Change of legal name - Qantas

[Berlin]

Apologies if this has been asked somewhere before but I could not find it: I got married a couple of months ago and am about to take on my hubby’s last name. Do I just call Qantas to make the change or is it better to email them with a copy of the marriage certificate and a scan of the new driver license?

That would be for my QFF membership what about about the two already existing bookings under my “old” name. They are both Domestic only so often you don’t even get asked for ID in my experience but I should have required documentation, just in case. Will a copy of the marriage certificate be sufficient for this purpose or do I better speak to Qantas proactively in advance? Any experience with this would be greatly appreciated- surely I’m not the first one with this issue.

 

[vhojm]

I went through this with my wife last month but ours was far more complicated.

To change your surname for your Qantas Account you just need to change the name in your profile and upload the marriage certificate. This will be approved and changed with two days in my experience.

We had 12 international flights that we needed to change her name on because we changed her passport. I believe under normal circumstances it is a case of tfb and you have to cancel and rebook. In our case, we are lucky to have the VIP team through my parents and they forced a name correction through with the approval of the Hobart supervisors, it has taken 4 weeks to have all bookings corrected and issued.

For domestic flights I probably wouldn’t even bother changing the name and bring the required documents in case because they can manually change the name at the airport if it becomes a problem but nobody every checks on domestic flights.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I went through this with my wife last month but ours was far more complicated.

To change your surname for your Qantas Account you just need to change the name in your profile and upload the marriage certificate. This will be approved and changed with two days in my experience.

We had 12 international flights that we needed to change her name on because we changed her passport. I believe under normal circumstances it is a case of tfb and you have to cancel and rebook. In our case, we are lucky to have the VIP team through my parents and they forced a name correction through with the approval of the Hobart supervisors, it has taken 4 weeks to have all bookings corrected and issued.

For domestic flights I probably wouldn’t even bother changing the name and bring the required documents in case because they can manually change the name at the airport if it becomes a problem but nobody every checks on domestic flights.

Seems complicated! What do you mean by tfb? Airlines have established procedures for change of name due to marriage, or reverting to maiden name.

Nothing unusual about it, except I guess most people would wait to change the passport until after travel was completed, if circumstances allowed (they may not always!)

 

[vhojm]

Seems complicated! What do you mean by tfb? Airlines have established procedures for change of name due to marriage, or reverting to maiden name.

Nothing unusual about it, except I guess most people would wait to change the passport until after travel was completed, if circumstances allowed (they may not always!)

We had to change her name on Qantas, Cathay, Vietjet, Vietnam Airlines and the other three all have processes in place for marriage changes (cost $3 per booking).

Qantas has a history of not allowing name changes for anything including marriage. We were very careful to ask for name correction and not a name change which is strictly prohibited. All you need to do is read the news articles of people who have changed their married name and been forced to pay thousands when they realise the name on the booking doesn't match the passport.

TFB is "Too Fuc*** Bad" lol.

 

[Berlin]

I have an international flight on Cathay booked for May next year already but used my new name for this as the passport change will happen in the meantime.

So for Domestic, just use the auto bag drop and have a copy of the marriage certificate on hand, just in case someone asks for ID? Would it be smarter to then only change the name on my FF account once those two Domestic flights have been flown?

 

[cove]

I feel certain that in 2025 many women would not choose to do a name change. When we were married more than 50 years ago it was expected.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I have an international flight on Cathay booked for May next year already but used my new name for this as the passport change will happen in the meantime.

So for Domestic, just use the auto bag drop and have a copy of the marriage certificate on hand, just in case someone asks for ID? Would it be smarter to then only change the name on my FF account once those two Domestic flights have been flown?

I’d try and make it as uncomplicated as possible! The names in the FF account and ticket generally have to match for the purposes of accruing points and the like.

I’d probably wait until you have a window where you have completed any remaining travel under the old name, then go ahead and make all the changes.

 

[vhojm]

I’d try and make it as uncomplicated as possible! The names in the FF account and ticket generally have to match for the purposes of accruing points and the like.

I’d probably wait until you have a window where you have completed any remaining travel under the old name, then go ahead and make all the changes.

I agree with this, if I had my time again, we would have waited till April next year to change the passport but it was kind of worth it to have the same name.
As I said above, VIP team came through big time.

 

[blackcat20]

Fly the flights you have booked, then update your ff ACC and passport. Avoid the complications.