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?

Ok so an of boss of mine did this with another Asian airline also booked through a 3rd party (I think it was Expedia). There would’ve been a loss of around £12,000 and he had missed his own middle names.

He hadn’t inputed any passport details into the booking so it worked out far cheaper to order a new passport without his middle names and use that.

@Elphamouche This is their policy. To board an international flight, the name on your passport must match the name on your ticket.
If the passport and ticket names do not match, you will not be able to board for security reasons.
The name on your ticket cannot be changed once booking is complete.
Customers make a variety of errors when entering names. Frequent errors include reversing first and last names, misspelling names, and entering the wrong names for accompanying passengers.
Please be sure all names are entered correctly when booking flights.
Enter names in last - first - middle order
Names should be entered in the order last - first - middle.
If your passport lists a middle name, please enter it in the “Middle Name” field.

@HighStreetOtter We might think about it. Thank you. @WelcometomyUnderworld

For some reason my post of hidden but it basically says, what about getting a new passport without the middle names. It’ll be a lot cheaper then the £6000

Oh no, I have no advice but this is surely a mistake that many people will have made.

On another note I didn't even realise you could book flights through Booking.com

It really really doesn't sound like your fault. It sounds completely unreasonable on the part of the airline even if they do have that in the small print. I've certainly booked flights with just first and last name. Bizarre there is no option to correct a mistake once made.
If I were you I'd feel more angry than guilty.

The policy you've just copy and pasted clearly states there is a "middle name field"

But you can prove they didn't/don't have that text box? So quote that back at them and escalate the complaint with booking dot com

@Keroppi That's JAL's policy.

The name fields on Booking.com looked like this in the picture. I assumed that entering just the first and last name would be fine, but the site does say that it must match the passport. I didn’t read it carefully, which was my mistake.

Those fields dont ask for middle name at all. I think this is booking.com error.
Why would you have put your middle name into the first name field, that would have been incorrect.

But your first name is not your middle name. I’d take this up with booking.com and escalate a complaint if needs be. They should have three separate boxes - first,
middle and last name. It’s misleading

It says ‘first names’ though… plural.

I agree with @StrawberryJamAndRaspberryPiethat it says first names not name so I would put first and middle in that box. OP I’m sure you can work it out somehow with Booking.com as you’re not the only one to misread. It must be an easy mistake to make.

Ive had to once but that was for an Indian airline and really cheap domestic tickets but, for some reason my credit card would not go through when I tried to book direct.

I had a similar panic a few months ago. We flew to Tokyo with JAL in November, booked through British Airways with neither of our middle names on the tickets. I read a lot of conflicting information online but in the end came to the consensus that it would be fine. It was, we boarded no problem!

I had this panic when I booked RyanAir but even they don’t stop you if you have a middle name on your passport but not on the ticket. Fingers crossed you get this sorted OP.

In my view booking.com is at fault - no/one has first nameS, they have a first and last and sometimes a middle.

We have flown to Japan on JAL, BA, and Air France and not once at initial booking have I input middle names.

We travelled with no problem. This includes many internal JAL flights.

Its not odd at all, dont you book flights very often? You go into skyscanner and pick your dates and a load of booking options come up, booking.com will be one of many. Ive booked with them lots of times for flights.

@StrawberryJamAndRaspberryPie I didn’t realize that a middle name can be considered part of the first name.

Considering first and middle name to be plural ‘first names’ is really common in paperwork. I see it frequently because legally a middle name is just a second forname. There are fornames and surnames… if it’s not a surname it’s a for (first) name.

@Pibrea @MondayYogurt The problem is the return flight is from my hometown, Akita. Not many international travelers fly from there, so the staff may be stricter and could refuse boarding if the ticket details don’t match exactly

@StrawberryJamAndRaspberryPie Oh, I see. At least I learned something new today. I won't make the same mistake anymore.

But your passport doesn’t have “middle name” either it just has “given names” and “last name”.

I’m just back from 5 weeks in SE Asia & Australia flying on 4 different airlines, and I didn’t put my middle name on any of the flight tickets.

I’ve managed to change a name having booked through a third party. Just create an account with the airline, add your booking reference and your booking should be there, ready for details to be amended for a fee. Have you tried that?