to change it OP, the chances are you will get a jobsworth on one of the journeys. Not worth the stress.

6 surnames 🤪

Call them and ask?

My word! Well, I suppose they can't expect you to have all of them on your booking/ boarding pass...

Yes, I know you’re right. This is the advice I would give in the reverse situation. I’m just in denial about having to spend as much to change is as the flight cost!

In my 20 years of having this stupid last name (advice to my younger self - just keep your maiden name!) this is the first time this has happened. And hopefully the last. So there’s that, I guess…

How? Why?

I had a friend whose mother remarried several times and every time I saw her she had an extra surname 😂

Anyway OP, have ou already checked in? (30 days ahead for Easyjet) Might be worth a try?

The first holiday I went on with my now partner I booked the flight and when we got the boarding pass it had merged his first and middle names together so his name on the pass was say

Michaelalexander Smith

It was fine… but I guess in that case it did match the name on the passport just without the space.

I think you’ll be fine but then it’s not me who would miss my holiday!

I have checked in. But it just automatically uses the name you booked under - no option to change it at check in. And that's when I realised the name was wrong.

I will try contacting them to ask, although I'm sure they'll just spout what is on the website ('name must exactly match passport, including middle names'). Also, chances of getting a response from a human are pretty low, I'd have thought...

My husband booked flights for us recently and by mistake he booked them both in his surname/my married surname but my passport is still in a different name. He called EasyJet immediately and they changed it free of charge. I don't know if it's different if you booked ages ago but you have nothing to lose really (apart from £110 😨😨😨)

Call easyJet; they may well change it (they're not nearly as mean as people make them out to be).

In your circumstance though I'd lean towards it being ok. Plenty of Portuguese people (as example) have loads of last names and only use part of them on a ticket as airline systems just don't have enough characters.

DH travelled internationally for YEARS with his tickets booked in just middle name / surname as he doesn't use his first name. Only 3 years since I came along to put him right. He'd never once been questioned.

Ps.. I don't know of an airline that gives a toss about middle names, I work in travel and we don't take middle names ever, our system doesn't have a space for them and neither does the flight manifest we complete for the airlines 🤷🏻‍♀️

That's encouraging! I'll try them tomorrow morning... I'm wondering if the fact that it's obviously a genuine mistake (I have other very recent/ future bookings on my EasyJet account where I've used the correct name) they might take pity on me...

Yeah - I've never used my middle name on a booking. I guess they just mean that if you have included a middle name, it needs to be correct??

There is a technical difference between last name and surname in your situation - if the booking asked for last name and your surname is not hyphenated then you can technically use just the last name in your name. If the booking asked for surname then you’ve not filled it in correctly.

Either way, whether airport staff will know or care about the difference is a whole other issue… can you call them and find out? Or try a booking (don’t actually book!) to see what name it asks for so you can see if there’s a chance you’ll get away with it?!

I have the case with my kids, born in various countries, and their different IDs have different last name combinations. Sometimes I book them under one but fly with a different ID and it has literally never been an issue if ID is Jones Smith but ticket Smith. I also panicked when it first happened and called the airline, and they said it's totally fine, all they need to do is identify you, which they can, as Jane Smith is your name. It would really be the world's biggest jobsworth to make an issue out of it - not saying it doesn't occasionally happen, but those cases would be all over media as well.