With our trip to Ireland just two weeks away … I checked my never-used passport and found what might be considered a discrepancy.

My full name is Michael James Mooney … but I signed it Michael J Mooney out of pure habit. I recall hearing/reading somewhere that one’s signed name must be the same as the name printed on the passport.

Is there any chance that my passport will be refused when checking in with Aer Lingus at New York’s JFK International Airport. I’ve never flown internationally before. Would including a piece of paper with my full name signature be advisable? Thanks.

Mike (shamrock838)

My signature is totally unintelligable as my actual name and I've never been stopped in 8 years of international travel (except by my mom who says, "That is not the way an adult signs their name!&quot. I think you'll be fine... I doubt the airline people even look at the signature... just the name, photo and expiration date.

My signature - if anyone could read it, and no-one's ever succeeded at that - bears little relation to the name on my passport. No-one in umpteen hundred border crossing's ever even looked at the passport signature.

I doubt any such regulation as the one you think you've heard about has ever existed, anywhere. Even if some lunatic government somewhere did once dream up such a loopy idea, no-one's ever told immigration officials or airline checkin staff.

I doubt it, but the place to consult is the airline. Call Aer Lingus and ask them. I don't believe the signature bears significant relevance unless it is a very distinct different name from the typed one. I would worry about the picture if anything....

sham,

I don't think you will have a problem. I signed mine using, just like you, my middle intial instead of my middle name and have had no problem so far.Have a great trip!!

Tom

www.pbase.com/trsw

I actually wouldn't call the airline... sometimes things don't actually become a problem until you draw attention to them, and since you're leaving in 2 weeks, you probably don't have time to fix it.

Like TRSW said, lots of people sign their names slightly differently than the names are printed. You'll be fine... just put it out of your head.

Once again, call the airline. That was exactly what I was told to do via e-mail from the US Dept of State- Passport Services when I had a similar concern. They expressed having no issue with my similar concern and advised that I also call the airline if in any way I still needed reassurance. I did called (Continental) and got all the answers and reassurances I needed.

By the way, I would never advised anybody to wait till the problem hits you in the face (at the gate) and ruins your trip (if that was to be the case...) versus having the opportunity to take some corrective measures in advance.

What is important is that "Michael James Mooney" is what is on your plane ticket as that name should match what is in your passport.

Hi S,

Alan is right. Name on passport and name on ticket must be exactly the same.

Signature line doesn't matter.

The airplane ticket need not include your full middle name, or even middle initial.

Most people only use first & last name on tickets, and it is only important that they match the passport.

I think people are getting a little paranoid about this kind of thing. A middle name is just an extra given name, and most people don't sign their name in any circumstances using it. I certainly don't, and I don't even use my middle name or initial usually on most papers I sign, my checks, etc., because I have long first and last names (my last name is very unusual), so I just don't use my middle initial.

IN any case, I signed my passport with only my middle initial, also -- all passports are required to list your full middle name, it isn't optional that I know (at least in the US). I've had a passport about 20 years and no one anywhere in any country has ever questioned the fact that I signed my passport with only my middle initial, not my full name. What difference does it make, they are looking for how you sign your name in terms of handwriting.

I also never use my middle initial or middle name on an airline ticket, as I said. No one has ever questioned that my airline ticket doesn't have my middle name on it, either (as a passport will). My name is too long, it wouldn't even show up, as far as I know. I know my full name, just first and last, is too long to even show up on the printed ticket.

If it were only so easy!

My mother and I have the same first name. She's called me by middle name since I was born. It's only a problem with official documents... like a passport.