After purchasing cheap plane tickets for him and his wife, this customer thought he would be able to travel without any problems. However, when entering the passengers’ personal information, he made a mistake which ultimately cost him dearly.
People who are used to flying generally know this anxiety well, while others sometimes discover it to their detriment. This is the case for this Australian, named Phil, who recently recounted his misadventure, which occurred in July 2023, in the Australian show “A Current Affair“. Several months ago, this man found an interesting offer on plane tickets for his wife and him to London. These were listed at 2,400 Australian dollars, which is approximately 1,460 euros. in haste, certainly out of fear of letting the deal go by, they immediately buy the plane tickets. But after making the reservation, he realizes his mistake a little too late…
Indeed, this administrative error will cost him dearly upon arrival. Instead of putting his wife’s official first name, Katherine, in the information fields of his post, he indicated her nickname: Kate. But in wanting to correct what seemed to him to be a simple detail, Phil learned that he had no choice but to cancel his wife’s plane ticket reservation and make a new one. The attractive price he had found is then no longer available: lThe traveler was not only only partially refunded, but he had to buy a new ticket, this time, at a much higher price: 4,700 Australian dollars, or 2,875 euros. Phil and his wife tried to find a solution with the airline, to no avail. “Their reasoning was that they didn’t have time to change the name of the ticket, but they had time to sell us a new ticket. They just took advantage of the whole situation, particularly the high season of travel, and time is running out”, he told the local show.
This scenario is far from unique, because airlines are generally not very accommodating in these situations, for security reasons. In France, this type of correction may also be billed to travelers depending on the company. For example, EasyJet charges 66 euros for online name modification (per passenger and per flight), at Transavia, count 50 euros in modification fees per journey. In other cases, the correction may be free, but it must meet certain criteria. At Rayanair “up to three characters per name can be changed free of charge once, up to 48 hours before scheduled departure”, specifies the airline on its website. In summary, if you had to remember one thing: always check your personal information and spelling entered before purchasing plane tickets online. This way you can avoid additional costs!