There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t learn something about some aspect of the travel industry. Today’s lesson is niche, but quite interesting, if you ask me.
In this post:
Air India won’t accept last name “Sample” on bookings
On a recent post, an OMAAT reader left the following comment, which got me curious:
I tried booking a flight on Air India and no one can ticket it because their system is hard coded to not accept SAMPLE as a surname. Have you ever heard of anything like that? Tried 1st partying booking, call center, OTAs, all rejected the ticket and either failed completely (Amex Travel) or dropped me and only ticketed my wife.
I wondered if this was really true, so I tried to recreate it.
Sure enough, when I entered a name that had the last name “Sample,” I got an error message on the next page, indicating that something went wrong.
Is this a common limitation with airlines?
This is sort of fascinating. I can kind of see how something like this would happen. Airlines might sometimes display “Sample” as a sample name, and I would assume they want to make sure no one accidentally books a ticket with that name, or something.
However, there are people out there with that last name, so it’s kind of wild that the system fully blocks that name, with seemingly no good way to override it.
One wonders, is this issue exclusive to Air India, is this an issue across Amadeus, and/or do other airlines have a similar issue? I’d assume based on the fact that a reader with the last name Sample specifically called out Air India suggests this is the exception rather than the norm.
Bottom line
Apparently Air India won’t accept bookings from passengers with the last name “Sample.” I suppose the airline is concerned that people accidentally use that last name, for whatever reason. However, that also prevents those with that last name from booking tickets on the airline.
I’m curious if this is a specific Air India restriction, or if there’s a bigger reservations system block in place for this.
What do you make of Air India not wanting “Sample” passengers?
Kind of ironic, because the only time I've heard "Sample" used as a last name, the person with that name was Indian. I don't know how common it is in India. But it's pronounced "sum PLAY".
Assuming they have a middle name, I would think entering the middle name and last name both in the last name section could be a work around.
In 2011 when I started reading OMAAT I realized this was going to be an issue so I change my passport name, omitting the first and the second of my 4 names.
In English naming, it's not uncommon for Bob Smith's full name to be James Andrew Robert Smith. The people who created (and still manage) SAAbre and Amadeus don't know, or care.
Total capitulation was the strategy I chose.
People may have all sorts of names in any languages, first names, middle names, last names.... for a plane ticket, one first name and one surname are fine but you can write more.
Here the problem is different, if your name is Robert, why would you write Bob!? it’s a nickname, not an identity.
They could reverse the names with eg John as the surname and Sample as the first. It’s technically not correct however the name matches the ID. Alternatively book by phone.
In many cultures people have no first name so there’s the option FNU ( 1st name unknown )
Ex-Amadeus here. The only limitations in Passenger Servicing Systems regarding names are:
- (all systems) you can't use "EXST" nor "CBBG" as a first name, because these are used for extra seat and cabin bag, respectively (this is documented as an IATA procedure)
- Some systems don't allow (Amadeus actually does) last names with only one letter (e.g. "O") in which case IATA recommends to double it ("OO")
- Many airlines (but...
Ex-Amadeus here. The only limitations in Passenger Servicing Systems regarding names are:
- (all systems) you can't use "EXST" nor "CBBG" as a first name, because these are used for extra seat and cabin bag, respectively (this is documented as an IATA procedure)
- Some systems don't allow (Amadeus actually does) last names with only one letter (e.g. "O") in which case IATA recommends to double it ("OO")
- Many airlines (but this isn't a system limitation) would either not allow (or allow but immediately cancel) "TEST" as a last name. And your example falls rather in this category
Needless to say all the above is a pain if your real name is one of these scenarios, especially that in a flight to/from the US, online check-in would only work on the condition that your name on passport matches your name on the booking...
Ben lives in South Florida, so he's likely familiar with Broward County's Sample Rd, just north of FLL.
I remember that the first time I saw "Sample Rd 10 miles 10 min" on a digital display on I-95, I assumed FDOT was testing their system... until 10 minutes later, when I passed the exit for Sample Rd.
Near our house in Florida is Cracker Swamp Dirt Rd. I guess if that's your street name, adding "Florida" is pretty much redundant.
hahahahahhahah thanks for the laughter. I really need to visit Florida, I get the impression it's full of annoying people
Someone left test code in the system (or maybe it was deliberate and they incorrectly assumed that "Sample" would never occur) so that they could demo or test the front end in the production system without running the risk of creating a reservation.
Singapore Airlines uses Amadeus too and I’m able to make a reservation (until booking payment page) for a return flight departing Delhi with the first name Bob and last name Sample
haha and total confidence that on the day, the operating carrier will issue a boarding pass? LOL
"I tried booking a flight on Air India and no one can ticket it because their system is hard coded to not accept SAMPLE as a surname. Have you ever heard of anything like that?"
I haven't heard of the said surname before!
Google is your friend. If you check, there are many people with the surname Sample
Blocking names is really stupid. Lyft got caught with their dick in their hand when they tried banning the surnames Finger, Cumming, and more
Imagine if they blocked the last name PATEL
Three words of advice. Avoid Air India.
Never heard of blocking a specific last name but I have a double last name and no middle name and for years my company's travel system (don't remember which one) would not accept it. The system would either combine both last names as one or get my first last name and place it as middle name. Problem is that back in the day, the system would issue my airline tickets according to the name on...
Never heard of blocking a specific last name but I have a double last name and no middle name and for years my company's travel system (don't remember which one) would not accept it. The system would either combine both last names as one or get my first last name and place it as middle name. Problem is that back in the day, the system would issue my airline tickets according to the name on file which was then different than what showed on my passport. Some airlines didn't;t care but some refused to check me in. It was a nightmare until they finally fixed that.
While I personally haven't had this issue, I've booked flights for friends where we had to choose a different airline because the system wouldn't accept a two-letter last name (minimum 3 characters). Not great for people from my neck of the woods.