Travellers rage against air ticket name-change costs

One Herald reader said she was forced to rebook her ticket at double the cost because her newly married surname on her passport no longer matched that of the name booked on a air ticket prior to her wedding. Photo / Getty Images

Travellers have expressed their anger at the cost of rebooking flights if they get their name wrong on their plane ticket.

Their strong reaction was sparked after an Auckland man needed to pay $1000 more to get a friend on a flight he had booked with Air New Zealand because their name on the ticket did not match their passport.

One Herald reader said she experienced a similar issue when purchasing tickets from Air New Zealand recently.

The woman said her husband purchased two round-trip tickets to Washington, DC, on sale for $1750 each. However, he had mistakenly booked her ticket under her married name, when her passport is in her maiden name.

When the woman contacted Air New Zealand this month, she said she was made to cancel her ticket and rebook the exact same seat for nearly double the price.

"The new booking costs $3250 for my solitary ticket. In essence, it cost me $1500 for me to get my ticket back in my maiden name to match my passport," the woman wrote.

Air New Zealand says names on international bookings must align with the name on the passport, for security and legal reasons, especially on tickets that involve travel on another carrier.

A spokeswoman said that on a booking that only involves travel on Air New Zealand operated services, minor spelling mistakes are changed free of charge.

Another woman said she was forced to rebook a ticket to London at double the original cost after booking a ticket under her maiden name prior to getting married.

The woman, who was married four months before her trip, applied for a new passport under her new surname, only to later realise that it no longer matched her ticket.

One reader said her daughter made a booking for the two to attend a wedding in Australia.

The next day the woman realised her ticket had her daughter's surname, which had self populated with her married name while making the booking.

When they rang Air New Zealand about the issue, they were charged $50 to make the name change.

"That seems an exorbitant amount to make a 10-second alteration. But they have you over a barrel," the woman wrote.

Another woman said she was charged $50 to change her name from Anne to Annette.

But it's not just name changes that have resulted in people being stung.

One reader wrote that they were charged $760 after they realised they had made ticket bookings online a day too early.