A misspelled name on a ticket is not the same as a different person on the ticket. Here is who to contact and what affects the outcome.
The name on your ticket should match the travel document you are flying with. But not every mismatch is fixed the same way. Separate the two cases right away: is the name simply entered wrong, or is a different person meant to travel on this ticket altogether?
“Entry error” versus “a different person”
If the name is just entered incorrectly and the same passenger, with the same passport, is still the one travelling, that is a request to correct the record — a small administrative fix. If the ticket is instead meant to cover someone else entirely, that is not an edit to an existing ticket at all. It is a new ticket for a new passenger, with its own new booking, and no one can simply “rename” an existing ticket into someone else’s name.
Check your itinerary right after booking
Your itinerary, also known as the e-ticket, arrives right after your booking is completed, and that is the first place you see exactly how your name was recorded. Check it while it is still easy to fix, before the airline has done anything else with the booking for your flight. The sooner you catch a mismatch against your passport, the simpler and calmer the whole correction process turns out to be.
Who the request goes to
Who you contact depends on who actually issued the ticket, not on which channel you used to buy it. If an agency issued it, the agency controls the record and can submit a correction request directly. If the airline issued it directly, the record belongs to the airline, and the agency can only act as a go-between. A contact centre cannot always access or change a record held by another issuer — so first confirm where your ticket was actually issued.
What affects the outcome
Whether a correction is possible, and how quickly, depends on several separate factors: how close the departure date is, which field is wrong — surname, given name, date of birth, or document number — and the airline’s own internal rules for this kind of change. Every airline treats it differently — some treat it as a small correction, others as a new process. The outcome always depends on the specific case, never on one general rule that applies to everyone.
What not to do
Do not buy a second ticket before the first one has even been reviewed and assessed — that often adds confusion about which ticket actually counts, rather than solving the problem. And do not travel hoping a wrong name will simply pass unnoticed at document checks at the airport. That risk is entirely yours, and the consequence can mean a missed flight.
If you are in this situation, start with the changes and cancellations page and our article on ticket changes, cancellations and refunds. For your specific ticket, contact us as soon as possible.