Does United Airlines have name correction rules?
Booking a trip is never an easy process, and is often fraught with mistakes, as simple as misspelling your name while booking a flight ticket. But with United Airlines, you’re in luck because they have a name change and correction policy, albeit with certain conditions. They will always ascertain that, regardless of whether you have mistakenly typed your name wrong, undergone a legal change, or simply require a small punctuation alteration, your documentation is made error-proof, to the letter.
Fixing Minor Mistakes
If, by accident, you entered a wrong name when booking for a flight, either omitting a letter, or typing an extra one. Then no need to fret! United Airlines lets you make small modifications like that without much of a problem. You can either visit their website or call their customer service and they will sort it out for you. These corrections are often minor: correcting a typo, an absent middle initial, or shortening a name.
Provided you are not shifting the most fundamental elements of your name, such as part of your first or last name, it is supposed to be pretty straightforward. Once in a while, they will ask for your ID just for verification purposes to ensure that everything is as they recorded.
Legal Name Changes
If you had a legal name change for any reason like marriage, divorce, etc, then United Airlines will require you to produce some documents for it. A marriage certificate or court order or updated ID, should do the job. They should update the ticket once they have verified the documents you have submitted. If you used a travel agency for a booking, you may have to consult between the agency and United Airlines to have all the arrangements perfected.
Frequent Flyers, Take Note!
For travelers who are a member of United’s MileagePlus, the account name must be, in letter and punctuation, identical to the ticket. As such, if you decide to change your name, you should also do so in your MileagePlus account. Otherwise, you might miss out on those much-coveted Frequent Flier miles! It would only require you a few minutes of your time to call customer service to resynchronize everything for your next trip.
International Travel: Watch the Details
That is where things may become a bit complicated, especially for those traveling across the border. The name on your ticket must be an absolute and perfect match with that in your passport, middle names, and hyphens included. And it will create problems when boarding or at customs if there is a disparity in any way. If you happen to detect an error before the trip, ensure that you contact United Airlines immediately. Depending upon the circumstances they would normally permit alterations, provided the ticket is unused.
Timing and Fees
Another noteworthy thing about United Airlines is that it does not always correct for free, but it is rather flexible about it. If minor corrections are made early on, then you’re saving yourself from stress as well as incurring costs. However, if the change is major or your date of flying is just ‘round the corner, then you might have to pay an extra fine. Thus, it is advisable at any cost to detect and revert such mistakes right off the bat. It is not advisable to make last minute changes, but if you do, then it is possible and can be a little costly.
Bottom Line
United Airlines seems to have a fairly standard, if not quite so liberal, policy when it comes to name changes and corrected misspellings. As long as you check in early and ensure that the ticket includes your photo ID and is for an international flight, then you’re all good. If you follow these tips, you won’t have to waste time on a crazy last-minute frenzy and can instead have a smooth, undisturbed trip.