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?

I hope it gets sorted OP. I did the same booking flights on Booking.com. Never again. We did get it sorted and the names adjusted, and reasonably quickly, but the airline wouldn't talk to us direct as we'd used Booking.com. Flights to Canada...so a costly mistake if they hadn't amended it.

Booking.com may be using a third party to book flights as well as direct to JAL. When I did one dummy run of booking a flight to Tokyo on their website it had a message at the bottom about a company called 'gotogate'.

I recognised that name from my previous experience. They advertise cheap flight prices online and then try to source them from the airline at that price. My experience was paying for a flight with them previously then discovering i didn't have a booking on the flight (checked with the airline). Gotogate tried to get me to pay a more expensive price and then eventually refunded my money when i started a chargeback through my bank.

It may be that other flights at other prices are direct with JAL and are totally legitmate. It may have been just one of many listings Booking.com has.

Booking.com terms and conditions say that they are merely a platform for booking. It mentions these third parties. The legality of this will be in the usual grey area of an international company claiming legal durisdiction in country X.

Luckily using a credit card with protected me in the past.

Relax. It will all be fine—truly it will. Glad to have helped you feel more reassured.
Incidentally, my husband and I, too, have had many struggles with third-party operators whenever there is any glitch. Travel is often cheaper through booking sites, and I used to book through them without a second thought. After we lost thousands because a booking site refused to reimburse expensive cancelled flights (we were traveling in Cambodia when Covid lockdown hit and our return flights were cancelled), I learned to always check the possibility of booking the same flights with the airline directly to make sure it’s worth the risk to use a third party. Same with hotels and activities—I use booking sites to compare, but try to book directly when possible. By booking directly, we can resolve modifications and glitches more easily. At least they respond!

She has answered this several times. It's because the tickets were four times the price if she booked direct.

You must be knackered from reexplaining your situation to those who won't read your posts.

Fingers crossed for you 🤞

You can renew whenever you want, especially for a name change. For example when someone gets married and changes their name they can renew their passport with their new name regardless of when it’s due. Others have to renew early because they use all the pages etc

Just a thought. JAL are part of Oneworld. Try going to the Finnair website (also part of Oneworld) and entering your booking ref and see if it can find your booking. Then see if you can change your details there.

I know people who have done that to change details for BA flights that they couldn’t change on the BA site, so it may work!

@MorecoffeewantedYes, we’ve received emails from Gotogate. I can see that the emails say ‘Gotogate in partnership with Booking.com.’ It seems that they are the ones communicating with the airline regarding the issue

@Donsyb I’ve just tried using the Finnair website, but unfortunately, it didn’t work. Thank you for your suggestion.

Honestly, if this is a problem then it's a problem for Booking.com - they should make it explicit if middle names are required and state where they should be included. If they didn't, I would maintain that they need to refund you on the basis of breach of contract or negligence. Take it up with them

If it sounds like that it's because you chose to read it that way. It's a statement of fact, when you book with a third party the airline has no control over changes. There is no benefit to the customer booking that way and every disadvantage. My advice was to avoid third parties in future. It doesn't help with this booking but the rest of my comments may have.

Paying substantially less is the benefit to the customer. OP has already explained she couldn’t afford to book direct.

There cannot possibly be a difference in price of £6000 to £24,000. Booking direct with a scheduled airline is never that price difference. Usually there’s little difference and it’s not worth the risk.

@CeeceeBloomingdale has a point...

Before going to an OTA you really need to have a very hard and careful look at what the airline offers booking direct.

For example a quick look at the JAL website shows they have actually got some very good economy return fares between UK/Europe/USA <> Japan this summer...

The OPs discount is certainly substantial but must be a real outlier...

Just to add on the passport / middle names causing problems later down the line, my passport has no middle name (I do have one) because years ago the passport office just forgot to put it on there, it turned out to actually be easier to start applying to things, booking flights without the middle name and years later I am largely officially middle name-less.

Sorry OP this is probably of no use to you, more of a reply to some of the other posters.

Did you try with the e-ticket number as well?

@notimagain I doubt it was 1/4 cheaper though! JAL is like everyone else. Shop the dates and great prices are there. Don’t book hotels first and fit flights around them.

Very very very etc etc much agree....🤐

My only experience of booking with a ‘middle man’ was finding out the booking I made offered a luggage weight allowance that the airline didn’t actually offer.

double post

It is totally impossible that the online travel agent could discount by 75% of the total price including taxes. As industry staff I can confirm this cannot physically happen.

a bit unkind to rub it in when poster already feels terrible about it.

If you paid by card you might try contacting the card provider for advice . . .

Just had an almost exact experience. ( my wife booked at Xmas for family to go to Bali. but put my shortened name (rob) on the booking
which doesn't match my passport. the same outrageous quoted fee to change the booking. the solution? - I completed a statutory declaration to change my name (deed poll would also work) then booked an emergency passport in person application, a week later I had a new passport ( and name) that matched the booking. change your name, not the booking!

Hello Op, sorry to hear this. Hope you hear from Booking.com soon and someone on the other end has a kind heart to put it right. £6K is a lot of money to lose for such a minor error. Sending hugs

I think the problem some are having, especially those with some knowledge of the industry, is the magnitude of the discount is unbelievable - that kind of casts a bit of a ?? over the whole thread.

Interesting to see the ATO involved is still getting mentions - be interesting to see if they come good.