Name change to married name

[brebbles]

We have an upcoming domestic flight on VA which we booked a few months ago. At the time my wife's Velocity account was under her maiden name but we knew by the time we'd be flying she would be under her married name. So I tried to make the booking under her future married name, but the system wouldn't let me as the booking name was different to her name on Velocity.

So I made the booking under her maiden name as to allow her Velocity # to be tagged to the booking. Straight away I called Virgin and explained the situation, and the guy at the time seemed a bit unsure of himself - he eventually said once we change her name on Velocity (by sending through marriage certificates etc) then the name change should be reflected on the flight booking as well within a couple weeks.

We sent through the docs and her name changed on Velocity within a few days. Now a couple of months later her maiden name is still on the booking. I have just called Virgin again and explained what I was previously told by the VA rep (that changing her name on her Velocity account should see her name on the booking change), and I was now told that this wasn't the case, that the previous VA rep had told me the wrong information and that to change her name on the booking I'll need to send through the marriage cert etc again, and that we may be charged a fee to do so.

Having to send through proof of a name change again is frustrating enough, the VA rep should be able to see that her name has been successfully changed on Velocity. But is it right that we can be charged a fee for this? To my understanding the idea of name change fees to discourage people transferring tickets to completely different passengers. And given straight after booking I was told that her name should change automatically once it was changed on Velocity.

If we're asked to pay a fee then is it even worth changing her name? When flying - on the off-chance we're asked to provide ID (we check in online) - would bringing along our marriage certificate be enough to prove the name change?

Keen to hear if other people have changed names in bookings upon marriage and been made to pay for it.

 

[medhead]

I'm having trouble understanding why people have this massive urge to change names immediately, and even in advance, without thinking about the consequences and the solutions to those consequences.

The only difficulty in terms of ID is that the person flying needs to be the same person as on the booking. Since your wife is the same person regardless of name. The marriage certificate should be fine. Or perhaps her old Velocity card in the maiden name?

The real problem here is that points and SC will most likely be rejected because the name on the booking won't match the name on the velocity account. If you don't need the points, forget it. For the benefit of readers, the 2 approaches to this problem would have been to book in the married name without adding a Velocity number until the account name was changed, or to book in the maiden name and not change the velocity account until after the flight was taken.

Having got that off my chest; my suggestion would be to open a new velocity account in you wife's maiden name and family pool that to whichever account you want to get the points - i.e. either your account or your wife's married name account. If sending in a marriage certificate again is too difficult. Otherwise, do nothing.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

As it is a DOMESTIC flight just check in online. Problem solved. Also women are IIRC allowed to use both Maiden and new marital name.

INTERNATIONAL would be a different matter as passport must match ticket. For this reason I know a few women who when married still tracelled and booked under their maiden names till later.

 

[straitman]

As it is a DOMESTIC flight just check in online. Problem solved. Also women are IIRC allowed to use both Maiden and new marital name.

This does not help the OP chase the SCs and points so therefore does not solve the problem.

 

[Stone]

I went through a similar process with my wife (flights booked in advance in her maiden name, with a change made to the Velocity account name prior to flying.)

It will be a pain to process the retro claim - they weren't able to do my wife's automatically. They had to change the name in her Velocity account back to her maiden name in order to process the claim, and then another change back to the married name. Unfortunately they forgot to change it back, so more phone calls needed to be made to get it there.

Medhead's advice is good - don't add the number til after the name change.

 

[Mark3000]

As it is a DOMESTIC flight just check in online. Problem solved. Also women are IIRC allowed to use both Maiden and new marital name.

INTERNATIONAL would be a different matter as passport must match ticket. For this reason I know a few women who when married still tracelled and booked under their maiden names till later.

That's exactly what we have done until my wife's current passport expires and then we will get a new passport with her married name.

 

[medhead]

This does not help the OP chase the SCs and points so therefore does not solve the problem.

I think the path of least resistance for points would be to open a new velocity account in the maiden name, add new number to booking, and use family pooling.

 

[brebbles]

Thanks all for the replies and information. TBH I have no idea why I thought I needed to tag the Velocity number straight away, it's obvious I could have just made the booking under the married name then called when the Velocity name had been changed over to tag it to the booking. In any case I was told directly after booking that the name should be changed on the booking after the Velocity name change goes through, if I had known this wasn't the case I would have pressed to change the name on the booking at the time.

FWIW we spent December/January on our honeymoon and at that stage had the foresight to just travel under her maiden name on all bookings, it was only when we returned home we decided to go through with the passport and Velocity name changes.

I will send through the marriage cert and hope they can just change it on the booking, if they decide to charge a fee then I'll refuse and deal with the points/SC crediting afterwards.

That's exactly what we have done until my wife's current passport expires and then we will get a new passport with her married name.

Did you know that you can get a new passport issued in your wife's married name for free provided you apply within 6 months of being married? The downside is that the new passport will keep the expiry of the current passport, so may not be worth doing if not long til it needs to be renewed anyway. Or obviously if you have upcoming trips planned.

 

[andye]

I suspect that one of the reasons that this issue recurs is that optimal points-earning is not always a priority in the immediate prenuptial period (and having a discussion with your intended about the subject even less so)

 

[andye]

If you are FF-compatible this may be less of an issue