In their efforts to keep air travel safe and secure the government has implemented a program called Secure Flight. One of the rules to be observed is that full names on the airlines boarding passes must match up exactly with what ever government issued ID the passenger may be using.
If the passenger goes by a nickname or modified version of his given name then the passenger can not use that version of his name on the ticket. At present a delay and extra questioning may be encountered but next year it could well result in a passenger being denied boarding.
If you use an initial and a middle name it will have to be shown that way on your ID. If you use a different version of your given name ie: Bob instead of Robert it will also have to be shown that way on your ID. The time to check on this is right now. Don’t wait till you get to the airport and find that you can’t use the ticket you purchased because there is a problem with your name.
This is supposed to keep terrorists from using an assumed name to purchase a ticket and then an ID that is similar to make a boarding on a plane. That remains to be seen. If you were using a different name wouldn’t you use an ID that was the same as the new name?
Tip of the Day: Make sure the name on your ticket is exactly the same as the name on your gov’t issued ID.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by SavvyBoomers, Jere. Jere said: Did you know your nickname could keep you from getting on a plane? http://bit.ly/55wRyW [...]