Last updated: August 2026
There’s no British Airways name change fee, because British Airways doesn’t offer a name change on a flight-only ticket at any price. What it does offer, free of charge, is a correction: fixing a genuine spelling mistake or updating a passenger’s legal surname, such as after marriage, over the phone. Swapping in a different passenger entirely isn’t on the table, whatever you’re prepared to pay.
How much is the British Airways name change fee?
Nothing, for the two changes BA actually allows. Everything else on this list isn’t a fee question at all, because BA won’t do it regardless of price.
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| What it costs | |
|---|---|
| Spelling mistake correction | Free by phone |
| Legal name change (marriage etc.) | Free by phone |
| Tax, fee or surcharge rise since booking | Payable, on top of the free correction |
| Full change to a different passenger | Not offered, at any price |
| Transfer of a British Airways Holidays package | Statutory right, BA must prove its cost |
Only the last row needs a package booking through British Airways Holidays rather than a bare flight. It runs on entirely different rules, covered further down.
Why you can’t just change the name on a British Airways ticket
British Airways’ General Conditions of Carriage are direct about this: “You cannot transfer your ticket” (clause 3a2). A flight-only BA ticket is issued to one named passenger, and it stays that passenger’s ticket from booking to boarding. That’s a different starting point to a budget carrier charging £40 or £115 to swap the name over. BA isn’t pricing this high. It simply isn’t on offer.
- Clause 3e: events beyond your control that stop you travelling.
- Clause 3f: a transfer where the Package Travel Regulations apply, meaning a British Airways Holidays package booking, not a flight bought on its own.
How to correct a name on a British Airways booking
This is the free process, and it only covers a genuine error, not a change of who’s travelling.
- Check the mistake is a genuine spelling error or a legal name change, since that’s what decides whether BA’s free process applies at all.
- Contact British Airways by phone, but only if every flight on the ticket is operated by British Airways itself.
- Have proof of identity ready. BA’s team can ask for it before confirming the change.
- Budget for the difference if taxes, fees, carrier-imposed charges or fuel surcharges have risen since you booked. That part isn’t free.
- Skip the Advance Passenger Information field in Manage My Booking for this. Editing it there doesn’t change the ticket itself.
- Booked through a travel agent or a travel website rather than BA directly? Contact them instead. BA can’t change a ticket someone else issued.
- Flying on more than one airline on the same trip? A BA Customer Services adviser can talk you through what that combination allows.
There’s no online self-service form for this. Every correction goes through a BA adviser directly, which is also how the identity check gets done.
The legal right BA’s fee page doesn’t mention
The free-correction route only exists for genuine mistakes. Handing a whole booking to someone else is different, and on a British Airways Holidays package, UK law gives you a right BA’s own page doesn’t set out: regulation 9 of the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018. Give seven days’ notice or more before departure and it always counts as reasonable, which is what the right needs. Separately, whatever notice you give, BA must prove the transfer costs and cannot charge more than it actually incurred.
“BA’s own conditions grant this right under clause 3f, though the wording still points to the outdated 1992 rules, not the 2018 Regulations that actually apply now. Either way, the substance holds: BA must prove what a transfer really costs before charging for it. Compare that to a bare flight ticket, where there’s no transfer route at all, just a free fix for a genuine mistake. Same airline, two different rulebooks depending on what you booked.”
Kate Acaster, Chief Editor, Flight Tribe
This right applies only where the Package Travel Regulations cover the booking. A flight bought on its own from ba.com doesn’t qualify. That’s the same statutory transfer right that applies on a TUI package booking, just triggered by a different clause in BA’s conditions.
Can you just cancel and book again instead?
For a genuine spelling error, no need. The correction is free, so cancelling and rebooking from scratch only adds BA’s standard cancellation charges for no benefit. For a full change of passenger on a flight-only ticket, BA gives you no route to swap the name at all, so the realistic options are a fresh booking in the new passenger’s name or, if the original booking is refundable, cancelling it first. Check the fare rules before assuming a refund is available. Most BA leisure fares aren’t.
Read the fare conditions attached to your specific booking before deciding whether cancelling makes sense. A British Airways Holidays package and a flight-only ticket carry different rules here, and the package route is usually the cheaper one to unwind.
How this compares to other airlines
Every other operator in this comparison charges something for a full name change. On this one point, BA sits outside the pattern entirely.
| Operator | Name change | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| British Airways (flight) | Not permitted | Ticket non-transferable. Spelling and legal name changes free. |
| TUI (package) | £25pp | Flat at every notice band. Spelling correction free. |
| Jet2 (flight) | £40pp per one-way | Same price online or at the airport desk. |
| Jet2holidays (package) | £50pp | Rises to £150 inside 48 hours. |
| Wizz Air | approx £45-55pp per segment | One free correction online up to 3 hours before departure. |
| Ryanair | £115 online / £160 via agent | 3 characters free once, up to 48h before departure. |
More on flying with British Airways
For the wider picture on booking and flying with the airline, see our guides to British Airways check-in deadlines and British Airways seat selection. If your trip needs cancelling entirely rather than correcting, our guide on whether you can cancel a BA flight covers the fare rules in full.
- Booking a British Airways Holidays package instead of a bare flight changes which rules apply here. See our British Airways Holidays guide for how the package differs.
- A delayed or cancelled BA flight is a separate claim entirely from a name correction. Check what compensation you’re owed if that’s the issue instead.
- Packing the wrong bag is a different mistake to booking the wrong name. Check British Airways’ hand luggage size rules before you fly.
British Airways name change fee: FAQs
Does British Airways charge a fee to change a name on a ticket?
No, because it doesn’t offer a name change on a flight-only ticket at any price. It corrects a genuine spelling mistake or an updated legal surname free by phone instead.
Can you change the passenger on a British Airways ticket?
Not on a flight-only booking. BA’s own conditions of carriage state the ticket cannot be transferred to another person, with no fee route around it.
Is a spelling correction on a British Airways ticket free?
Yes, by phone, as long as every flight on the ticket is operated by British Airways. You’ll only pay if taxes, fees or surcharges have risen since booking.
Can I update a name through Manage My Booking?
Not for the ticket itself. Editing the Advance Passenger Information field there updates what BA holds on file, but it doesn’t change the e-ticket. That still needs a phone call to BA.
Can British Airways charge more than its actual cost to transfer a package booking?
No, whatever notice you give. Under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, BA must prove its transfer costs and cannot charge beyond what it actually incurred. Giving seven days’ notice or more simply guarantees your notice counts as reasonable in the first place.
What if I booked through a travel agent rather than BA directly?
Contact the agent or travel website you booked through. British Airways can’t amend a ticket that someone else issued, even for a genuine spelling error.
How does this compare to Ryanair, easyJet or TUI?
They all charge a fee to change a name, from around £25 with TUI to £115 or more with Ryanair. British Airways is the outlier: it charges nothing, because it won’t do this on a flight-only ticket at all.
Kate Acaster is Chief Editor at Flight Tribe. She writes about practical travel planning, budget airlines, baggage rules, city breaks, beach holidays and good hotels that do not cost daft money.
Kate has travelled through Europe, South America and beyond, usually with a notebook, a half-formed plan and a strong opinion on airport snacks. At Flight Tribe, her work focuses on helping UK travellers understand what is included, what costs extra, and whether a trip is worth booking at the price shown.
How Kate works
Kate checks the details that can change the value of a trip, including cabin-bag rules, airline fees, hotel location, seasonality, travel dates and booking conditions. She is especially interested in offers that look useful on the surface but need a proper reader-first check before they are worth recommending.
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