Travel question: Will we be punished for not following rules to the letter?

Q I’m writing to you because I literally don’t know what to do. I booked flights for my wife and 13-year-old daughter through Lastminute.com to fly on a Spanish domestic flight. After completing the booking I noticed my daughter’s surname was spelt wrong by one letter. I got in touch with Lastminute the next day, who quoted me £50 to make the change. I agreed to this. Two phone calls and one email later and I still haven’t heard anything. I’ve tried calling the airline but they say I have to do it through Lastminute.com.

I’ve noticed I could buy a completely new ticket through a different agent for £64 but I’m not sure that I can because she isn’t an adult and it would look like she was travelling alone, although her mother is on the same flight. What would you advise?

Name withheld

A First, may I observe that it was an interesting decision to book a domestic Spanish flight through a Swiss travel agency. As soon as an online travel agent based in a foreign country gets involved with a scheduled flight, the potential for expense and complication are considerable, as you have found. Specifically, most airlines will make small changes like this free of charge (as, having made a few such mistakes myself, I have discovered to my benefit). But online travel agents charge a fee for the privilege of getting in the way.

In your position I would do absolutely nothing except tell Lastminute.com that you no longer wish to make the change. That is because, in my experience of Spanish domestic flights, a ticket with a one-letter discrepancy in a name is unlikely to be noticed, and even if it is spotted I think it will either be ignored or corrected on the spot free of charge.

But if you really want to be certain, and don’t mind spending more money, I suggest you book your daughter as an adult. (Again, I have done this with my daughter, by mistake). It makes no difference as long as, on the day, a young passenger is accompanied by an older traveller.

Every day, our travel correspondent, Simon Calder, tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder