I am flying to Japan via United, and their Travel Ready Center is rejecting my vaccine documentation even though I am fully vaccinated. What's wrong?
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8What sort of rejection message did you receive? For example, are they saying that your documentation is illegible? That it is missing required doses? That it is a forgery?– Robert ColumbiaOct 22, 2022 at 20:36
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2@RobertColumbia as far as I remember United doesn't provide an error message. It's basically "yes" and "no". When I had an issue I needed to call them– HilmarOct 22, 2022 at 21:04
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Can you Post exactly what United said?– Robbie GoodwinOct 24, 2022 at 21:26
1 Answer
You may notice that your first and middle name is merged in the name field they've forced upon you. Bad programmers.
This will obviously not match a US COVID-19 Vaccine Record Card, and so your card will be rejected.
To solve this, in the United Airlines app, upload your vaccine documentation in your profile > TSA Precheck®️ and travel documents > COVID-19 Vaccine Documentation
This one does not merge your first and middle name together. Go back to the Travel Ready Center and upload your vaccine documentation again. This time, a pop-up will appear, allowing you to use the documentation you previously uploaded, without uploading a new file. Documentation verification should pass this time, allowing you to check-in using the app.
Failing this, you need to physically go to check-in or the gate with your documentation and they'll sort the mess out for you
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6Very good question and self-answer pair! Welcome to Travel and well done, mate, well done! Oct 24, 2022 at 14:59
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1As a programmer I feel mildly insulted. It's less the choice of programmers, and more the issue of decades (probably close to half a century) old legacy systems which did not get updated when people realized they need to handle anything but the most basic of names.– jaskijOct 25, 2022 at 15:13
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6Also as a programmer, it's imperative to test various use cases and not ship broken products while requiring their use in a mission critical application Oct 25, 2022 at 15:18
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1@I'llEatMyHat That's why working with names sucks. UUID's for everyone? Oct 25, 2022 at 19:44