Wrong name on a United Airlines ticket? No problem!
There’s no shortage of sob stories about airline passengers who bought a ticket under a wrong name — like a maiden name or nickname — only to discover they’re holding a worthless piece of paper. So when an airline reverses course and allows a name change for free, then you have a legitimate man-bites-dog story.
The carrier, in this case, is beleaguered United Airlines. The passenger: longtime reader Cliff Ruddick. Here’s what happened:
I booked award tickets on United Airlines’ Web site and I accidentally interchanged my traveling companion’s first and last names on her reservation. When we got to Los Angeles, we tried to check in curbside, but since the names were interchanged on her reservation, the agent sent us into the chaotic ticketing lobby, but told us to find the ticket line for “Quick Clips”.
Uh-oh. Were they about to extract an outrageous change fee from Ruddick at a quick clip? That’s certainly what it looked like.
We explained the problem and the agent behind the counter took about two minutes to fix it in the reservation system. Then — and here is the amazing part — she met us at the end of the reservation counters and personally escorted us upstairs to the lightly-used security line on the second floor and brought us up directly to the front of the line.
Ruddick is neither a million miler or a VIP, so when an agent went the extra mile for him, it took him by surprise. He wrote a letter to the airline, praising the employee. “United gets trashed regularly about its customer service,” he told me. “But I have found they really employ some gems as well as some clunkers.”
Well, let’s hear it for the gems.
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Comments
10 Responses to “Wrong name on a United Airlines ticket? No problem!”
Please share your thoughts...
What I like is that United personnel seems to be very aware of the (lack of) quality of customer service of their company. And while their company is strangling them, as well as the customers, they just try to make the best of what they’ve got, occasionally ignoring company rules.
Fastest way to have a good employee fired is to write to their supervisor describing just such an incident — where the employee deviated from standard operating proceedure. Never mind the act described created good will — I’m sure United will find a way to call the employee “on the [red] carpet”.
I think you should make it a regular feature to publish at least one “what’s right with the travel industry” article each week. Its refreshing.
As I have said, it took the agent what? 30 seconds to change the names. $150 please. Right. Who is taking advantage of whom here?
I can see if you want to change ‘John Smith” to Pocohontas Jones,” but going from Smith John to John Smith is NOT a name change. It is reordering the name to correctly reflect the common usage. John Smith is the same as Smith John if Smith is assumed to be the family name. Capiche?
The ‘change fee’ make sense if there is an attempt to defraud or an attempt to change passengers. Or a change in time, date, flight, etc etc etc. Maybe we ought to have an Air Passenger Union, whereby we ‘adopt’ a $150 change fee if the airline changes our flights. See how long the fee lasts.
YAY to United!!! Personally we’ve had great experinces with United and its affiliate Lufthansa-they’ve always tried to help and solve any issues we had-and we travel as a family of four 3-4 times a year.They even sang happy birthday to my 15 year old special needs son on a flight last year.We’ve flown many companies over the years-they might not be the most luxurious but certainly the nicest.
Boo to you Joe (who thinks saying something positive is the quickest way to get someone fired) I am getting more than a bit fatigued over the negativity I hear no matter which way I turn.
That’s why I was glad to read this positive post, and I think it’s important to laud people who go above and beyond the call of duty, as much as it is to take those to task who fall down in their jobs and don’t do the right thing.
Also, I didn’t see any mention, as a previous poster said, that there was a $150 change fee? Did I perhaps miss something.
Look, I know we’re all a bit beaten down by the war, the economy, the seemingly endless stream of bad news, but it’s good to see a nice post.
[...] course, it’s not going to matter that there’s a documented case of a name correction on a blog. Other airlines charge a huge [...]
I’m on the phone with United right now. My fiance accidentally input the maiden name of her mother in the Last Name field. Now we have to get that changed to her current married name… Guess what folks - $150.00. United claims that they are allegedly “losing money” to change the name. Ok, maybe a few bucks for a report print, or a ledger and some random employees 30 seconds, but $150.00?! Pardon me for saying so, but that makes me feel like i fell out of a douglas fir tree and landed on a bundle of broomsticks, behind first. My first impressions are to never fly United again. Unfortunately for me, that limits my choices of airlines, but i’ll find a way around that. Unfortunately for them, I and my fiance fly back and forth between Seattle and Jacksonville, FL very often. United, if you are reading this, that $150.00 just cost you 10’s of tickets in the future. Good luck, with your customer linching. Enjoy your night.
-Super pissed in Seattle - Christian
[...] customer service people without making headway, I did some research. It seems both Northwest and United accommodate legitimate name changes, free of [...]
[...] customer service people without making headway, I did some research. It seems both Northwest and United accommodate legitimate name changes, free of [...]