Pictured above: a Canadian passport. If you are planning a trip, a word of advice. Maybe your name is James, but everyone calls you Jim. Or, you are officially Susan, but your ID says 'Sue'. William is Bill, Robert is Bob, Angela is Angie, you get the picture. My given name is 'Sandra', but I've been 'Sandy' for as long as I can remember. My passport is in the name of 'Sandy Sharkey'. Unfortunately, when I went to check in at the airport counter for my flight to Vegas at 4:30 in the morning last Saturday, it was brought to my attention that while my passport says 'Sandy', my airline ticket was booked under the passenger name of 'Sandra', and the counter agent refused to check me in. Of course I emptied my wallet, holding up as evidence every piece of ID ever issued to me. On my Ontario health card, the name is Sandra. On my driver's license, Sandy. Costco card, Sandra. Rideau Carleton Slots Winners Circle card, Sandy. Hmm. This did nothing to help my case, except to strengthen the counter agent's opinion that I should not get on a plane, as I have no idea which name to use at any given time.
The original counter agent finally checked me in for my first destination, Montreal, but not before he insisted on writing a 'note' in my file. Once I switched planes in Montreal, his note in the computer would 'flag me' to U.S. customs, thus making it unlikely that they would let me get on the plane to Las Vegas. Once again, I cried a river of tears, begging him not to 'flag me', as I had a friend waiting for me and we were renting a car and going through the desert! He showed no empathy. So, off I went with boarding pass in hand, with the name 'Sandra' in big black letters, tucked into a passport which identified me as 'Sandy'. And a note in my file to U.S customs, to stop me in Montreal, do not let her on the plane, she doesn't even know her own name. I then decided to call my husband, to get the phone number for a friend who is a pilot, who may be able to hack in to the airline computer system at 4:30 on a Saturday morning and erase the 'warning' in my file. I thought this was a reasonable request. Needless to say, it was not. My husband said not to worry, get on the plane to Montreal, then call him, and maybe he could make some phone calls at this end. He was half asleep and I don't know what he would have done to get me to Vegas if U.S customs had denied my entry, but I felt a little better knowing that my husband was on it. Or, he was going back to sleep. Anyway, off to the boarding gate I went. I ran up to the boarding gate agent and frantically told her my sad story. She was not only sympathetic, she sent a walkie-talkie message to the plane, asking the pilot to wait for me, as she had a passenger with a 'problem'.
The boarding agent found my 'file' on the computer, and completely deleted the 'warning' from the original counter agent. She said that the other agent was over-zealous, 'Sandy' and 'Sandra' are the same name, it would have been an issue if the surname on my passport was different from the surname on my ticket, but for the sake of a couple of letters difference in first names, it doesn't matter. I asked this woman her name, so that I could publicly thank her for getting me on that plane to Montreal followed by Vegas. But I've since been advised NOT to thank her publicly. According to industry people, she did the wrong thing by hiding me from U.S customs. Wow. It was like my own little 'Midnight Express'. So, thank you, Counter Agent Madame 'X' for bending the rules. I am going to Mexico in January, and I am now in the process of getting my airline ticket changed to 'Sandy'. Because that's the name on my passport. Whew. This is the worst offence I've committed at an airport since I didn't put my lipstick in a ziploc bag.
