TLDR: My flight booking from Malaysia transiting through Singapore is missing my surname, what do you think in the outcome when I go to the airport on the day.
My dad has recently passed away in Malaysia. I went back to see him in the hospital and accompanied my mum and stayed for a while after his passing. Now that my mum is in a better headspace, it is time for me to go back to my own family in Brisbane.
So last week, I made a one-way flight booking from Malaysia to Brisbane using Expedia. The flight is comprised of 2 legs, the first leg from Malaysia stops in Singapore via Malaysia Airlines and then the flight continues to Brisbane from Singapore via Qantas. This is all under the one booking, I think Malaysia Airlines and Qantas are both part of Oneworld Alliance. After I receive my flight confirmation, I found that my surname is missing from the booking, and in its place is my first name, and the first name field has my middle name instead. Naturally, I called Expedia customer service to rectify this issue.
After being on hold for an hour, I was told Qantas has denied the name correction request, and the only option presented to me was to cancel my ticket, and rebook me on another flight. Expedia wanted to charge me 500 ringgit for doing so, plus whatever the extra costs of the new flight booking compared to the old one. I was shocked and said that I would never split my first name and my middle name when filling in an online booking form. If there was a mistake, it must be at their end. The guy I spoke to, Mike from Expedia pretty much called me a liar and would not budge.
I hung up the phone and called Qantas, surely there must be a good reason for denying the name correction request. It didn't go well, I was hung up on twice after I mentioned why I was calling and put on hold. At the time I just chalk it down to bad phone connection or something. When I got through the third time, I found out why, the guy on the phone pretty much told me I needed to file a request through Expedia and that they are not touching the booking at their end. I told him the situation that Expedia has already told me that Qantas had denied the name correction request and I wanted to know why. He basically said that third party bookings are not their concern and that I can't escalate the request. Although it was a pretty tense conversation, I applaud the Qantas guy for being upfront instead of hanging up on me so I won't mention his name.
So Expedia is saying that I can't update the name on the booking because Qantas has denied the request and Qantas is saying that to update the name on the booking I needed to file a request with Expedia? WTH?
I paused for a bit after having these convoluted conversations and let my thoughts sink in. What can I do now? F*** it, I will be like my dad and throw caution to the wind. I will just show up at the airport next week and see how it goes. What is the worse that can happen right? What are the odds I will reach Brisbane as scheduled on the day?
Can we assume you have an Australian passport? Otherwise no chance.
You could buy a new ticket for the first leg, as they are cheap, and try your luck in Singapore.
You will not have to clear immigration there if transiting, just the boarding lounge. So maybe??? If no baggage to check in.
Is there time to change your name? Present a certificate of name change along with your passport. :)