What kind of ID do I need for the airport?

[Soccer Princess]

I will be going on my honeymoon a week after my wedding. My airline ressie is in my maiden name, but my hotel ressie will be in my married name. I was going to go ahead and change over my drivers license, but did not know if this would cause a problem in the airport. I do have a passport with my maiden name on it. If I have my passport with the old name that matches my ticket, but my license has my new name will that be okay? Thanks

 

[Ted and Holly]

I believe a passport is fine as long as it is current and valid.

Ted

 

[munchkin bunchkin]

We only needed to show our driver's license

 

[Ted and Holly]

I will be going on my honeymoon a week after my wedding. My airline ressie is in my maiden name, but my hotel ressie will be in my married name. I was going to go ahead and change over my drivers license, but did not know if this would cause a problem in the airport. I do have a passport with my maiden name on it. If I have my passport with the old name that matches my ticket, but my license has my new name will that be okay? Thanks

Obviously a driver's license is fine. But to avoid any potential issues with the difference in names between the airline tickets and driver's license, the passport with the maiden name might be easier.

Ted

 

[NotUrsula]

ID used for this purpose needs to be gov't issued photo ID, so either a passport or a DL would be fine. However, the ID you present must have the same last name as is on your ticket, or the airline may refuse to let you fly. For getting through the airport smoothly, use only whichever ID matches the ticket, and do not confuse matters by taking out the other one.

BTW, I got caught in this same trap on my honeymoon, but in my case I didn't have ANY ID that matched the ticket, and we were going abroad. DH bought the tickets, and he very wrongly just presumed I would be changing my name. I didn't, and somehow he didn't realize what that would mean until we reached the airport. Luckily we had our marriage license with us and the airline took pity on him and agreed to change the name on the ticket. However, that was 16 years ago; there is no way they would do that now.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I agree - use your passport for your id, since the name will match your ticket and you should have no problems. Then get your passport updated when you get home.

 

[bjscheel]

On my honeymoon we took a copy of our marriage license in 1996.

My problem now is that I ordered our tickets under our nicknames, Beth and Jeff, while our drivers licenses say Elizabeth and Jeffrey. AA says they need to match and that Disney will have to try to change it. I just emailed Disney, hopefully they can fix it without a problem. If they can't, do you think we should go get passports using Beth and Jeff?

 

[NotUrsula]

You can't get passports using Beth and Jeff, I'm afraid, unless "Beth" and "Jeff" are on your birth certificates (which is what the passports must be based on as proof of citizenship.) However, you're probably going to get by, as the difference is a variation on the first name, rather than the surname.

The security ID checkers are generally lenient about nicknames for first names as long as they are common nicknames, which is what you have in this case. (It would be much more of a problem if you were using something like "Cookie", for example.) If you have any other documents, such as business cards, membership cards, etc., which use the nicknames, it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring them along as collaborative evidence.

 

[bjscheel]

Well I hope it works out! Haven't heard from Disney yet but the lady at AA said "Oh they're very strict at security". What a thing to be nervous about the next 6.5 months!

Will checking in online make a difference? I registered on aa.com as Elizabeth and then of course the reservation didn't match up. I'm thinking of registering DH as Jeff and see how that works out. And we want to use resort check-in at POP.

 

[katied]

I'd be really suprised if you can change the name on your DL in just 1 week. When I got married (2001) I had to wait about 3 weeks for a certified copy of my marriage certificate (you can't get a "real" copy of it until after it has been registered post-wedding). Then I first needed to change with Social Security office before the DMV in IL would change my license. In any event, you'd likely have a DL under your maiden name for some time.

Another thing to keep in mind - when you change your name with your passport, they do not reissue it. They just put a name change statement in the very back. This is not normally a problem in the U.S., but I've been overseas so much I'm acutally out of passport pages, and it causes endless confusion all the time. If you are going to change your passport - ask and pay the fee for a new passport. It's worth it. My current one expires in 6 months and I can't wait to have a new once and stop going through the explainations.

Good luck with the names on your tickets. The big issue is not checking in, but getting through security. Even if you check in on line and have a boarding pass, security (which is not connected with the airline) will look at your ID and your tickets. They may let you through (if they're not paying attention) or they may refuse because your ID and ticket names (nicknames) do not match. If they cause problems, it's up to the airline if they will re-issue your tickets with a corrected name to match your ID in time for your flight.