A Kitchener, Ont. man is urging travellers to check their itineraries carefully after he was charged nearly $100 for a name discrepancy on his documents. Thomas Peterek and his wife Vicki bought round-trip tickets from Kitchener-Waterloo to Halifax, Nova Scotia through Expedia. During the booking process, Peterek used the autofill feature to input his personal information, which automatically listed his name as Tom, instead of Thomas. “It just used the autofill and that went straight to Flair Airlines,” Peterek said. When the couple arrived at the Region of Waterloo International Airport for their flight on May 11, they went to the Flair Airlines counter to retrieve Vicki’s boarding pass, as Peterek had already checked in online. “When I got to the airport, I showed them my ID, which is my driver’s licence that has Thomas as the first name, with Gerhard Stephen as the middle names,” Peterek explained. “The person at the counter recognized that and said, ‘Oh, you have to have your official document name on your boarding pass. I’ll print you a new one.’” At the time, Peterek said he wasn’t made aware of any fees associated with the name change and receiving the new boarding pass via email. The couple then flew to Halifax for their four-day trip. “I had completely forgotten about the whole issue because it was really without any incident at all,” Peterek said. That changed when the couple returned to the airport for their flight back to Kitchener-Waterloo. “We got up to the desk, I showed my ID and my boarding pass, and the gentleman said, ‘No, we’re not letting you on the plane,’” Peterek recalled. He explained to the agent he had no problems during departure, but was told, “We’re not going to repeat that same mistake.” Peterek said he was then charged $79 plus tax for the discrepancy, totalling just under $93. “They would not give me a boarding pass or let me on the plane unless I paid that fee on the spot.” According to Eric Tanner, the vice-president of commercial for Flair Airlines, the one-time name change fee is a standard practice. “In this case, the name change exceeded three characters and was made at the airport on the day of travel, which resulted in both a name change fee and an airport service fee,” Tanner explained in a statement to CTV News. “While the gate agent was able to update the reservation on the outbound journey, the associated fee was not collected at that time and remained as an outstanding balance, which was applied on the customer’s return flight.” The airline also noted the name change fee can be up to $99 plus tax. Gabor Lukacs, the group president for Air Passenger Rights, said he disagrees with the charge and claims it goes against section 21 of the Electronic Commerce Act, 2000, S.O. 2000. “The law in Ontario, provincially, says you cannot charge it,” Lukacs said. “You have to allow a reasonable opportunity to change, otherwise the whole contracted is voided.” Peterek hopes to receive a refund for the name change fee. While he’s never run into this issue before, the incident has him rethinking his travel habits and he suggests others do the same. “Dot your i’s, cross your t’s,” Peterek advised. “Make sure that everything matches before you hand out your information and before you hit the send button or hit the done button.”
