Anyone had issues with an apostrophe in their name?

[Rob]

A reader got in touch to say that, since the BA IT upgrade in November, he is now unable to book Avios flights.

This appears to be because he has an apostrophe in his name (eg O’Brien) and the BA system no recognises non-alphanumeric characters.

Anyone else got any experience of this?!

[stevenhp1987]

I have a hyphen in my name (double barrelled surname).

I can book online, but, I cannot book using any 2-4-1 voucher as it moans that the cardholder name (which you cannot edit) doesn’t match the passenger record (which never contains the hyphen).

I always have to ring up to book using a 2-4-1. My most recent was on 17th January.

[NorthernLass]

Several people (including me) can no longer change the genders of our co-travellers – they all seem to be stuck on the gender of the lead passenger! Another reader said they managed to change this via the “extra information” requirement, post-booking.

[NorthernLass]

Are they sure it was an “upgrade”?!

[NorthernLass]

stevenhp1987 wrote:

I have a hyphen in my name (double barrelled surname).

I can book online, but, I cannot book using any 2-4-1 voucher as it moans that the cardholder name (which you cannot edit) doesn’t match the passenger record (which never contains the hyphen).

I always have to ring up to book using a 2-4-1. My most recent was on 17th January.

Which card do you mean? If Amex, the card holder name doesn’t have to match any of the passengers anyway.

[stevenhp1987]

NorthernLass wrote:

stevenhp1987 wrote:

I have a hyphen in my name (double barrelled surname).

I can book online, but, I cannot book using any 2-4-1 voucher as it moans that the cardholder name (which you cannot edit) doesn’t match the passenger record (which never contains the hyphen).

I always have to ring up to book using a 2-4-1. My most recent was on 17th January.

Which card do you mean? If Amex, the card holder name doesn’t have to match any of the passengers anyway.

Correct, normally. This isn’t the Amex name “verification” though.

When booking a 2-4-1 the cardholder name is set to my name (as that’s required). You cannot change it.

Long story short: The cardholder name contains a hyphen, but, the booking doesn’t (because it always removed the hyphen – you cannot get it added and the cardholder name is not writable), it won’t let me book online as the names don’t match (they are doing some verification that the cardholder name matches the booking name and complaining that it doesn’t)! It just throws an error and there’s no way to correct it myself.

[NorthernLass]

Ah yes, I’ve never noticed that but our cardholder names are the same as our BAEC ones so I guess it will never have been an issue.

Would Amex send you a new card without the hyphen? Just out of interest, do both surnames appear in your passport and boarding cards, and has this ever caused a problem?!

[stevenhp1987]

NorthernLass wrote:

Ah yes, I’ve never noticed that but our cardholder names are the same as our BAEC ones so I guess it will never have been an issue.

Would Amex send you a new card without the hyphen? Just out of interest, do both surnames appear in your passport and boarding cards, and has this ever caused a problem?!

Nothing to do with Amex verification.

This is purely to do with BA checking the cardholder is flying! I am, but the names don’t match. My BAEC has the hyphen (because it’s my name), but the passenger record for the booking doesn’t as BA removes it… The cardholder field is not writable when you’re using a 2-4-1 to enforce the fact the passenger is paying for it. Its just BA checking, despite pre-filling the field themselves, that the cardholder name entered matches the passenger name for the 2-4-1 voucher. Amex don’t come into the equation.

Surname always appears on boarding cards without the hyphen. My passport has the hyphen. Never a problem with flying, just booking using a 2-4-1.

[NorthernLass]

I get what you’re saying about the Amex verification! That is weird, because you’d think the system would know who you are due to having the same BAEC number, which the 241 is obviously linked to as well.

[Ladyshopper]

stevenhp1987 wrote:

I have a hyphen in my name (double barrelled surname).

I can book online, but, I cannot book using any 2-4-1 voucher as it moans that the cardholder name (which you cannot edit) doesn’t match the passenger record (which never contains the hyphen).

I always have to ring up to book using a 2-4-1. My most recent was on 17th January.

Interesting. I also have a double barrelled surname with a hyphen, and have never had a problem booking and using my 2-4-1. Including my most recent booking a couple of weeks ago.