I can never get how to fill in the names when purchasing airline ticket.

This is from ANA's website:



*there is no equivalent example provided for in ANA's website but the closest one is the example from Hong Kong.

... and this is from MAS's website:



so, assuming my name is "Anthony Loke Siew Fook" then for ANA I would need to fill in:

"Siew Fook Anthony" as the first name; and
then "Loke" for the last name

HOWEVER for MAS:-

the first middle would be "Siew Fook"; and
then last name as "Anthony Loke".

so how o_O?

EDIT: So if i want to purchase from ANA, how should i fill my name?

This post has been edited by shaniandras2787: Jan 24 2024, 10:29 AM

What's your question? You wanna buy from which airline?

from ANA.

last name is Loke
given name is the rest of them

follow the passport, all name.

ouh... which means it will be:-

First Name: "Anthony Siew Fook"; and
Last Name: "Loke" (just "Loke"?)

This will work even for MAS. thats how i fill up all the time

Follow name on passport. As long as all name at passport got at ticket, no prob first/last name. If u got BIN/BINTI also just put either at end of first name or beginning of last name.

This post has been edited by erry-: Jan 24 2024, 11:06 AM

yes this one is correct. ^ is the proper way.

even if i do

First Name : Anthony
Last Name : Loke Siew Fook

it will still go through anyway. been there done that.


This post has been edited by a13solut3: Jan 24 2024, 11:05 AM

oh, ok thanks.

really don't understand why airline companies don't streamline these forms. could have just have one column which states "FULL NAME AS PER PASSPORT".

Yeap, OK... thanks!

Follow the passport lor.

If your name is Anthony Loke Siew Fook, then the Surname or Family Name is Loke and rest will be Given Name or Other Name.

Yeah. The problem with ANA's website is that it did not mention "Surname" or "Family Name" but just "First Name" and "Last Name" so with a name like "Anthony Loke Siew Fook", not sure which one is to be regarded as "First Name" and which is "Last Name" and then assuming that "Last Name" IS the "Surname" then should the "First Name/Given Name" be "Anthony Siew Fook" or "Siew Fook Anthony".

Because most countries passport don't display as one "full name". They separate first/given name and last/surname.

We are the minority who display as one full name.

Last Name is Family Name or Surname lor. Same thing.

ugh - i wonder if ICAO has a say in making sure everyone's name is displayed consistently in passports.

yeah, that would be a rational assumption but to occasional travelers (like me), it may be confusing because the "Last Name" in "Anthony Loke Siew Fook" could mean "Fook".

yes.

unless they specify first, middle and last name.

then first and middle will be, Anthony and Siew Fook respectively.

Ref: ICAO Doc 9303, Machine Readable Travel Documents Part 3 — Specifications Common to all MRTDs

They have to accommodate significant parts of the world that do not have concepts of family names, surnames, last names etc.

The problem is that GDS and immigration systems are built by people who assume, and expect, if not demand, that everyone has a family name/surname/last name.

By almost universal convention and duly acknowledged by all and sundry in the Anglophilic domain, you last name is your family or surname.

First Name (or names) is/are your given names - in this case, following your example, Anthony (first) Siew Fook (middle names) LOKE (last name)

basically this ^

always work everywhere

ACCA (not an airline, though) provides the same advice above for chinese names

First name: John

Last name: Tan Ah Kow

so it will appear on the cert as John Tan Ah Kow

so the name order will be similar on your IC and passport

That's a clever workaround and certainly a middle finger right back atcha flipper to the colonists that insist on ramming their naming conventions upon us.

I have actually sent an email to ANA last week and they replied. Apparently and according to them, they confirmed the name to be fill is as follows:-

First Given Name: SIEW FOOK
Last Name: ANTHONY LOKE.

Last name is surname or family name

Most safest way is follow IC name. Dont insert fancy England name if not in IC.
First Name or Last Name not 100% fool proof as long as similar to IC name can liao

I'm speechless ... haha, but anyway, if ANA accepts it, then I guess you're good to go! Enjoy your trip!

For my bookings on MH, TG and AK,
i always use the following format -

First name : Anthony Siew Foke
Last name : Loke

No hold-ups so far.

That's because that's how the passport MRZ will handle the name: Anthony (+/- Loke) will become the surname/primary key

Sometimes the only to get the Malaysian naming conventions to work with systems built by people who don't realise that there are other people in this world is to have the whole name as the 'surname', and put 'FNU' (First Name Unknown) in the given name.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/local...-in-6881252.php

Last names are the same as family names when filling up forms, and by extension, air tickets too.

