[Pwelsh]

I purchased 3 return tickets for my family to travel from Brisbane Australia to Dublin Ireland at a cost of around AUS $4700. Our travel dates where 02 October 2015, at check in to the flights my daughter and wife's passport was scanned and where rejected on the grounds that passports did not match up with names on tickets, (my ticket was OK as I have only one forename and surname) what we where told that whoever issued the tickets for my wife and daughter had put the first part of their surname as being part of the forename and the last part of their surname being the only surname, (this is exact example of how it was: Talita De Campos/ Welsh meaning the surname is listed as "Welsh" after the /, but in actual fact her surname is "De Campos Welsh" hence computer rejects ticket/passport) same for wife's ticket.
I initially though that this was a simple error and would be easily sorted out but ....No, Etihad told us they did not issue ticket as they where bought through agent and would have to get the agent to sort it out. When I contacted agent was told that no name changes allowed according to Etihad rules and cant help me, (the agent was very very unhelpful and just said it was my responsibility to ensure names where correctly listed) ,surely anyone can see that this was a simple name listing error and the only thing needing changed is where the / needs to be put everything else stays exactly the same. I ended up buying complete new tickets with Emirates at around AUS $5000 after 5 days of trying to sort it out.
This is a basic administrative error that I would have expected a reputable airline such as Etihad to sort it out with little fuss as anyone with any common sense can see the tickets where intended for my family, a simple error of where the / needed to be positioned, and not a case of giving tickets to another person which is what this "no name change" rule was there to prevent. I have read that some people have had the same issue and really it depends who you get at check in, the Etihad guy at Brisbane Airport just would not let us board despite even saying he can see the tickets where intended for us (said something about at the other side there might be trouble, but cant see that as at other side they only check passport!) he just really didn't care.
Funny thing was I might have spotted the error beforehand but what happened was the agent gave me the Etihad booking number then I printed the itinerary from Etihads web site, on that itinerary all our names seem to be 100% correct, this is because you cant tell where the forename ends and surname starts as they list the names together as you would normally see names written with no destination between forename and surname.
I am now back home again in Australia and will do all I can to try and get something for my $4700, but all I seem to get is the same answer = no name changes allowed... but we are not changing the names !!!! booking number was QBJLKD flight EY485.

[Pwelsh]

Ticket numbers:
Paul Welsh = ETKT 607 8193440964-65
Talita De Campos Welsh = ETKT 607 8193440966-67
Lucilla De campos Pinheiro = ETKT 607 8193440962-63

[Etihad Representative]

Hi Paul, we are sorry to hear this. Could you please forward your feedback to ********************** in order for our concerned department to look into it for you. Thank you! *ZD