Adding lap infant to award booking on MH - name too long

[squid01]

Hi,

Have a booking via QFF on MH (MEL>KUL>DOH) and trying to add a lap infant to the ticket.

I rang and gave the infants name as per their passport. The agent said the name is too long and suggested we put just the middle name initial instead of full middle name.

My full name is 17 characters, my partner who is also on the ticket is 16 characters, our infants name is 19 characters. Is there a total number of characters per passenger or total for the booking? Seems really odd as 19 characters isn’t that big, and if a total for all passengers then what do actual larger families do?

The agent said he would connect me to Malaysia airlines so I could ask them. The line rang a little then I got the Qantas survey, classic call centre. Was this agent a moron or were they correct? And if correct how do I rectify this?

Thanks

 

[Seat0B]

I can't answer this question but Mr Seat0A's full name is 19 characters, Seat Granddaughter's is 28 characters so I don't think your names are that long at all. Sounds like you should HUACA to me.

 

[Quickstatus]

suggested we put just the middle name initial instead of full middle name.

..............................................................................................................................................

MH allowed maximum characters are:
First and middle name: 25 characters
Last/Family name: 40
But total combined characters: 58 including backend characters
I suspect this may be across the airlines and not limited to MH because they tend to use similar booking engines.

MH has a guide on this issue because sometimes Malaysian names can be notoriously long..
You can see what they recommend which includes using just initials for first and middle names:
MRZ = machine readable zone

The character limits are per passenger

Middle names should be entered if there is a separate middle name field otherwise

 

[AussieTim]

Hi,

Have a booking via QFF on MH (MEL>KUL>DOH) and trying to add a lap infant to the ticket.

I rang and gave the infants name as per their passport. The agent said the name is too long and suggested we put just the middle name initial instead of full middle name.

My full name is 17 characters, my partner who is also on the ticket is 16 characters, our infants name is 19 characters. Is there a total number of characters per passenger or total for the booking? Seems really odd as 19 characters isn’t that big, and if a total for all passengers then what do actual larger families do?

The agent said he would connect me to Malaysia airlines so I could ask them. The line rang a little then I got the Qantas survey, classic call centre. Was this agent a moron or were they correct? And if correct how do I rectify this?

Thanks

Wondering if the issue is on the QF side not MH. Your issue may be completely different though.

It's been too long for me to remember exactly what QFF did in our case (2014 so systems may have changed since), but we had this issue twice on bookings on QF metal, not MH.

The first time it took the agent 3 hours, the second time only about an hour as I kept the PNR from the first booking and they used it as a reference.

Details I remember being told:
- When adding infants, for some reason they had to include date of birth in the surname field.
- They mentioned hitting limits for the PNR - we were dealing with between 25 and 35 characters per person.
- My wife also has a long name, we ended up with: original PNR with my wife and myself on it. second PNR with just myself and infant on it - the second ticket was for $0.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I would just go with whatever is easiest. If first name and middle initial works and can be resolved in a few minutes… do that.

Middle name is rarely required for ticketing purposes. Full passenger information is gathered and transmitted when the passport is swiped at check-in.

I’ve never travelled with my middle name in a booking.

 

[sudoer]

Personally I would opt for First Last instead of First M Last.

Have never had an issue booking as just First Last (with a middle name in passport)

 

[fletty]

It's not relevant to your routing, but a friend recently had issues travelling into Germany with no middle name on his booking, they apparently require a strict match and didn't allow him to board in IST until he had an all clear from immigration.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It's not relevant to your routing, but a friend recently had issues travelling into Germany with no middle name on his booking, they apparently require a strict match and didn't allow him to board in IST until he had an all clear from immigration.

There must be something peculiar with the name… perhaps a match with a similar name on a no fly list or something?

I arrived in FRA earlier this year with no middle name on the ticket and had no issues boarding or on arrival. Similarly for travel the year before.

 

[Quickstatus]

Here is a related AFF middle name discussion thread

Miss QS has a first, second, third, 4th with hyphen, and last name on Passport
She has only had first and last name on airline bookings even as an infant.

 

[squid01]

Ok thanks for the advice all. I rang QFF back and they said they would need to put the infant on a seperate ticket. So my partner and I on the original ticket and the infant on another seperate. They would then link the tickets. Sounds like a recipe for disaster if there is a flight change etc?

Any advice on this?

 

[Quickstatus]

So my partner and I on the original ticket and the infant on another seperate

No need to worry. But you are confusing "ticket" with "booking".

Each passenger including infants under 2 when travelling internationally actually has to have their own ticket with its own unique serial number
Even without a name character limitation issue, an infant under 2 will still need its own ticket when travelling internationally.

(Infants under 2 on QF domestic flights travel FOC and do not require a separate ticket - dont know about other airlines)

The Master file containing all the related tickets is called the Passenger Name Record (PNR) otherwise known as the Booking Reference.
They will just add the infant ticket into the PNR and create a Special request (SSR) which add the notation that one passenger is a lap infant attached within the PNR to one of the passengers within the PNR.
That means everyone's ticket will be on the one Master File PNR

SSR are also used to add requests like Wheelchair assistance, special meals, unaccompanied minors
Not all SSR have to be acknowledged by the airline but some like INF (infant), UMNR (unaccompanied minor), SPML(special meal) do

Of course you can also SSR:
SSR BBML (Infant meal )
As infant is under 2 the meal is a baby meal, not a child meal which is for over 2
The infant meals are all standardised - no selection of items.

SSR BSCT (Bassinet) - of course the bassinet is not guaranteed.
Remember the issue with the bassinet is the baby has to fit in terms if height and weight.
On MH and most airlines this is 11kg and 70cm height.
Also if the seat belt sign comes on during flight you are technically required to take baby out of bassinet and attach to parent seat belt (even if infant just got to sleep)

Have you considered buying the lap infant his/her own seat?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Ok thanks for the advice all. I rang QFF back and they said they would need to put the infant on a seperate ticket. So my partner and I on the original ticket and the infant on another seperate. They would then link the tickets. Sounds like a recipe for disaster if there is a flight change etc?

Any advice on this?

As it’s an infant, no issue with needing a seat during IRROPS. The child’s on your lap.

So even if there was a schedule change, or they failed to fix the ticket, they can just do it there and then. Not like they need to find another seat on a full flight.