Matching Name on Airline Ticket to ID? About This Page:

[Dave Marx]

According to the TSA, this is being phased in, airline by airline. The point of this initiative isn't to step-up the security check-in (although it'll be affected), it's to match the passenger list to the No Fly list in advance. Part of the idea is to have fewer "false positives" when matching passenger lists to the No Fly list.

If the airline didn't gather the additional info in advance (middle initial, date of birth, gender), then it shouldn't be an issue when you check in or go through the security checkpoint. It'll be clear from the boarding pass whether the airline gathered the necessary info, or not.

[Buffalogirl18]

I see what Dave is saying, in other words, if there is a person on the No Fly List named "John Paul Jones" with a date of birth 12/12/12, and you have a ticket in the name "John Jones", but your middle name is "Robert" and your date of birth is 3/3/33, the airline may contact you in advance to get proof of your middle name and date of birth and have it added to your ticket, or you may have to have additional proof and have a slight delay at the TSA check point.

[WeRDisneyFanatics]

Originally Posted by LeapDayBaby

When we book flights on SWA, I've been able to enter his first and middle names in the first name field and it's worked most of the time. The one time it didn't, I called SWA and they manually added his middle name to the reservation!

Hope this helps!

- Laurie

Thanks for the info!

Originally Posted by Jennifer2003

We're just getting information on this at work now. It starts for travel after May 1.

We have been told we are required to capture the following:
Domestic Flights - Full name (first, middle, last), date of birth and gender
International Flights - All of the above, plus passport number and country of issue.

I have to read the really (really!) long document we received at work in its entirety before the end of the month so I can add the needed info to all my existing reservations on May 1.

We've been told the low cost carriers (Southwest, Jet Blue, Air Tran) have not yet changed their websites to capture this info for TSA.

I'll keep you posted as I learn more over the next few weeks.

Thanks for the info and thanks in advance for keeping us posted! I'm interested to find out about those of us caught in the middle of the change-like do we need to have it added to our return flight (which I booked in Nov. but I'm traveling after May 1st).

Originally Posted by Dave Marx

According to the TSA, this is being phased in, airline by airline. The point of this initiative isn't to step-up the security check-in (although it'll be affected), it's to match the passenger list to the No Fly list in advance. Part of the idea is to have fewer "false positives" when matching passenger lists to the No Fly list.

If the airline didn't gather the additional info in advance (middle initial, date of birth, gender), then it shouldn't be an issue when you check in or go through the security checkpoint. It'll be clear from the boarding pass whether the airline gathered the necessary info, or not.

Ah, that makes sense--thanks for the reassurance! Maybe SWA is one of the airlines phasing in later.

[DrDolphin]

I go by my nickname - but you better believe my place tickets are in my legal name to match my photo ID. I don't worry about middle names...

[Fortissimo]

I do not go by my first name and have never put that name on a ticket. In fact, my drivers license no longer has my first name on it because they could not fit my entire name on the license. Wonder what will happen in cases like this?

[Buffalogirl18]

Originally Posted by Fortissimo

I do not go by my first name and have never put that name on a ticket. In fact, my drivers license no longer has my first name on it because they could not fit my entire name on the license. Wonder what will happen in cases like this?

I think as long as the ticket matches what is on your drivers license, you'll be fine, they just want it to match what is on your ID.

[FanofFlorida]

Boy I hope this new system stops the TSA agents from delaying children and other obvious NON terrorists because they happen to share a name with a no-fly list member. I have read some stories about this, and it must feel ridiculous to go through something like that!

It seems like a lot of personal information for the airlines to gather about a single person. I hope they are taking precautions to prevent id theft, etc.

[Capt_Jack_Sparrow]

On our honeymoon, I accidentally put my wife's maiden name on her ticket. We only noticed like 3 days ahead of the flight. We called NWA and they couldn't change it that late. They told us to bring her old license and our marrige certificate, but said they cant gurentee that wed be let on the plane. That was a very stressful 3 days. When we left Duluth, two TSA agents disagreed about letting her on but in the end they decided to. They looked at everything and then did a very thoughro serch of her and let us on. When we left Orlando, my wife handed the guy her ticket (with maiden name) and her license with her new name, and he didnt even notice.

[KathyL]

When I purchase airline tickets, the name on the ticket is exactly the same as the one on my Drivers License, Military ID and my Passport.

[vince730]

Yikes I hope this isn't the case.... For DS we need to put his Middle Initial and the Airline Boarding passes always show the A as attached to his first name "VincentA" and for me they do not separate the II from my Last name (____II)..that could cause problems in the future

[bsblady01]

when we fly my mom just puts our first and last names on the tickets and we have never had a problem.

[Lyle & Jessica Orr]

I hope they don't get to gender....LOL! When we moved from Saint Paul, MN to New Richmond, WI (jut on the border), my new WI license mistakenly changed me to a female! I have left it in hopes that I can use it to get into a ladies night for free drinks somewhere! LOL!!!!