In April my mother, daughter and I are flying Boston-London on BA. We all have middle names on passports and no middle names on tickets. I will let you know what happens.

tomboy, in all seriousness I've read that Queen Elizabeth does not possess a passport. There'd be little point, as a British passport says something like "Her Majesty requests . . . ".

tomboy, it's an interesting point. When Queen Victoria married Albert, the royal family name became Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. During the Great War, George V thought the name too German-sounding and in 1917 changed it to the House of Windsor.

In 1960, Queen Elizabeth apparently decided that her descendants would be known as Mountbatten-Windsor.

That's as best as I can piece the story together, but I may be missing something.

Anselm

Just read this and wondering if I might have a problem. I am flying to Europe in May and booked online with American Air. I'm not that computer savvy and put my first name and middle initial and last name. The ticket came out with the initial at the end of the first name. Later called AA on seat changes and mentioned the typo and they said it couldn't be changed but wouldn't be a problem. Should I get something in writing from them or what? My husband's ticket is the same with the middle initial at end of first name. Clearly we are not used to buying stuff online.

applehi - It's normal for the initial to come right after your first name, with no space in between. You're totally fine.

Thanks, rkkwan. I am relieved to hear that.

I emailed TSA and they sent me a link to their website and told me to call their toll free number. The website has a section on proper identification which lists acceptable ID but does not address my specific question. So I called and they said I do not have to have my middle name on the ticket as long as the other names match.

My belief is that anyone who has problems boarding a flight simply because their ticket does not have their middle name is dealing with an employee (airline, TSA, or independent contractor) who is either an anally retentive control freak or has been put on probation for letting a terrorist slip through. There may be a delay, but I doubt that anyone would actually be denied boarding.

So since I've now been told by BA, TSA, and my agent that my ticket is fine, I'm just going to relax and enjoy my trip.

At least, unlike the Queen of England, I have a passport. Thanks again to everyone.

nanray: Early this month I flew BA Boston-Rome and for the last 3yrs in March.
My legal name (passport, driving license, CC, etc) is like Walter D. Smith Jr. and my tickets have always just been Walter Smith.
Regards, Walter

Nanray, I'm glad that you utilized TSA in your quest for a definitive answer, and that they were able to assist you.

I would like to point out however, that your issue is fundamentally different than islandgirl's. Islandgirl may have a real problem with the discrepancies between her airline ticket which lists her middle name but not her first name, and her passport, which lists her first name, but not her middle name under which her airline res. lies.

Islandgirl, I think you might want to take this up with TSA as well: [email protected]. and toll free tele#
1-866-289-9673.

I am glad they responded, also -- although some of those agents just make up rules on the spot, anyway. I never thought it could be a problem if your middle name wasn't on your ticket (and it should always be on your passport if that is your legal name, I think).

However, I agree that islandgirl's issue is completely different. She is using a name as a first name on her ticket which isn't her first name on any official ID, nor even her middle name, just a name she goes by, I gather (maybe she has more names like royalty, or that's a religious name which isn't official--I have one of those).

That's like a completely different name, it seems to me, and isn't going to match the ID at all, unless that name is somewhere on those other IDs (if they are issued by government and have a photo on them). Well, if Swiss said no problem, I would hope they are right, but this doesn't seem like good security to me to give Myra Anderson's tickets to someone named Mary Jane Anderson who has no official ID that she is Myra Anderson. I guess if the passport and something else had a photo that looked just like her, that things might be fine.

SpyGirl, I called TSA - thanks for the# and they said that as long as the airlines are fine and I have a boarding pass in my hands there won't be a problem. I have contact Swiss Air and spoke with a supervisor and he made the notes in my record and I will bring every darn piece of gov. issued ID, most have the Myra E + last name. Thanks again and I am going to try to chill out on this as I have been obsessing.