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.  I went and
> purchased the tickets without double checking this detail . . . my
> very, bad and expensive mistake.

This isn't a one-for-one match, but I hope it helps ...

There used to be a form you could get from your local kuyakusho (I 
think) which very clearly stated that the person formerly known as "X" 
had officially changed their name to "Y" and that the official document 
bearing the new name was issued on "Z" date at some official place.  I 
had one for a while when I asked if I could register my name in romaji 
and kana both.  It disappeared when I got my new credit card torokusho 
with both writings on the front of the card.

When my wife was flight crew and changed her name, there was a "problem" 
with the fact that the 35-odd visas that didn't expire at the same time 
as the passport were in her maiden name.  The Justice Ministry office (I 
think it was the one in Chiba-shi) that issued her new passport stapled 
her old and new one together and they ... or the kuyakusho ... stapled 
in an attestation over her maiden name passport's photo page that said 
that both names belonged to the same person AND that the same person 
using either name had the same legal standing ... or something like 
that.  That whole mess, which was almost an inch thick before it was 
retired, was accepted by every airport (and airline, when we went on 
vacation) until she had to get another passport and we were able to dump 
the double book.

You really ought to have a heart-to-heart talk with the kuyakusho and 
the office that issued her current passport ASAP and find out what they 
can do now.