Officials in the travel and tourism sector have warned of mistakes made by travelers while booking airline tickets via websites or smart applications, which lead to incurring unexpected additional costs, or completely disrupting travel plans, stressing that not entering the name as it appears in the passport is among the mistakes, along with choosing an unintended city or airport, or specifying an incorrect travel date.
Digital platforms
In detail, Salah Mansour, CEO of STS in the Dubai Link Travel and Tourism Group, said, “The great development in digital booking platforms has allowed customers to complete their reservations within a few minutes, but in return, it has transferred the responsibility of checking the data to the traveler himself,” noting that most of the problems that travelers face after issuing tickets begin with a simple error while entering information.
He explained that some errors relate to names, pointing out that some customers write the name as it appears on the identity card, or use an abbreviated name or inaccurate letters, while international airlines rely on data that exactly matches what is contained in the passport.
Mansour added: “Travelers face situations that include repeating a name twice, missing one of the names, replacing one letter with another, or writing the name in a way that differs from what is stated in the passport. Although these errors may seem simple, they may impose additional fees on the traveler or corrective procedures that differ from one company to another.”
He said, “Some companies deal flexibly with simple spelling errors, if they are discovered immediately after issuing the ticket, while other companies impose fees for any amendment. There is also a difference between correcting a clerical error and completely changing the traveler’s name, as the latter is not allowed by most airlines.”
He stressed that the best way to avoid this problem is to review the name letter by letter before pressing the payment button, and compare it directly with the passport, and not with any other document.
Mansour pointed out that errors are not limited to names only, but also include choosing unintended destinations or airports, as a result of the similarity in the names of cities or airports, explaining that some travelers focus on the ticket price without paying attention to the details of the final destination.
He added: “Some international cities have more than one airport, and the traveler may discover, after completing the reservation, that the airport he chose is tens of kilometers away from his place of residence or from the area he wants to reach. In other cases, reservations are made to a city with a similar name to another city in a different country.
Date errors
For his part, Alaa Al-Ali, director of Nirvana Travel and Tourism, said that errors related to dates are one of the most common problems that cost travelers additional money, especially with the increasing reliance on online self-booking.
He explained that some customers book their flights within minutes to take advantage of promotional prices or limited-time offers, which sometimes leads them to neglect reviewing the basic data before completing the payment process.
He added: “A common mistake is choosing a month different from the intended month, or entering the return date incorrectly.”
He pointed out that the cost of handling such errors varies according to the type of ticket and the commercial policy of the airline, explaining that some low-cost economy tickets impose fees for modification, which may, in some cases, exceed the value of the original ticket.
Al-Ali said, “Many travelers focus on the final price shown on the booking screen, while overlooking other elements that are no less important than the price itself, such as the duration of the trip, the number of stops, and the conditions for modification and cancellation.”
He added: “Sometimes the traveler chooses the lowest available price, then later discovers that the trip includes a long stop that may extend for many hours, or that the transit takes place through a different airport that requires an additional transfer,” indicating that these details may directly affect the travel experience.
He explained that one of the mistakes that is also repeated is not paying attention to the timing of flights, especially flights that take off after midnight or flights related to time differences between countries.
He said: “It is necessary to check the date and the time together, and not just one of them.”
Al-Ali stressed that the issue of luggage has become one of the most prominent sources of surprises for travelers in recent years, especially with the spread of tickets with some low-cost airlines that only include a small hand luggage.
He added: “Many travelers discover that the ticket they purchased does not include checked baggage, and then the cost of purchasing additional baggage is much higher compared to adding it during booking, especially when the baggage is purchased at the airport prior to the flight.”
Booking conditions
In turn, the CEO of Sherif House Tourism and Travel Company, Sherif Al-Farm, said, “Reviewing the terms of reservation and cancellation has become a basic necessity in light of the diversity of products available online,” noting that some discounted prices are completely non-refundable or amendable.
Al-Farm stressed that “the few minutes that the traveler spends reviewing the reservation details before paying can save him a lot of time and money later.”
He stressed the importance of ensuring that the name matches what is stated in the passport, ensuring the correct destination and airport, reviewing travel dates, paying attention to flight times and stops, checking the permitted baggage, in addition to reading the terms of amendment and cancellation carefully.
He explained that dealing quickly with the error as soon as it is discovered gives the traveler greater opportunities to address it at a lower cost, while delay in reporting it leads to complicated procedures and higher fees in many cases.
He stressed that the digital transformation in the travel sector gave travelers unprecedented flexibility and ease in booking, but it made checking the data an essential responsibility that falls on the customer himself, pointing out that reviewing the reservation one last time before issuing the ticket may be the most important step to avoid financial losses and problems that could have been easily avoided.
Airlines policies
A survey of the policies of a number of global and regional airlines showed that correcting or changing names on travel tickets is possible in many cases, but the scope of permitted amendments varies greatly from one air carrier to another, which makes reviewing traveler data before issuing a ticket an essential step to avoid fees or the need to rebook.
According to the survey, some companies allow the correction of up to three letters in the name for free, within 24 hours of making the reservation in some cases, including the surname, first name, and second name.
Other companies also allow one modification to be made for free, while some carriers allow correcting cases of reversal of the first and last name, removing unintended repetition in names, or adding a part to the last name, if it matches the traveler’s official documents.
According to the survey, errors related to choosing an incorrect city, airport, or travel date are not, in most cases, treated as spelling errors that can be corrected, but rather fall within the category of modifying the reservation, which makes their treatment linked to the ticket conditions and fare rules applied by each airline company.
Some airlines also allow modifications to the travel date, destination, or airport in exchange for a reservation change fee, in addition to any price differences between the original and new ticket, while other companies impose greater restrictions on discounted economy tickets, and may not allow some modifications or impose high fees on them.
The survey also showed that the chances of correcting these errors are greater the earlier they are discovered after booking, while the available options become fewer the closer to the trip date.
According to the survey, most airlines do not deal with these cases as a simple correction of data, but rather as an actual change in the elements of the flight, which makes the final cost related to the type of ticket, its conditions, and the time of requesting the amendment.
