Can I change the name on my airline ticket?

Every airline name change policy splits this in two. Correcting the spelling of the traveler's own name is documented: Delta allows first and last name corrections, and Southwest allows one minor correction per ticketed passenger. Changing the ticket so a different person flies is a transfer, and American states that a name change from one person to another is not allowed.

How many letters can be wrong on a plane ticket?

Where a number is published it is three, but it applies to different parts of the name at different airlines. Delta limits a last name correction to a maximum of three characters. Southwest caps minor typos at three characters in the first name only. American publishes no character count and sorts corrections into minor and major instead, as of September 2026.

Does the name on my ticket have to match my ID exactly?

It should match the government ID you travel with, though small differences are recognized. Delta's Secure Flight guidance states that a middle initial instead of a full middle name, no middle name at all, or hyphens and apostrophes should not cause a problem. TSA states it accepts variations on suffixes, and that suffixes are not required on boarding passes.

Can I transfer my plane ticket to someone else?

Generally no on the US carriers that publish an answer. Delta's ticket rules state that tickets are valid for the named passenger only and are not transferable, and its correction policy states the same passenger on the original reservation must be the traveler. American's guidance defines a name change as moving the ticket from one person to another, and states it is not allowed.

How late before departure can a name be corrected?

Earlier is better, and at least one carrier publishes a deadline. American's guidance states that name corrections may not be made within 24 hours of departure, because the flight may be under airport control by then. Delta's policy sets no pre-departure window but asks for an immediate reissue once a correction is made.

Will a name correction affect my TSA PreCheck?

It can, so check afterwards. Delta's policy states that when a name is corrected in a booking that holds Secure Flight data, that data is removed and must be entered again. Because TSA requires the reservation name to be an exact match to the name on your PreCheck application, confirm your Known Traveler Number is still attached to the boarding pass.

Airline Name Change Policy: How to Fix a Misspelled Name

Q: What if I got married after I booked the flight?

That is treated as a correction rather than a transfer, and documentation is what carriers ask for. Southwest states it will process a name change to an account or upcoming reservation based on legal documentation, listing old and new licenses, identification cards or passports, a marriage license, a divorce decree, or legal name change documentation.

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Every airline name change policy turns on one distinction: correcting a name is not the same as changing who flies.

A typo, two transposed letters, a missing middle name, a maiden name where your ID now says married name. Those are corrections, and carriers document a path for them.

Handing the ticket to a different person is a transfer. Delta states it in one line: tickets are valid for the named passenger only and are not transferable.

Quick summary

Correction versus transfer is the whole question. Fixing the spelling of the traveler's own name is routine. Moving the ticket to a different traveler is not.
Delta's name correction policy allows first and middle name corrections without a waiver code, and limits a last name correction to a maximum of three characters, as of September 2026.
Southwest allows one minor name correction per ticketed passenger, with first-name typos capped at three characters, under its GDS policy last updated July 14, 2026.
Small differences are tolerated. Delta's Secure Flight guidance states a middle initial instead of a full middle name, or no middle name at all, should not cause a problem.
American's agency guidance states name corrections may not be made within 24 hours of departure, so a mismatch you notice the night before is worth raising that night.
United, JetBlue and Alaska do not publish a character threshold we could confirm, so treat those as a conversation with the airline rather than a known number.

Name correction or name change: which one do you have?

Airlines use the two terms precisely, and which one you have decides whether there is a documented path or none at all.

American's name correction guidelines draw the line in a single sentence: a correction matches the name to your government document, while a name change means changing the ticket from one person to another person, and it is not allowed.

Corrections: a misspelling, transposed letters, an added or removed middle name, first and last names entered the wrong way round, a hyphenated last name, a maiden or married name, a prefix or suffix.
Not corrections: replacing the traveler with a friend, a colleague or a relative. That is a transfer, and it sits outside every policy reviewed here.

Everything below is about the first list. The second has no published path on the carriers whose policies we could read.

American also sorts corrections by itinerary. Minor ones, on American and American Eagle flights only, can be handled in the same booking record, while corrections involving codeshare and other-airline segments need a new one.

What does TSA require the name on your ticket to match?

Secure Flight is the reason the name field carries any weight at all. Delta's guidance states that every passenger, including minors, must provide Secure Flight passenger data at the time of ticketing.

Name, date of birth, gender

The Secure Flight data US carriers collect at ticketing, with the full name given as it appears on the government issued ID used for travelDelta Secure Flight Passenger Data FAQs, Sep 2026

So the target is not your legal name in the abstract. It is the name printed on the ID you are actually going to hand over at the checkpoint.

Southwest's identification guidance lands in the same place: the name you provide when booking should match the name on the government ID you will use during travel, and minor differences may be acceptable.

