No Such Passenger Found
Santlan instead of Scantlan
Our trip to Nepal started early on a Friday morning. We arrived at the St. Louis airport around 5:30 for our flight. We headed to the American Airlines counter and began the check-in process at the kiosk. Shelly scanned her passport and then I attempted to scan mine. “No such passenger found” showed up on the screen. I could see my misspelled name on the screen. The “C” was missing. The spelling was Santlan instead of Scantlan. The next message said to see an agent at the counter.
Misspelled Name
After waiting in the line for a few minutes, we approached the ticket counter. We explained to the agent about the misspelling of my name on the ticket. She looked at my passport and her computer screen then left to speak to her supervisor. When she returned she told us that since we had made the reservations with Qatar Airways, she could not make the change on the ticket. The agent told us to contact Qatar Airways. She asked us to step to the side so she could help the next person in line and then she would check us in as soon as we were ready.
Contacting Qatar Airways
We started calling the phone numbers for Qatar Airways on our documents and discovered that their offices did not open until 8:00 a.m. Our departure time for the Chicago flight was 7:10. Finally we got through to an actual person. He explained that to change the name, we must cancel the ticket and re-book the flight. He must have felt like he had given us all the information we needed because he then hung up on the AA agent.
There were several issues with this solution. One, there is not a Qatar Airways counter in St. Louis. That was the reason we were flying AA to Chicago. Two, we were concerned that if they canceled my ticket, it was possible there might not be a seat available on the same flight. It might not be able to be re-booked quickly enough and I would lose my seat to someone else. Thirdly, most likely the airlines would access an exorbitant fee to make the change and book the new ticket.
Boarding Passes
The AA agent told us their policy allowed them to accept names that were off by one letter. It was usually an incorrect letter instead of a missing letter though. She explained that she could issue my boarding passes for the flights. However, the airlines would not cancel the ticket once the flight started. Also, the agent was not sure what TSA would do if they noticed the incorrect spelling. It did not seem like we had much choice. We discussed it and decided that we should try to get on the AA flight and then deal with it in Chicago. The agent then created my boarding passes, with the misspelled name, for the entire flight to Nepal and we were off on an adventure.
TSA
We proceeded to the secure area to get to our gate. I thought it was best for me to go through first in case there was an issue. Our tickets were marked TSA pre-checked so we were able to go to the shorter line. Did the AA agent do that to help make it easier to get through the screening? I handed the TSA agent my passport and boarding pass. He glanced at it and then handed it back to me and I walked toward the x-ray baggage scanners. First security check passed!
Chicago, Illinois
We had enough time in Chicago to deal with the ticket issue since our layover was over 10 hours. Our group talked it over some more and I decided to just try to use the boarding passes with the incorrect spelling for the entire trip. My reasoning was that it is a long and uncommon last name. I did not think the one missing letter would be obvious to most people and especially not to Internationals. Usually, airport personnel do not scrutinize these documents anyway.
While in Chicago we spent some time in the domestic terminals before going to the International Terminal. There was no reason to go through security more times than necessary. We noticed that we could take a bus over to the International Terminal instead of the train. It seemed to be less of a security check so we chose to do that. Once we were at the gate we knew they would only check my boarding pass. Second security check was successful.
Doha, Qatar
Our trip took us from Chicago to Doha, Qatar. Once again we had a ten plus hour layover. For this reason, we had made plans to go into the city for a few hours. That meant going though immigration. Qatar requires a visa to enter the country if you don’t hold a Qatar passport. They offer visas free of charge to citizens from a large number of countries. However, a ticket or boarding pass is required to prove the length of stay in the country. They would view both of my documents with the two different spellings. Once again we decided we would attempt it and just deal with the incorrect name if it came up. I was always first in line from our group and things went fine. Third security check was crossed without issues.
Back at the airport later that evening we had another trip through immigration and security. This fourth security check went by without incident.
Kathmandu, Nepal
After over 40 hours of travel, we finally arrived in Kathmandu and went through immigration and customs in Nepal. In a post 911 world, I had made it half way across the world with my name on my ticket spelled different from my name on my passport.
The Trip Home
So, I had made it to Nepal with my new name and no problems. Could I make it home as easily? The trip home was just in reverse – Kathmandu to Doha to Chicago to St. Louis. The security check at the Kathmandu airport went by without a hitch – five security checks down.
We had found out about a complementary hotel offer from Qatar Airlines and made reservations for the return trip. So, back in Qatar we went through immigration once again without anyone noticing the missing C in my last name. The next morning back at the airport we cleared security. These were the fifth and six successful attempts.
Back in the USA
After the long flight from Qatar, we arrived in Chicago and went through US immigration and customs. We had to collect our luggage and then turn it back in for our flight to St. Louis. We approached the American Airlines customs counter and I handed my passport and boarding pass to the agent. He examined the passport and boarding pass. “Your name is spelled wrong”, he exclaimed matter-of-factly. I told him that he was the first one to notice. My concern was much lower now that I was back in the United States. I could get home from Chicago by other means if I had to.
Now you know the story of how I went half way around the world and in and out of two foreign countries to get a new name. I plan to keep the old one though.