Student changes name to avoid paying Ryanair booking amendment fee
A student booked on a Ryanair flight under the wrong name decided to change his name by deed poll and buy a new passport because it was cheaper than paying the booking amendment fee.
Adam Armstrong, 19, told the Sun newspaper he faced a £220 charge to change the booking, which had been mistakenly made by his girlfriend’s stepfather under the wrong name.
But it was actually cheaper for him to change his name by deed poll, for free, and to pay £103 for a new passport.
Armstrong, a Batman fan, had used the name Adam West on Facebook after an actor who played Batman on television.
His girlfriend’s stepfather had mistakenly used that name to make the booking, according to the Sun.
Ryanair was going to charge £110 to change the name, and the passenger believed he would have to pay it twice because his girlfriend was on the same booking. In fact, they were on separate bookings.
The charge is designed to stop people buying flights and then selling them on for a profit.
"Customers are asked to ensure that the details they enter at the time of booking are correct before completing their booking and we offer a 24-hour ‘grace period’ to correct minor booking errors," said a Ryanair spokesman.
"A name change fee is charged in order to discourage and prevent unauthorised online travel agents from ‘screenscraping’ Ryanair’s cheapest fares and reselling them on to unwitting consumers at hugely inflated costs."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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