MonkeyBoy wrote:

>I purchasted two "discount" airline tickets for a flight back to the
>US.  At the time I reserved the tickets my wife's passport had her
>maiden name on it, so that's the name that got used.  Well, you
>probably know where this is going.  Her passport expired during the
>interim and the new passport has her new surname on it.

If that was the name on her passport at the time the ticket was issued
that was the right name to book the ticket in. That's what they asked
for, wasn't it? Her name as it appeared in her passport at the time of
booking? Some companies even want a fax or photocopy of the passport
before taking the booking, and you can't give a photocopy of a passport
that hasn't been issued yet.

Take the old passport with you when you go to check in. Take the
documentation from the city hall proving she changed her name, for good
measure. Get an embassy-stamped English translation of that document if
it needs to be shown for your return from the US to Japan. I doubt very
much that there'll be any fuss about this, and if there is tell them
you'll take it to court. I'm pretty sure they'd lose if it came to
that.

John
http://rarebooksinjapan.com