So for cina with official (as stated in IC) angmoh names, the family name should appear as its own w/out the angmoh name in the last name field.

For what it is worth, the official way in Australia:


Source: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/help-text/e.../elp-h0010.aspx

Malaysia passports do NOT have given name. You whole name as in the passport is your surname.

If you don't want any trouble with immigration and APIS at check in, enter your whole name as in the passport as surname. Leave given name empty (if promoted, say no given name).

This post has been edited by limeuu: Feb 1 2024, 03:47 PM

Read up about MRZ: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine-readable_passport



In the Wiki it stated "Some countries do not differentiate between surname and given name (i.e. no two filler characters), such as the Malaysian Passport"

In general, the name starts from the 6th digit of the first line of MRZ and its written order is ‘SURNAME 〈〈 GIVEN 〈 NAME‘

If first line of MRZ is written as P 〈 USAHONG 〈〈 GIL 〈 DONG, enter HONG as ‘ Surname’ and GIL DONG as ‘Given name’

Check with sia. They know how to do this for you

In my case. My full name is surname. No first name.

This isn't about how you see your name but what6the passport states about your first middle and family name. Not just the info. But the name in the <<< <<<. <<<

This is correct way

I just posted above about MRZ.

Don't worry about surname/last name technicality

Thank you.... I learned something new today!

This is news to me and very insightful information. Learned something new today. Thanks for sharing.

I'm flying with ANA.

Welcome. Just fill up according to that MRZ guide.
No oversea person will ask you why your surname is ANTHONY LOKE. They don't bother with all this technicality. You will do them a great favour by making their live easier. It's us Malaysian who are being complicated:

- Malay doesn't have surname.
- Chinese want to put English name in front, sandwiching family name in the middle

Confuse many people

yeah, this one is correct.
I only knew of this format because I had to apply for my Australian visa. Then subsequently when I bought my flight tix, I had to follow back the visa format and no issues.
Then my sister bought her ticket to fly back to Malaysia, so she followed the format as outlined by Malaysia Airlines. Then she kept getting "invalid name" or something like that. Then she asked me how I did mine, then when I told her the "correct" format, then only she could purchase her ticket.
Kan senang if the airline outline the proper format instead of every one of them giving their own interpretation

This is why there is a page on Wikipedia dedicated to Malaysian names: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_names

yeah. They should put on the website, "please refer to wiki website if you're a malaysian"

Funny that none of the airlines follow this in their booking system.

They do. For other countries passports

It's just that Malaysian passport it's coded entire full name ANTHONY<LOKE<SIEW<FOOK as Surname and no data appear under Given Name. The one to blame is us Malaysian for the reasons I stated few post above

Just try go download any MRZ scanner app and try scan any passports, including ang moh friend's. This MRZ is an ICAO international standard thing

I mean our airlines. Their guidelines on how to fill in the names (for malaysians) are not following this standard.

If they do, they will advise malaysians to put full name in the surname field and leave the given name empty.

This post has been edited by poweredbydiscuz: Feb 2 2024, 01:02 PM

Then this is the question you need to ask our airlines. Why their system works well when scanning overseas passport but it comes to us Malaysians what happen??

For mh and within Malaysia, it doesn't matter, because it's only the airlines who needs to identify the passenger, and everybody is familiar with the NRIC format.

It's a problem internationally where APIS is used, as your check in is linked to the destination immigration database. If you do not process a valid visa, you cannot check in. That visa is based on your passport name. So example, attempting to check in to Australia using your usual NRIC name format booking will meet an error as no valid visa will be found.

The airline can override this, but have to decide if they can allow you to board. Because if they board you, and you arrive but rejected by immigration on arrival, the airline is responsible to fly you back again.

Usually, they will check your passport name, and if a valid visa turns up, they will board you. The question is, they must be sure your booking name is the same person as the passport name.

Been there gone through all that. Multiple times.

Avoid all this by booking using your passport name.

Ie whole name is surname, no given name.

This post has been edited by limeuu: Feb 2 2024, 01:31 PM

That's the problem. Our airlines are not flying domestically only, yet they don't follow the international standard in their naming guidelines. All list their own guidelines that are different from each other.

Not a problem on destinations not implementing APIS. So Asia still no issue. At the moment, it's only Australia and NZ. But UK and Europe will also start their APIS requiring ETAs soon.

Even if they start, only MH will be affected, with the sole European destination of LHR.

It's a peculiarity purely for Malaysia passports. The standard naming is correct for other countries, including Singapore.

This post has been edited by limeuu: Feb 2 2024, 02:04 PM