A passenger whose legal first name is simply the letter “A” can’t book flights under his real name—because the airline’s system rejects one-letter names. The airline’s solution? “Just call yourself AA.” Now he’s facing potential passport and security nightmares.
One Mile at a Time noted that Air India won’t accept the last name ‘Sample’ on a ticket. They’re hardly alone in user interface limits that reject real passenger names.
Cathay Pacific, like most airlines, has a rule that the name on your ticket “must match passport.” However they also have a user interface rule that rejects one‑letter given names. The system automatically adds a second letter, which is non-compliant.
I have a reader who reached out asking what to do. Their legal first name is “A.” He explains,
When I go to enter my name, the computer states 2 letters are required for the first name. So it adds a second “a” to my first name. I email Cathay with copies of my passport showing my legal name and they tell me to travel on the AA [redacted] name. I tell them that violates so many laws and will create name mismatches.
They want to transfer points from their credit card to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles. That’s a good program to use for lower surcharges on British Airways flights, and for better availability of Cathay’s own business and first class awards. However, a name mismatch between bank programs like American Express and Capital One and the airline you’re trying to transfer to can send points off into the ether.
He’s also an American Airlines Executive Platinum and is worried that a name mismatch between his ticket and his AAdvantage account will create a problem receiving oneworld emerald benefits (like first class lounge access).
Not to mention having a ticket in a name that doesn’t match his passport can create issues – like being turned away at security, or being denied check-in or boarding.
So here were my thoughts, and I’m curious what other avenues readers would suggest.
- For any current tickets issued by Cathay under the first name “AA” I would follow their name correction procedure.
- For any miles in their account, I suggested not redeeming them for himself but instead attempting to add the correct-named passenger as a nominee and book awards for the nominee instead. That may allow the single letter A name, though I have not tried this to verify that the user interface issue for nominees functions differently.
- I would not transfer any points from a bank to CX until the name issue is addressed. While I haven’t checked with the good folks at points.com or Ascenda on which programs do more than a last name/account number match when transferring to Asia Miles, I certainly wouldn’t want points transferred and not hitting your account and then chasing after them.
- I’m not super worried about oneworld benefits, those are tied to the freqeunt flyer account number rather than the name. As long as the account number gets into the booking status should come up. However a name mismatch can create an issue with mileage credit between oneworld partners.
- TSA/Secure Flight requires airlines to transmit full name on ID for watchlist matching. A mismatch can cause issues, but this is compliance issue — not a criminal law issue as the reader was worried about. There could be a hassle, but shouldn’t inhibit travel. Secure flight data can actually differ from ticketed name, and if the name is off by a letter you can have that changed (though it could require quite a bit of extra time at the airport unfortunately).
I would definitely want to get this fixed! I drafted a sample email for the reader to send to customercare@cathaypacific.com.
Dear Cathay Pacific,
I need help aligning my Cathay membership profile with my legal travel document.
- Legal name on passport: A [Redacted] (first name is a single letter “A”).
- Issue: Your website enforces a two‑character minimum for the given‑name field and forces “AA,” which creates a mismatch across tickets, points transfers, and Secure Flight data. See attached: passport bio page, the on‑screen validation message, and prior email guidance advising me to travel as “AA [Redacted].”
- Why this must be corrected:
- Your published policy: “Your membership name must match your travel document.”
- Bank programs require name match for points transfers (Chase / Capital One / American Express), so I cannot move points into Cathay until the account reflects A [Redacted].
- U.S. Secure Flight requires the full name as it appears on the ID. A forced “AA” risks screening issues and irregularity handling.
Request: Please override the UI validation and set my membership profile name to exactly A [Redacted] (first name “A”, family name “[Redacted]”), and confirm the change so I can (1) transfer bank points and (2) book tickets with a name that matches my passport.
I’m happy to provide any additional documentation you need.