If the mismatch is large enough that the checkpoint cannot verify who you are, TSA states you will not be allowed to enter the screening checkpoint. Our guide to ID requirements for flying covers what counts as acceptable identification.

What does each airline name change policy actually allow?

Two of the major US carriers publish a specific number. The others publish a path and ask you to contact them. Read the table as of September 2026, and read the note underneath it too.

Airline	What the published policy allows	Published character limit	Ticket to a different person	Source
Delta	Correction to a first, middle or last name; an addition to a last name; first and last names inverted on the ticket	Last name corrections limited to a maximum of three characters	Not permitted: the same passenger on the original reservation must be the traveler	Delta, Sep 2026
Southwest	One minor name correction per ticketed passenger: inverted names, middle name or initial, hyphenated last name, repeated characters, prefixes and suffixes	Minor typos limited to a maximum of three characters, first name only	Not offered as a transfer path; the policy covers corrections	Southwest GDS policy, Jul 2026
American	Correction to match the TSA required government document: misspellings, married, maiden and divorce names, legal names, secondary last names, inverted names	No character count published; corrections are sorted into minor and major	Not permitted: a name change from one person to another person is not allowed	American, Sep 2026
United	Not confirmed	Not published that we could confirm	Not confirmed	Contact United
JetBlue	Not confirmed	Not published that we could confirm	Not confirmed	Contact JetBlue
Alaska	Not confirmed	Not published that we could confirm	Not confirmed	Contact Alaska

A blank cell is not a no. It means that part of the airline name change policy was not something we could confirm from the carrier's own published material, so check it with the airline before relying on a number you read anywhere, including here.

Where the numbers exist, they are narrower than they look. Delta's three-character allowance is for the last name, while its policy treats first and middle name corrections separately and states no waiver code is required.

Southwest's runs the other way: its policy caps typos at three characters in the first name only, and permits one minor correction per ticketed passenger.

One rule is common to both. Date of birth and gender stay as they were: American states the original Secure Flight values must not be altered, and Southwest requires no change to either.

Why can't you transfer the ticket to someone else?

Because the ticket is issued to a person, not to a seat. That is exactly why the correction rules are drawn so narrowly.

Delta's ticket rules state that tickets are valid for the named passenger only and are not transferable. Its correction policy adds that the same passenger on the original reservation must be the traveler.

American's guidance reaches the same boundary from the other side, defining a name change as moving the ticket from one person to another and stating that it is not allowed.

What if your legal name changed after you booked?

Marriage, divorce, adoption and court-ordered changes are the common version of this, and they sit on the correction side of the line.

Southwest publishes the most explicit consumer path. Its name change request page states it will process a name change to an account or upcoming reservation based on legal documentation of a name change.

Southwest lists the documents it accepts:

Old and new driver licenses
Old and new identification cards
Old and new passports
Marriage license
Divorce decree
Legal name change documentation

Up to 5

Reservations Southwest states it can update on your account when you submit legal documentation of a name changeSouthwest name change request page, Sep 2026

American's definition of a correction names married, maiden, divorce and legal names directly, so the category is documented there too, even though the paperwork list is not.

If a wedding falls close to a trip, book in the name on the ID you will carry that week.

Does correcting a name change your fare?

A correction is designed to leave the itinerary alone. Delta's policy describes correcting the name and reissuing the ticket, which keeps the same traveler on the same flights.

What a correction does not do is hold your fare still. The price of those flights keeps moving after you book, whatever the name field says.

On a cash ticket booked directly with Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue or United, once you add your trip, Autopilot tracks the fare and reprices the reservation when it drops, and the savings come back as airline credit or a refund.

Basic economy is the usual exception to anything change-related, and our guide to basic economy change and cancel rules has the per-carrier detail.

How to get a name corrected before you fly

Most of this is a matter of doing it while the booking is still yours to edit.

Read the two names side by side
Open your confirmation and compare the passenger name to the government ID you plan to travel with, letter by letter. Middle names and suffixes are where mismatches usually hide.
Decide which kind of fix it is
A spelling fix on your own name is a correction. A different traveler is not, and no carrier reviewed here publishes a path for that.
Go to whoever issued the ticket
Carriers document corrections through their own reservations teams. If you booked through a travel agency or an online travel agency, that company issued the ticket and is your point of contact.
Do it early
American's guidance states corrections cannot be made within 24 hours of departure, and Delta's policy asks for an immediate reissue once a correction is made. Earlier is simply easier.
Re-check the boarding pass
Confirm the corrected spelling, check that your date of birth and gender are untouched, and make sure your Known Traveler Number is still attached.

Read the name field on the day you book, not the week you fly. It is the cheapest line on your itinerary to fix early, and the least convenient one to discover late.

Frequently asked questions

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