Life would have been much more simple if I’d been born with the same surname as my wife. The hassle she is going through since our recent wedding changing her surname on such things as pensions, credit cards and bank accounts is a pain.
To alter the details in your passport though – as we’ve found out – is an extra layer of annoyance. The UK Passport Office charges £72.50 to change surname letters (in our case, six) on the particulars, even if the expiry date of your previous one is still many years off, as my wife’s was. It seems grossly unfair to the hundreds of thousands of (mainly) women who might want to do this each year. Changing your name on a document you have already paid for should be a free service, no? The DVLA doesn’t charge for driving licences. So why for passports? It got me thinking about other things in life it seems out of order to have to stump up cash for.
When I buy something from a shop, I can almost always return it no quibbles for a full refund, or at the very least a voucher for the same amount. As you should be able to if you’ve made a mistake with the colour or size and the item is still as good as new. So why do airlines and travel agencies not offer similar leeway as a matter of course?
My 72-year-old mum recently bought a flight to Barcelona on eDreams, an online travel agency. She only realised when the emailed confirmation came through that she hadn’t booked a direct flight. She said the website had not made it clear. Instead, the flight went via Madrid, and on they way back she’d have to stay the night in the Spanish capital. Absurd! Not something you’d ever choose consciously. It turned into an E-nightmare when eDreams refused to refund her ticket even when she called them as soon as their phone lines opened the next day. All she’ll get back are her taxes. The flight was several weeks away, so still plenty of time for the seat to be sold again. The ability to immediately rectify an honest mistake should be freely offered by travel companies, not charged for.
I asked my friends what they most resented having to pay for. A long irate list quickly appeared on my Facebook page: parking on the High Street; using the toilet in public (taxpayer-funded) parks and railway stations (“I’ve already paid for a ticket you tight toilet-charging gits”); booking fees and service charges for concert tickets you print off yourself; paying Ryanair £45 a few years ago to print off a paper boarding pass; parking at a shopping centre where you’re going to spend money on stuff they’re selling; Yahoo charging £120 to fix your account when it’s been hacked; shelling out extra cash for an infant to sit on your lap when you’ve already paid for your own plane ticket; “Paying for checked baggage when some other passengers are DOUBLE my weight”; forking out for cutlery at a restaurant on the continent; and one I’d never heard of, being charged extra for tyres when you buy a new car. It’s a long list. What’s on yours?
Dominic Laurie is a financial journalist and former presenter and reporter at the BBC
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