Hi,

I just did something very, very stupid. I was booking online with a consolidator and accidentally typed the wrong last name for one of my party; instead of her name, I typed in my own.

I am in a panic, as it was "my job" to deal with airfare. We are not flying until next June. Does anyone have any idea how much of a huge problem this is?

I'm guessing that a lot of this will depend on the consolidator. The ridiculous thing is that I booked with them because the routing was easier, not because the price was particularly low.

If anyone has had experience with this type of mistake, I'd love to hear how easy correcting it is/was.

Thanks!

I believe that airlines will allow you to correct a name, but for a fee.

Call ASAP - if they have not yet issued the ticket they may be able to change the name. If they have issued the ticket, you may have some begging and pleading to do!

Unfortunately the consolidator office is not open yet. I will certainly call them first thing in the morning.

Meanwhile, I called my credit card company in hopes of cancelling/blocking the transaction; they can't do anything until *after* the charges go through, and then they can dispute. I also called the airline--they don't have any information/reservation yet. The person at Northwest did say "This could be a large problem."

I am really hoping they can't ticket between tonight and tomorrow morning.

Thanks for the advice. This is the last time I buy anything online on a Sunday.

You can't change the name once ticketed, so your only hope is that the consolidator did not book and ticketed, which sounds like they did not.
Call FIRST THING IN THE MORNING!

Good luck!

Good luck Leely! I have nothing else to add except agree with others to call ASAP and hope that the ticket hasn't been issued yet. Let us know what happens.

Patty,
Can you believe it? I think I was so stressed out about the whole thing, and my computer automatically fills in my last name after my first name. The other person in my party has the same middle name as my first and...

I am hoping, as the last time we flew to Africa we had paper ticxket and I think it took a day or so to get ticketed that somehow this will be okay!

I will call first thing in the morning.

Thanks to all for advice and the good luck wishes.

I used to be a travel agent but quit about four years ago. Used to be an agency could void a ticket if done before the ARC report on Tuesday. So when you call in the morning do ask them if that's possible. Good luck and let us know what happened.

Judy

They were able to change the name!

Thanks again for all the advice. As my many typos indicate, I was pretty panicked. I'll probably still worry about this until we've returned from Kilimanjaro.

Good! Thought they would be able to.

jlillberto...The rule about voiding changed...They now have 48 hours not including weekends/holidays...So If my TA issues my ticket on Thursday I can call him Monday morning and he can still void it.Though he does charge a fee to void after the initial 24 hours.

Actually, to clarify in case anyone in the future has this problem:

KLM/NWA will not make name changes, according to the consolidator. But because I hadn't been ticketed yet, they cancelled the first reservation and made a new one with the correct names.

Leely,
Which consolidator did you end up booking through?

Patty,
Well, right now I'm unbooked again--long story, but the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing at the travel agency. Kind of my fault because I had left frantic messages all over the place yesterday, last night and today starting at 5am PST.

They're called Adventure Travel Service, but the consolidator they use (as I learned) is Picasso Travel.

The price was/is the same as I'd been seeing on Orbitz but with 1 less connection. Also, Orbitz kept doing that "The itinerary you selected is no longer available" thing and I was getting very frustrated.

The KLM/NWA site is a couple hundred more, but with yet one more connection! And on the way there, so more lost luggage concerns.

But on the bright side, I have booked the safari!

Have a nice trip, Leely

Don't miss the Yountville get-together thread on the US forum.

Leely,
Did you end up booking the last ATR itinerary you posted? Believe it or not, I'm still 'working' on mine. Have decided not to stay in Nairobi a second night after all.

Thanks, Faina--I'll check it out.

Patty, yep, the last ATR itinerary's a keeper. I am sending them $ tomorrow. And rebooked my airfare (with correct names!) last night.

Now why am I not surprised you're still fiddling with your Kenya trip?

Oh, and Patty, since this is the airline board, did you ever post how easy/hard and/or what kind of hurdles you had to overcome to book FF to Africa from L.A.?

I'm sure that must be quite a saga.

I sure did. Here's that thread -

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34576521

It started out with me looking for 'affordable' business class alternatives and toward the bottom I listed what I was finally able to get using miles (which has since changed slightly).

It took a fair amount of searching and flexibility to find all of the seats I needed for both trips but the results were well worth the effort! How else could I possibly have gone to Africa twice this year?

Whoah, Patty!

Going through that thread, and from what I've read of your efforts on the Africa board, I have to say I really admire your tenacity. When I see how difficult it is I honestly don't even want to bother. I don't think I have the disposition. Too flaky.