TUI charges NHS worker £327 to change maiden name on booking after mix-up

24 February 2023 , 12:06

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Sharon Tucker was asked to fork out more than £300 for the small change (Image: Plymouth Live/BPM MEDIA)

An NHS worker was charged more than £300 for changing her name on a boarding pass.

Sharon Tucker booked a family holiday to Turkey with TUI in January over the phone, only to realise her passport was due to expire within a month of the trip.

Under post-Brexit rules, travel documents have to be valid for at least 30 days from the date of exit, Plymouth Live reported.

Because the Plymouth mum's old passport was in her married name and a new one in her maiden name, she called TUI back to explain the mix-up.

Sharon was informed that she would need to pay £327.27 to make the name change.

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TUI has now waived the charge (Getty Images)

The mum tried to contest the sum, but after an alleged 20 emails, she had made no progress.

She added: "I work in admin and I know that changing a name takes seconds. We deal with it all the time with patients changing names and addresses.

"The tickets have not even been printed. I have spoken to TUI who say they only charge £25 for admin corrections. I have emailed the call centre several times and they can not tell me who is requesting that charge and why it is so extortionate."

TUI has since dropped the charge after the company was contacted by Plymouth Live.

A TUI spokesperson has apologised and stated the initial charge was incorrect.

Sharon said: "I did not expect this outcome to be honest. I was expecting to have to pay something but nothing to pay is a great result. Power to the people!"

A TUI spokesperson said: "We are sorry to hear that Ms Tucker was incorrectly told she would be charged £350 to change her name on her boarding pass.

"We have been in contact with Ms Tucker and her passport details have been updated with the airline free of charge.

"We apologise for the inconvenience caused, and we’re happy we were able to rectify the situation for her. We hope she has a lovely holiday."

Last week the Home Office announced that the 10-week turn-around time for travel documents which was introduced during the pandemic would remain in place.

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Pressure on the Passport Office partly caused by a lockdown backlog has seen the wait time increase from three weeks four years ago to ten weeks now.

While the official waiting time is ten weeks, there is a very good chance it will be much shorter than this in reality.

According to Passport Waiting Times - which tracks self-made reports of applications online - most people are waiting 17 days for their travel documents to arrive.

Elliot Ball