KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 — Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia have updated their flight booking name entry rules to align with international standards and reduce check-in issues, especially for passengers with non-standard name formats.

Both airlines now require passengers to enter their full names exactly as they appear in official documents, such as passports or national ID cards, to prevent discrepancies during check-in, according to a report published in The Star today.

For example, a passenger named Ahmad Faliq bin Hamedi should input “Ahmad Faliq” under the “First and Middle Name” field and “Bin Hamedi” in the “Last Name/Surname” field.

Malaysia Airlines has published detailed booking guidelines on its website to assist passengers with the revised procedures.

AirAsia has also adopted a clearer distinction between “Given Name” and “Family Name/Surname” to accommodate naming conventions across various cultures including Malaysian, Chinese, Indian, Thai, and Vietnamese.

The airline emphasised that symbols and special characters are not accepted and name length is restricted by system limits.

“For names with ‘@’, replace it with a space; for names with ‘A/P’ or ‘A/L’, omit them unless stated in your passport,” AirAsia advised.

Hyphens in names should also be replaced with spaces.

Passengers are not allowed to change the name on a booking to another person after confirmation, but corrections for minor errors or misspellings are permitted.

Some travellers have expressed concerns, including businesswoman Faridah Joned, who is unsure if she needs to update her existing Malaysia Airlines booking due to not including “binti.”

An AirAsia passenger, known only as Tan, said the update should be better communicated, suggesting that airlines should email passengers about such changes.

Travellers are encouraged to check the respective airline websites or customer service channels for more information.