Man discovers he's been flying for 10 years with wrong name on passport

A bloke who went to renew his passport got a bit of a shock after being told his name didn't match what they had written down.

Ryan Whelan's passport had been up for renewal after 10 years, during which time he'd been using it as an ID and proof of his right to work in the UK without a problem.

So far, so good, as beyond being able to use a passport to travel to other countries that's another handy thing you can use them for.

However, when he tried to renew it he ended up getting rejected, being told that his name didn't line up with what was on his passport.

Posting a picture of his old passport to social media, Ryan revealed that for the past 10 years his passport had been declaring to all that his name was actually 'Rjan'.

Passport renewal rejected - applicant name doesn’t match previous passport.

Turns out I’ve been Rjan for the last 10 years. pic.twitter.com/2SHMR26H7R

— Ryan Whelan (@RyanJWhelan) April 21, 2024

Naturally, this ended up going viral and the man himself was inundated with suggestions of how to sort this ranging from the very helpful to much funnier alternatives.

One person told Ryan it might be easier to just accept his destiny as Rjan and change his name via deed poll, while another sympathised as a friend of theirs had spent 10 years with 'her date of birth being wrong' on the passport.

Plenty more wondered how this had only been spotted now as Ryan confirmed he'd been using it all this time.

At this point, you've got to wonder if the people dedicated to checking passports were really taking a close enough look.

Ryan explained to LADbible that this was no joke and his passport application really had been rejected because his actual name didn't line up with what was on there.

He told us he's still working on getting it all sorted out and said a passport office worker had been in touch to say he needed to get a deed poll with his name on it to prove that he really was Ryan and not Rjan.

If you should ever end up in a similar situation, then this is probably your best bet, and it's at this point that you might want to double-check your passport to make sure all the details are actually right.

If you're heading off on holidays this summer please make sure your passport has all the details right, Ryan has managed to get away with it for 10 whole years but you might not be so lucky.

It might also help to check that the thing also hasn't expired while you've not been looking, otherwise it could torpedo your holiday plans.

In the meantime we wish the best of luck to Rjan and his efforts to become Ryan again.