Changing your name with British Airways

Can I fly if my ticket and passport names are different?#

No. British Airways says that if you have changed your name "for any reason, including marriage, divorce or by deed poll, the names on your ticket and passport must match in order for you to travel". Your other travel documents, including visas and ESTAs, must be in the same name as the ticket too. GOV.UK sets the same rule from the passport side: "The name on your passport must match the one you use when you book your travel."

So book in the name on the passport you will travel with. On flights within the UK, where no passport is needed, the ID you show, such as a driving licence, should carry your photo and a name that matches your booking. If you have changed your name but your passport still shows the old one, you can keep travelling on it, booked in the old name: can I travel on a passport in my old name? explains why, and the travel checker tells you which name to book in.

How do I change the name on a British Airways ticket?#

If your passport name changes after you book, contact British Airways through its contact page, which has a line for name corrections open 24 hours a day and a chat that can pass you to an adviser; its marriage answer also offers WhatsApp. British Airways says:

• there is no charge to change the name on an existing ticket to match the name on your passport;
• if the taxes, fees and carrier charges have changed since you booked, "you'll need to pay the difference";
• you "may also need to provide us with proof of your identity", so have your new passport to hand.

The same applies after marriage. British Airways' answer to "can I travel using my maiden name after I've got married?" is that you cannot travel on a married-name ticket with a maiden-name passport, and it points you to the same no-charge change.

GOV.UK warns not to book travel until you have a valid passport, because "your new passport will not have the same number as your old one". If a trip is close, how to change your name urgently sets out what is possible.

Correcting a misspelt name#

British Airways says most spelling mistakes "can be easily corrected over the phone" when every flight on the ticket is operated by British Airways, with no charge beyond any change in taxes, fees, carrier charges or fuel surcharges. If your journey includes other airlines, its team explains the process by phone.

Two things do not need correcting. You need not add middle names, as long as your first and last names are right, and if a middle name has been joined to your first name that "isn't a problem". A missing hyphen, apostrophe or space does not matter either: British Airways says its systems cannot show them, and that airport and passport control staff are used to seeing, for example, "Sarahjane" for "Sarah Jane".

Advance Passenger Information does not change the ticket#

Manage My Booking asks for Advance Passenger Information, including your full name as it appears on your passport and your passport number. Update it when you have a new passport. But British Airways is clear that "it's not possible to update or correct a name on a ticket simply by updating the name in the Advance Passenger Information", which "doesn't make changes to an e-ticket". The ticket needs the change above.

Bookings made elsewhere, and holidays#

• Travel agents and websites. If you booked through a travel agent or a travel website, contact them: British Airways says "we can't change tickets they've issued".
• British Airways Holidays. For a package, British Airways says "a fee applies for a name change" and asks you to call its customer support team. It does not publish the fee.
• A different person. Changing a name is not the same as changing the passenger. If you booked direct, you can cancel within 24 hours for a full refund, with exceptions for flights within 24 hours, bookings not paid immediately and packages. After that, flight-only tickets "are non-transferable".

How do I change my name on my British Airways Club account?#

The British Airways Club was "previously known as the Executive Club". To change the name on your account, send a copy of one document showing your name as you want it to appear, through the Club's supporting documents webform, or through WhatsApp. Its list for a change of name is:

So after a deed poll, change your passport or driving licence first, then send British Airways a copy of it. After marriage, the certificate is enough on its own. You send a copy, never an original. The form asks for your name as it is now on the account, your membership number and email address, and the reason your name has changed, in up to 256 characters; to upload files you must allow analytical cookies. British Airways gives no timescale.

For a change of gender, the list is a new passport, a new birth or adoption certificate, or a Gender Recognition Certificate, each showing your new name: changing your name for gender identity covers the rest.

Why the Club name matters#

British Airways says the Club name "should match the name on your passport" to avoid problems travelling or collecting Avios and tier points, and that the name and date of birth on your ticket and passport "must also match" your Club account. A mismatch can mean missing Avios.

A British Airways American Express card is "offered in conjunction with American Express", so its name is changed with American Express, not British Airways: changing your name with American Express.