Winston Aldworth: How Trevor got her name

'And you must be Trevor'. Photo / Thinkstock

My daughter, Trevor, is a lovely girl.

Other people generally call her Zoe - after all, that's what's on her birth certificate.

But as we were checking in for Zoe's first flight, the helpful airline staffer, after sorting out the tickets for the grown-ups, said to my three-month-old daughter: "And you must be Trevor."

It had a certain ring to it. We corrected the error, but I wish we hadn't - a boarding pass for Zoe in the name of "Trevor" would have been a hoot. (On the other hand, it could have led to a meeting with the police child-abduction unit.)

The airline staffer couldn't explain how Zoe had become Trevor. There were no other Trevs on the flight. She blamed the computer.

This is actually a serious business.

One in 100 people get their name wrong when booking international airline tickets - misspellings and use of maiden names are common errors.

Often the mistake won't be noticed, but changing the ticket details can cost hundreds of dollars. Some carriers, such as Turkish Airlines, won't let passengers change the name on the ticket at all - they'll make you book a new ticket.

The answer: Make doubly - hell, quadruply - sure the booking name matches exactly to the name in your passport.