Sunderland woman says dream New York holiday was ‘ruined’ after being charged nearly £700 to change name on ticket

Sharon Barrett, who lives in New Herrington, booked the trip with Hays Travel in December 2021, to fly out to New York with husband Paul on a pre-Christmas trip last month (December 2022). She was due to travel on December 9, but two weeks beforehand she lost her passport and had to apply for an emergency replacement.

Due to having recently married, the passport was issued in her married name rather than her maiden name.

Sharon, 59, told the Echo: “I spoke with Hays Travel and explained the situation in advance. I expected to have to pay some sort of fee to change my name on the ticket but when Hays Travel called to say it would cost £698, I was completely devastated.”

Sharon, who was due to fly with Air France, added: "I was told I’d be charged 99% of the £2,200 booking to cancel. I felt I had no choice but to pay the charge. We had saved £1,500 in spending money and ended up having to use nearly half of this to pay for the change. It ruined my holiday. As well as the stress it caused, New York was really expensive and we didn’t have enough money to do all the things we wanted.

"We enjoyed the trip, but it was a bit of a disaster.”

Since returning, Hays Travel have refunded the money to Sharon and said the issue has now been “resolved”.

A statement from the travel company said: “At the time of changing the name, we were obliged to go with the information provided to us by the airline [Air France], and apply the fee they required for a name change.

“However we picked this up again on behalf of Mrs Barrett and, as ultimately the airline did not apply the charge, we have been able to fully refund the fee to Mrs Barrett.”

Air France has been contacted for comment.

The company’s FAQ section online states: “The name indicated on your ticket cannot be modified. If it contains a typo or if you have changed names, please contact your point of sale or the sales department by phone.”