caroline_edinburgh

As others have said, all the airlines care about is that your passport and ticket match. If you have booked your tickets in your married name, you'll have to change either the tickets or your passport before you go - I assume changing your tickets would be easier, quicker and probably won't cost much.

I changed my name to my husband's as I never liked my own, and I fancied a name I didn't have to spell out for people

LNWC

I never got around to changing my name on my passport because I thought it would be a pain. Since I'll need it for our upcoming trip I did it last month and it only took two weeks for it get back to me via routine service. Since your married name is on your ticket it's probably worth changing just to avoid a hassle.

artsbabe

When I got married, I sent off the appropriate paperwork to get my US passport changed, and all they did was put an official note/stamp in the back that said my legal name was now different. When we arrived at immigration in whatever European country we were flying to, I definitely remember the agent cross-checking my ticket and my passport because of the name difference.

PegS

Yep, as others have said, the issue has nothing to do with your maiden name, married name, pet's name, etc. After 9/11 the airlines have just gotten more and more strict about making sure your passport and your ticket match exactly to be sure you're who you say you are--without any guesswork on their part. To avoid hassle, just make sure your passport and ticket match.

november_moon

"all they did was put an official note/stamp in the back that said my legal name was now different. When we arrived at immigration in whatever European country we were flying to, I definitely remember the agent cross-checking my ticket and my passport because of the name difference."

Yes - I had the name change note in my passport too. What a pain. It always took extra time at checkpoints, my passport info had to be entered manually because they couldn't just scan it, I got extra questions sometimes. I was happy when that passport expired and I got one without the name change addendum. So much quicker now.