Hi all, and thanks for the replies.

As for the suggestion by John and CL, from what I've gathered over the
past few hours, there at least used ot be a way to do this (i.e. have
the name on the ticket changed) at the counter if you provided the
right documentation proving that the woman has legally changed her
name.  However, that is up to the discretion of the particular airline
and after checking with this one (Continental) they do not allow this.
They told me I had to take this up with my agent (i.e. effectively to
purchase a new ticket).  Of course my agent tells me this is an issue
with the airline, and, to further complicate matters these restrictions
are also dependent upon the type of ticket purchased, as mentioned by
tm.  Being a discount ticket prohibits any possibility of changes like
this.  I don't see how or why the "type" of ticket should determine the
ability to simply correct someone's name on that ticket, but apparently
it does.

John, as you mentioned, at the time I reserved the ticket it was under
my wife's maiden name.  However, just prior to their actually issuing
it to me (after I paid the balance) they did send me a confirmation
that I should have been more careful checking.  So, technically it was
indeed an oversight on my behalf.

Mark my word, this is not over.  I do plan to persue this matter after
my trip when I will have some time.   Both the airline and the agency
profited quite nicely from my simple mistake.   This is completely
bogus as far as I'm concerned.  What a business:  sell someone
something once but charge them for it twice.  This could change our
whole system of commerce :-)

Anyway, thanks again for all the fast responses.  I will definitely
post here about what follows from all this.

Regards,

MB