Is your (official) name Joseph, Joe or Jose? Moreover and if you have more than one name, what name do you use when you book airline tickets and does that name exactly match the name on your passport, other official forms of ID or credit card? In the near future, you better have your name straight when you book airline tickets.
As an article (I See You Have a Ticket, but Is That Your Name?) in the New York Times recently pointed out, the name on the ID you use at the airport security checkpoint will soon need to precisely match the name on your airline ticket under a new USA initiative called Secure Flight. This initiative will take effect for domestic passengers in the USA early next year and for international passengers by the end of 2010. However, some airlines such as American Airlines have already begun requiring customers to make reservations with their name exactly as it appears on the government-issue ID they will use for travel (along with their gender and date of birth).
While these rules may not affect passengers traveling on non-USA based airlines outside of the USA, they are definitively a sign of the times. In other words, if you have multiple names on all of your official IDs and travel frequently, now might be the time to decide just what your real name is.
From: http://www.moveandstay.com/business-traveler-asia/2009/10/airline-tickets-and-your-real-name-is.html
