When Kevin Marshall’s employee accidentally mixed up the name of his daughter while booking airline tickets for his family late last summer, he believed it would be an easy error to correct.
Nearly $1,000 later, Marshall is questioning why he was charged so much money to change the name on the ticket from Lynn Meaghan Marshall to Meaghan Lynn Marshall.
“It was a simple mistake,” Marshall told CTV Toronto’s Pat Foran on Friday. “We didn’t catch it right away.”
The family of four from Cambridge, Ont. is planning a trip to Australia to visit Marshall’s sister during the Christmas holidays. Marshall said he had asked one of his employees to book the flights for his family through a travel agent.
It wasn’t until weeks later, that Marshall happened to notice the error in his daughter’s name.
When he reached out to the travel agency to switch the two names on the ticket, he was charged $971 because his travel agency had to cancel and rebook the ticket and in that time, the price for a flight to Australia had increased.
“I feel terrible. It’s almost $1,000 out of my pocket,” Marshall said.
The Travel Agent Next Door, the company Marshall used to book the flights, told CTV News in a statement that they have to cancel a ticket and reissue it to make the name change, as per airline policy.
“If it had been our mistake, we would have paid the $971, but we booked the ticket based on the name that was given to us,” the statement said.
The travel agency said they didn’t charge the family any extra fees for its services. They said they were following the policies of the airlines involved - in this case, Air Canada and Qantas Airways.
The airlines didn’t issue a statement but told CTV News they’re reviewing the case.
Airlines might not allow a passenger to fly if just one letter is wrong on an airline ticket, Foran reported. If a customer is permitted to travel, there is also the possibility they will be turned back once they arrive at their destination.
Marshall said he wanted to share his experience so that other travellers are aware of the potential extra fees they could incur if the name on the passport is not identical to the name on the airline ticket. He also thinks he should be refunded at least a portion of the $971 fee.
“I’d like my money back,” he said. “Even if I paid $300, which is still a lot to go on a computer and change a couple of words.”
With a report from CTV Toronto’s Pat Foran
