My big mistake with our Japan flight booking

[HelloandThankU]

Hi. I booked flights to Japan with Japan Airlines through Booking.com for the first time. The booking was for my husband, our two teenage children, and me. At the time of booking, there was a space for first and last names but no option to include a middle name. My husband said it wasn’t necessary, so we left it out. The total cost of the tickets was £6,100. Unfortunately, these are non-refundable tickets.

After downloading the JAL mobile app, my flight details appeared, but my husband’s did not show up in his app. This concerned me, so we called Japan Airlines. We were told that the names on the tickets must exactly match the passports, including middle names, and that we could be denied boarding if they do not match.

I don’t have a middle name, but my husband and children do. I wasn’t aware that Japan Airlines was so strict about this. We contacted JAL, but they said they cannot amend the names because the tickets were purchased through a third party. We then contacted Booking.com, and they are currently in communication with JAL, but we have not received any update yet.
After researching online, I found that many people reported being unable to get name corrections with JAL when booking through a third party, although some said they still went to the airport and hoped for the best. I don’t want to take that risk in case my family are denied boarding on the return flight. We cannot afford to buy another set of tickets. I know this was a serious mistake, and I feel awful about it — I was really hoping to take my children to see my parents back home.

I’ve been on the phone a lot with JAL and Booking.com, and my child with autism heard me. I feel like I upset him, and I worry that I made him sad. Has anyone successfully added a middle name with Japan Airlines when the ticket was purchased through a third-party site?

There are many posts on Tripadvisor, Reddit and Facebook about exactly this problem, and the consensus is that you don’t need your middle name on the ticket.

Certainly I have never put my middle name on any booking with multiple U.K, US, EU, Australian and UAE airlines.

We’ve been able to fly to European countries without any issues even when the middle name was missing on the ticket. However, Asian airlines tend to be stricter. We booked flights all the way to my hometown, which isn’t a common destination for international travelers. So, flying there might be relatively low risk, but the return flight could be a significant risk.

We’ve lived in Asia and we’ve always had to book tickets that exactly match our passports. Are you able to pay a fee to reissue them with your middle names?

I've never know middle names to be needed

As a pointless curiosity...why did you book through a 3rd party and not with the airline directly?

@ChangingSocks JAL won’t allow us to make any changes because we booked through Booking.com. We’ve contacted them, and they are handling it on our behalf, but we haven’t received any updates since then. However, when I checked online, many people said their requests were unsuccessful and they had to rebook. We can’t afford to buy new tickets.

Different airline but is there a separate bit on the airlines booking system where you had to put in your passport details. When I have had to do that those details need to match exactly including middle names.

So why didn’t you book direct? A bit odd to use booking.com. All bookings should match passport. I thought that was standard.

@Squirrelchops1 Because of the cost, we booked through Booking.com instead of directly with JAL. Booking directly would have cost £6,000 per person for an economy-class ticket to my hometown.

For example I might book with Expedia and they give you a booking reference. I use that to log in to airline to manage that booking and I add all the passport details and that part includes the middle name. Have you done that part?

No idea why my previous message has been hidden as nothing exciting in it. Hopefully it will appear soon.

Perhaps escalate it with booking.com as it was their error - go through like you're booking a new ticket and take a screenshot of the webpage that shows you can't enter a middle name in a text box. Then send it to them and state the onus is on them to sort out.. perhaps find the CEO or customer relations email and forward your communications on to them and politely state you're seeking resolution in accordance with their complaints policy or what not
Use the magic word "ombudsman" lol

I would also try your luck contacting the consumer right champions/money people in the newspapers.

They are ridiculous prices! I only paid £1200 each all the way to New Zealand!

I’ve recently flown to/from Auckland (from London) and booked through booking.com as it was significantly cheaper than booking direct with the airlines (Korean air & Singapore airlines). Made absolutely no sense to me either!

If there was no space to add a middle name on the booking.com website then its their issue to fix this for you.
Did you pay by credit card? You'll have some protection from that if the service cannot be provided. Look up section 75 credit card claims.

I have recently travelled back on Japan airlines 3-4 weeks ago and no it didn’t even occur to us about the middle name. We had no issues at all (and I have two middle names also). I wouldn’t worry about it as long as first and surname are correct. I have never put our middle names and it’s always been fine

All we could see were the fields for first name and last name. What I should have done was enter my middle name in the first name field. I know I am so stupid.

You need to keep a log of everything - who you call, when and what they say. How long has it been with booking dot com? I would be calling every 2 days and asking to speak with management. Have you spoken to your c card to see if they will do a chargeback? Have you looked on line to see what others have done? Take it as high as you can with both booking and JAL. You will need to be on their case repeatedly.also look into raising it to the ombudsman.

How is it odd to use booking.com?

You are not stupid. If there was no field then it's booking.com fault.

For £6k, I’d probably look at changing your names and getting new passports without the middle name.

Sometimes mentioning certain companies does this

Ah yes you must be right. Looks like it has now been approved by MN.

This. Though ime you don’t need to change your name, just don’t put your middle name on your passport application renewal and they will happily issue you a passport without your middle name.

not sure if it was a mistake but they won’t add my middle name back to my next passport unless I provide evidence I’ve changed my name! 🙈🤣

JAL don’t require middle names. Malaysian, Cambodia Air, Vietnam do but JAL don’t.

US airspace requires it behind the scenes, but not on the actual ticket.

Thank you very much for all your advice. I’ve learned from my mistake and will make sure to include my middle name from now on. If Booking.com comes back with bad news, we’ll just have to cancel the tickets and hope to get at least a small refund. This is my fault—I didn’t read the website properly. It shows fields for first names and last names, which I think I should have included my middle name in the first name field.