Thank you,
X XXXXXXXXX
(Cathay membership no. XXXXXXXX)
He’s going to try it and see what happens. I’ll reach out to Cathay if this does not work, though the best contacts I used to have there are no longer with the airline.
By the way, it’s surprisingly common to change the name on an airline ticket. After all, reservations agents mishear or mistype names all the type, people get married and change their names after booking, or just transpose a name. The primary time this winds up being a major pain is when the ticket involves travel on more than one airline, or at least travel on an airline different than the one issuing the ticket.
What a nuisance. I knew someone named RB Jones, and when he went into the army they listed him as “R(only) B(only) Jones”. After that the official records had him as Ronly Bonly Jones.
And there is a little town in France named Oô. Because “Où” is French for “where” the residents have a lot of trouble with people elsewhere thinking they are making up their point of origin. Officials have gotten angry when people tell them that they are from “where”.
As someone who’s been involved in software development for forty years, I would tell this guy to change his name.
Very funny.
And I thought it was difficult with an apostrophe in my name….
Naming your child just a single letter for a name is a parent’s mistake. It’s not the world’s job to accommodate it.
Just use an underscore, as in A_
This will defeat the “two character” requirement while not changing his name.
@drrichard — I literally laughed aloud when I read that. Mr. Ronly Bonly!
Legally change (add to?) your name to avoid a lifetime of angst, or loss of money, miles, points, whatever.
How you haven’t already come to that conclusion escapes me.
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Some random thoughts.
The article states that many airlines don’t accept a single letter for a name. The article also states this guy is an AA platinum executive level elite.
You either get it by flying an enormous amount it spending an enormous amount.
Since this is presumably his first time complaining, do we assume he bought his way to that level and has never flown before? Otherwise, if he did it by flying, wouldn’t have this issue showed up before he got elite status?
The problem is due to programming laziness even if it is institutional. There are people with single letter names. My middle name is a letter and a period. That is what my parents put when they named me. It is on my birth certificate. It was and is perfectly permissible. Computers are not supposed to be used to make the world dumber and less tolerant. I personally know two people with single letter last names. One has a USA passport with that single letter last name so it isn’t due to government regulations. However, a common carrier denying such a person should be sued to the point it would be cheaper to do the programming correctly.
@KL – That is the most ignorant comment I’ve ever read, and I’ve seen some doozies on here. There are plenty of other languages in this world besides English. From reading this article one could assume that this person could possibly be Chinese. Frequent travel on Cathay is one hint, and having knowledge besides what I read on Facebook (like it seems you do) is another. In Chinese there are names that are one single sound, like ‘A’. No go back to your cave, you ignorant fool.
I just texted my friend if he had told Ben about the issue with AI and him not being able to make a reservation due to his last name Sample. Yep, he commented and Ben picked it up. Hilarious
I had a hyphenated last name. I wound up changing it legally cuz it would cause me grief at airlines, with some removing the hyphen and squishing both together, or adding the first last name as middle name. Annoying when I used to be on a plane every other week.
I think his real beef should be with his moronic parents.
Does he not have a middle name? We get around that by entering A Middlename, which matches ID and passport. Haven’t had an issue yet.
@Willow028 is right. My boarding pass with at least one carrier will have my first and middle names as one word, no spaces, as a first name. Never an issue.
In the comments of Ben’s article on the “Sample” situation, a software engineer who used to work for a reservations system addressed this specific issue. It turns out IATA has a procedure for reservations systems that cannot accept a single character name, and it is, in fact, to duplicate the character. So the guidance being given here appears to be correct per the procedure manual (IATA PNRGOV EDIFACT Implementation Guide, available at https://www.iata.org/en/publications/api-pnr-toolkit).
Elon Musk and Grimes named their son X Æ A-12. I wonder whether the airline reservation systems would allow for entering such name. However, he will be flying private all his life.
@Kuloko — Unless he disowns ‘it,’ too. *sigh*