Does your EasyJet boarding pass have to include your middle names?

EasyJet’s booking system can leave passengers worried they will be refused boarding because the name on their boarding pass doesn't match the full name on their travel ID. What exactly are the rules, and when can passengers be refused boarding?

EasyJet booking system doesn’t ask for middle names

You’re in your flat in Germany packing your things and getting excited to go to the airport for a much-anticipated journey back home to see family and friends. 

You’re double-checking you’ve got your passport and boarding pass when disaster seemingly strikes: your boarding pass doesn’t include your middle names. You check the EasyJet website, and it says passengers must “ensure the[ir] full name matches the ID they will be using to travel, including middle names”. 

While EasyJet currently lets passengers change their title or correct name-spelling mistakes of up to three characters for free, passengers must pay 77 euros per passenger, per flight, to change the name on their booking.

Your heart sinks, and you think, “Does this mean I have to fork out close to 100 euros just to change the name on my boarding pass? If I don’t, will I be refused boarding and my trip home ruined?”

EasyJet’s online booking system has left many passengers asking these questions. Currently, when booking a flight, passengers are asked to enter their “First name” in one field - rather than their “First names” or “First and middle names” - and “Last name” in another. 

EasyJet website / Image credit: IamExpat screenshot

As a result, when passengers with middle names check in for their flight, they may receive an error message that the name used to book their flight does not match the name on their passport or travel document. 

So what actually are the rules? Under which circumstances is EasyJet likely to refuse passengers boarding? And in which circumstances will you be able to board despite your middle names missing from your boarding pass?

Passengers must be “clearly identified”

When contacted for clarification on whether passengers' boarding passes are valid even if they only display the passengers' first and last names, but not the middle names included on their passport or ID, the budget airline told IamExpat the following: 

“The first names on the boarding pass should match those in the passenger’s travel document. This includes middle names. However, minor differences do not necessarily prevent a passenger from travelling, provided their identity can be verified by check-in or gate staff.”

Put more simply, “[I]f the passenger can be clearly identified, they will be allowed to board.” EasyJet gate staff have allowed passengers to board when middle names are missing from their boarding passes, as long as they have been clearly identified.