A woman was told she would have to pay more than £300 to change the name on her boarding pass ahead of her family holiday. NHS worker Sharon Tucker said she made the honest mistake when her passport expired.
Sharon booked the trip in January over the phone but says that after ending the call, she realised her passport was due to expire within a month of the holiday. Current UK Government advice is that when visiting Turkey, your passport should be valid for at least 150 days from the date you arrive.
Normally this would not cause an issue - but Sharon's current passport was in her married name and a new one would be in her maiden name. She said she rang TUI back within 10 minutes after realising her mistake, only to be informed that she would need to pay £327.27 to do so, Plymouth Live reports.
Sharon said she was "shocked" at the charge and appealed to the firm. She claims she had made no progress after 20 emails and was told "this is the cost".
She said: "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."
She added: "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."
PlymouthLive contacted TUI on Sharon's behalf and the matter has now been resolved, with the company apologising and and saying the initial charge was incorrect. Her name has also been changed free of charge.
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!"
In a statement, TUI 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."
