What to do about this plane reservation mistake?

March 20, 2018 2:06 PM

I *just* noticed that for a plane trip tomorrow (US, domestic), I made a mistake on Kid BlahLaLa's reservation. Correct first & last name, wrong middle name. (I don't know how the hell I did this, but I accidentally gave him his dad's middle name. Dad isn't traveling with us.) How big a deal is this, given that we are traveling together, and in theory Kid doesn't need to show any ID. He's 14.

Should I...call the airline? It's Southwest. Is it going to turn into a rigamorole?

I see that the TSA doesn't require ID for chidlren under age 18. I *could* bring his passport, but then someone might notice the discrepency. Or I could bring his school ID, which doesn't have a middle name.

Thoughts?

posted by BlahLaLa to Travel & Transportation (23 answers total)

My guess is Southwest will fix this for you within minutes, especially since it's clear you're not trying to change the person who is flying. Plus, the absolute worst case is that you might have to refund the ticket and re-buy it, but I doubt that's necessary.
posted by wnissen at 2:11 PM on March 20, 2018 [2 favorites]

I don't think this is worth fretting about. Middle names are hardly likely to be noticed in the busle of a terminal with a hundred and fifty other people to check in.
posted by Alensin at 2:12 PM on March 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If he doesn't need ID, you are vastly better off not mentioning this to anybody.

For what it's worth - I booked travel for someone for years through a corporate system before anybody noticed his birth date had been entered incorrectly, so none of his tickets matched his ID. Never once, in nearly a decade, did any security personnel or airline staff notice this.
posted by something something at 2:16 PM on March 20, 2018 [18 favorites]

Best answer: I've flown a couple of times with my kids (ages 11/12 and 14/15) in the past year (once on Southwest), did not have any ID for them and was never asked for any. So if I were you, I would just not bring any ID.
posted by Redstart at 2:17 PM on March 20, 2018 [3 favorites]

I'd just call Southwest and ask them to change it. Because Southwest allows you to cancel any flight for credit, even if they can't just change the name, I'm sure they can cancel and re-book with the correct name.
posted by AppleTurnover at 2:23 PM on March 20, 2018 [3 favorites]

Call and ask them to fix; you still have time if you make the change today. If they say they can’t change it (for whatever reason) then just show up without kid’s ID.
posted by samthemander at 2:28 PM on March 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Don't bring an ID. Or, bring the school one. If you call and try to get the ticket changed officially, you may force their hand and it could cost you a bundle to make the change if the only solution is to cancel and rebook the flight. While you don't pay a rebooking penalty with Southwest, you do pay the current ticket price, not the price you originally paid. I would skip calling and just go through as normal tomorrow.
posted by quince at 2:33 PM on March 20, 2018 [11 favorites]

I noticed the day we were flying that my husband's name and birth date was totally jacked up on the ticket. I had to spend, like, an hour and a half on the phone (mostly on hold) with Delta and then with Expedia, but they were able to straighten it out. I figured we'd be flagged for intensive screening or extraordinary rendition or whatever, but we breezed through the TSA like the pure-of-heart, red-blooded Americans we are.
posted by BrashTech at 2:34 PM on March 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

I just flew last week with a completely f'ed up ticket. Like my last name became "lastnamemiddlename" with no space. They didn't even blink.
posted by JPD at 2:47 PM on March 20, 2018

Best answer: just flew southwest with my four year old- was not asked for her ID at the check in counter, security, or gate.
posted by catrae at 2:53 PM on March 20, 2018

I have a long German last name a flew twice in the past few years with it spelled wrong (once my error, once a gate agent) and was too scared to try and get it corrected. I didn't have a problem either way, and this was my actual last name. I am also a younger, white female so I know I'm privileged to have a sense of security in that situation.
posted by Bossypants at 3:17 PM on March 20, 2018

My wife and I flew to Hong Kong last December with her last name misspelled on the ticket. They got it sorted at the counter, and we had no issues. Get to the airport early and talk to a rep there.
posted by notyou at 3:21 PM on March 20, 2018

Can you get there early, just in case? I wouldn't trust any airline to be cool about anything, even given anecdata here. I watched 3 (unaccompanied, still) minors at bag drop (!) try to fly last week and each one got stopped for so long they probably missed their flights.
posted by clseace at 3:32 PM on March 20, 2018

Best answer: they don't ask for ID for kids for domestic flights. There's no issue here. Don't worry, don't bring it up.
posted by fingersandtoes at 3:35 PM on March 20, 2018 [4 favorites]

Best answer: Don't bring it up since the kid won't need ID. However, make sure the kid also knows not to mention it at the check-in counter or at the gate. At fourteen, I would have mentioned it out loud to an airline employee thinking it'd be helpful.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 4:47 PM on March 20, 2018 [3 favorites]

I'd have a soft plan in place in case he was questioned-does an adult stay nearby to ensure it is cleared up or go on and board, etc. About 5 yrs, my teenager was pulled aside for questioning due to mismatched identifiers on several legs of a flight even after we thought we'd fixed it, and almost missed at least one flight.
posted by beaning at 4:50 PM on March 20, 2018

Ive called an airline to change my wife's name to match her id exactly. No big deal.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:14 PM on March 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Okay, thanks. I'm definitely afraid of Southwest canceling the ticket and making me purchase a new one, at much higher cost, so I'm going for "show no ID" + have the school ID on hand + telling my kid not to say a peep about the wrong middle name.
posted by BlahLaLa at 6:40 PM on March 20, 2018

I was going to add that you shouldn't even tell the kid about the error, but it sounds like he/she already knows. In that case, seriously tell him to keep is mouth shut. And if they flag it, play stupid.
posted by intermod at 8:02 PM on March 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

Just to reassure you: my dad always seems to have his middle name messed up on tickets, or on his passport, or on his baggage, or or or. On international flights (flying into the US) showing a passport with middle name that doesn't match the ticket can be a hassle, but he's never been kicked off a flight. Mostly it's just gate-agent eye-rolling. I would certainly arrive early in case they decide to do extra security screening, but I suspect you'll be fine.
posted by AmandaA at 6:34 AM on March 21, 2018 [2 favorites]

Hi! Airline employee here. Not for Southwest but another ULCC. In general, as long as you are not checked in yet, you should be able to call customer service or go to the ticket counter to change the middle name, or any misspellings. And even if you are checked in, as long as you haven't flown a previous segment on the same PNR (confirmation number), they can still remove you from check-in, fix the name, and check you right back in, in seconds.
posted by Zarya at 10:33 AM on March 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've had this happen 3 times on Southwest, and it's their website's fault. My guess is that either my browser (Safari) occasionally autofills the wrong info, or their backend database system gets confused. I've purchased a ticket for my wife with a mix of my and her names, had the wrong middle name once, and most recently while purchasing a ticket for my friend, it ended up in my name.

My feeling is that all of these happened when there was some hitch in the purchase process (credit card expired, go back a step, and BOOM wrong names show up).

They are very nice, call them and they will probably fix it.
posted by soylent00FF00 at 5:09 PM on March 21, 2018

Response by poster: I didn't say anything to the airline or the kid. The kid never noticed it, so didn't have to "act normal" or anything, and TSA never said the middle name aloud, so it all worked just fine.
posted by BlahLaLa at 8:19 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]