3 ms·

My name has a funny spelling. Aleksandr, with a "dr" at the end. Once when I was 9 I got a borading pass that read "Dr. Aleksan <last name>". My parents (both p

My name has a funny spelling. Aleksandr, with a "dr" at the end. Once when I was 9 I got a borading pass that read "Dr. Aleksan <last name>". My parents (both programmers) got quite the kick out of that.

n_plus_1_acc 2y ago
That issue is well-known to airline staff as It's relatively common. Still stupid.
OJFord 2y ago
I wouldn't be surprised if that is the representation that would be used if 'Dr Aleksan' were correct, I recall some funky stuff like that from a post here I think a while ago describing some of the quirks and ways it has to continue working for interop (but I think the post was about doing what could be done to update/modernise/fix, I'll try to find it). And certainly I've had 'Oliverjames', so it would only have to be that it becomes 'Aleksan Dr' (and before that concatenation) to complete the picture.
- miki123211 2y ago
  This is not even the only case. The Arabic name Amr is often turned into Mr. A, which is an even bigger problem if your airline's website doesn't accept single-letter first names. This happens due to an ancient data exchange protocol called airline TTY, which doesn't contain an "honorific" field and has no room for extension. In their eternal wisdom, American regulators completely ignored this fact and started requiring airlines to process honorifics after 9/11. The only available workaround was sticking the honorific at the end of the name. When you book a flight that doesn't have anything to do with the US, this data might or might not be included, but downstream systems don't know if it is or not. If it is not and your name ends with an honorific, the honorific gets stripped.
  - fy20 2y ago
    I wonder if anyone called Yasir (male Arabic name) has been upgraded, due to the name being interpreted as Sir Ya.
KineticLensman 2y ago
My forenames begin with J and R. I've sometimes had Americans interpret this as Junior. Ho Hum.
a012 2y ago
My Vietnamese friend's name is Bang, so his name can't be announced by PA in US of A airports (no data points in Europe airports though).
- apexalpha 2y ago
  Why not? I understand that Bang is used for explosions when shouted but sure they can request mr Bang to the boarding gate of whatever?!
  - anal_reactor 2y ago
    > We kindly ask Mr. Sak Mai Dik to the office counter of United Airlines
  - me_me_me 2y ago
    People are selective listeners, this could in rare cases cause a panic chain reaction.

n_plus_1_acc 2y ago

That issue is well-known to airline staff as It's relatively common. Still stupid.

OJFord 2y ago

I wouldn't be surprised if that is the representation that would be used if 'Dr Aleksan' were correct, I recall some funky stuff like that from a post here I think a while ago describing some of the quirks and ways it has to continue working for interop (but I think the post was about doing what could be done to update/modernise/fix, I'll try to find it). And certainly I've had 'Oliverjames', so it would only have to be that it becomes 'Aleksan Dr' (and before that concatenation) to complete the picture.

miki123211 2y ago
This is not even the only case. The Arabic name Amr is often turned into Mr. A, which is an even bigger problem if your airline's website doesn't accept single-letter first names. This happens due to an ancient data exchange protocol called airline TTY, which doesn't contain an "honorific" field and has no room for extension. In their eternal wisdom, American regulators completely ignored this fact and started requiring airlines to process honorifics after 9/11. The only available workaround was sticking the honorific at the end of the name. When you book a flight that doesn't have anything to do with the US, this data might or might not be included, but downstream systems don't know if it is or not. If it is not and your name ends with an honorific, the honorific gets stripped.
- fy20 2y ago
  I wonder if anyone called Yasir (male Arabic name) has been upgraded, due to the name being interpreted as Sir Ya.

KineticLensman 2y ago

My forenames begin with J and R. I've sometimes had Americans interpret this as Junior. Ho Hum.

a012 2y ago

My Vietnamese friend's name is Bang, so his name can't be announced by PA in US of A airports (no data points in Europe airports though).

apexalpha 2y ago
Why not? I understand that Bang is used for explosions when shouted but sure they can request mr Bang to the boarding gate of whatever?!
- anal_reactor 2y ago
  > We kindly ask Mr. Sak Mai Dik to the office counter of United Airlines
- me_me_me 2y ago
  People are selective listeners, this could in rare cases cause a panic chain reaction.