What to do if…
the name on your travel booking does not match your passport

What to do now

1. Compare the booking confirmation and issued ticket with the passport’s biographical page. Record each difference in the given names, middle names, surname, name order, spelling, spaces, hyphens, and apostrophes.

2. Identify who issued the ticket. If you booked through a travel agent or online travel agency, contact that company first because the airline may have limited authority to alter a third-party ticket.

3. Use the ticket issuer’s official website, app, or published customer-service route. Explain whether the mismatch is a typing error, omitted name, nickname, reversed name order, previous surname, or legal name change.

4. Ask whether the booking requires a name correction, ticket reissue, cancellation and rebooking, or no change. Ask what documents, fees, fare differences, or restrictions apply before agreeing to anything.

5. If another airline operates any flight on the itinerary, ask the ticket issuer to check every segment and confirm whether the corrected passenger information will reach each operating carrier.

6. If you booked directly with an airline at least seven days before departure and are still within 24 hours of booking, check the airline’s policy immediately. Under the federal 24-hour rule, a qualifying airline must offer either a 24-hour penalty-free cancellation and full-refund option or a 24-hour hold at the quoted fare; it does not have to offer both. If you have already paid, confirm that the airline offers the cancellation-and-refund option before relying on it. The rule does not require a free name correction and does not apply to bookings made through third-party agents.

7. If the mismatch follows a legal name change, tell the ticket issuer which name appears on the passport you will use. Ask whether it needs a marriage certificate, divorce decree, court order, or other supporting document, and do not assume that carrying the document will replace correcting the booking.

8. If a U.S. passport itself contains a data or printing error, use the U.S. Department of State correction process. If international travel is within 14 calendar days, contact Passport Services before mailing or surrendering the passport. For a passport issued by another country, contact the issuing passport authority or the relevant embassy or consulate for its correction process.

9. Obtain an updated itinerary or written response. Check the name again, along with every flight segment, before ending the call or closing the support request.

10. If departure is close and the mismatch remains unresolved, ask the airline whether you should attend a staffed check-in desk and how early to arrive. Bring the passport, booking confirmation, ticket number, correction correspondence, and any supporting name-change document the airline requested.