Name Change on Airline Tickets

Well, I surely am learning many lessons with my first 3 customers alone. I assisted one of my customers by booking a vacation package for her 16 year old son and herself. AFter doing research and many conversations she decided on a wonderful trip to Atlantis on Paradise Island, in the Bahamas. (Im jealous) Anyway, I booked the vacation as a package thru my site for her. I have noticed some clients prefer it that way. They have very busy schedules and feel confident in my ability to do so for them.

Today, two weeks before the trip she called me and notified me that the name for her son was incorrect on the itinerary. RUT ROH! Not a good thing. I booked her son with her last name, however he has his fathers last name. Not only will this present a problem, but the fact that it is an international flight was even more trouble.

She called the airlines they said to call the vendor. She called me, and I called our vendor being travelocity. Travelocity, by policy can not make name changes to airline tickets. I even researched it on the net via google. I read so many articles of people having problems making name changes. I was dreading calling the airline, Continential.

The service person I was speaking with kept me on hold for quite a while and finally came back and said she tried everything she could, but normally they don't do name changes. My heart was growing more and more nervous, but I kept keeping a positive and polite attitude, making sure to thank the rep very much for her help. She then said she was transferring me to executive group..something or other. I asked her did she think I had a chance, and she then went on to say...they "sometimes" made exceptions. I got Richard (another rep) on the line, and was expecting to have to have a very long drawn out conversation. I explained my mistake, and that the boy was only 16 years old and the correct spelling of his name was on his ONEPASS (miles program I entered during booking). I also mentioned that I was a travel rep with YTB.

I was put on hold for a short while, and Richard and I small talked for a bit, found out that was a special line for agents only. Finally he came back and said, OKAY, his name is now changed!

HOLYYYYYYYYYYY cow..I did not expect that much and was so grateful, I couldnt stop telling Richard how grateful I was almost to a tear, I spent a lot of time and was succesful. I called my client and they were so pleased and understanding of the initial mistake.

Lessons Learned: Always make sure the names of all parties ARE CORRECT and confirm tickets immediately. I was told that if the name problem was caught within a few days that the trip was orginally booked, it would have been easier to change.

Also another lesson learned: Make sure all Cancellation policies are read prior to booking and the information is explained to clients.

Another Happy ending!
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