4 ms·

An employee of a major US airline had the audacity to declare my last name invalid, and literally made me pick a different name that "the system" would accept.

An employee of a major US airline had the audacity to declare my last name invalid, and literally made me pick a different name that "the system" would accept. My last name literally only uses ASCII characters, not even dashes or accents. I did pick another name at that time because I had been waiting for an hour, so practical concerns trumped principles, but it's ten years later and I still feel offended when I think about this.

palmfacehn 3y ago
How does that work when they check your ID at security?
- deathanatos 3y ago
  My tickets rarely, if ever, have my name correctly on them. It is nearly always truncated. It has literally never been an issue, and I suspect the agents are just used to this.
  - delecti 3y ago
    Lucky. The one time I flew when my ID didn't match my ticket (using an airline account that I forgot to update with my married name first) and it was a pretty big headache. I had to stand in the security line for about 15 extra minutes for them to verify that yes First Maidenlast was the same person as First Marriedlast. I made sure to get the situation fixed before my return flight.
- hutzlibu 3y ago
  Then you have to rely on the common sense of the person checking you.
lifestyleguru 3y ago
I was likely some COBOL system with UI displayed by some miracle on a modern PC with windows. The employee probably didn't even know what encoding is, they didn't intent to question your identity.
- rustybolt 3y ago
  > they didn't intent to question your identity. Of course, but, to give you a sense why I felt so annoyed, the conversation went something like this: > What is your last name sir? "de Bakker" > That name is invalid. What is your name? My last name is "de Bakker". > That name is invalid. You need to give a valid name. "de Bakker" is my last name. It's on my passport. > Sir, if you don't cooperate I'm gonna hang up and proceed with the next customer. What's your name? So it was very clear that I was the one at fault here.
  - yukkuri 3y ago
    That's not even an unusual name...

palmfacehn 3y ago

How does that work when they check your ID at security?

deathanatos 3y ago
My tickets rarely, if ever, have my name correctly on them. It is nearly always truncated. It has literally never been an issue, and I suspect the agents are just used to this.
- delecti 3y ago
  Lucky. The one time I flew when my ID didn't match my ticket (using an airline account that I forgot to update with my married name first) and it was a pretty big headache. I had to stand in the security line for about 15 extra minutes for them to verify that yes First Maidenlast was the same person as First Marriedlast. I made sure to get the situation fixed before my return flight.
hutzlibu 3y ago
Then you have to rely on the common sense of the person checking you.

lifestyleguru 3y ago

I was likely some COBOL system with UI displayed by some miracle on a modern PC with windows. The employee probably didn't even know what encoding is, they didn't intent to question your identity.

rustybolt 3y ago
> they didn't intent to question your identity. Of course, but, to give you a sense why I felt so annoyed, the conversation went something like this: > What is your last name sir? "de Bakker" > That name is invalid. What is your name? My last name is "de Bakker". > That name is invalid. You need to give a valid name. "de Bakker" is my last name. It's on my passport. > Sir, if you don't cooperate I'm gonna hang up and proceed with the next customer. What's your name? So it was very clear that I was the one at fault here.
- yukkuri 3y ago
  That's not even an unusual name...