Student Becomes Batman To Avoid Plane Ticket Surcharge

A student has changed his name by deed poll to Adam West because it was cheaper than paying Ryanair’s administrative fees.

Adam Armstrong was told by the company that it would cost him £220 to change the name on his plane ticket to the one which matched his passport after his girlfriend’s stepfather booked it in the name of the Batman actor, the Standard reports.

He had booked the name according to the one on Mr Armstrong’s Facebook page so he and 17-year-old India Lomas could go on holiday together to Ibiza.

Explaining the mix up, the  19-year-old said: “Her stepdad got my name from Facebook but I had put it as Adam West as a joke, because he was the actor who played Batman on TV.”

When they explained the problem to the ‘cheap flights’ airline, they were horrified to find that the charges for changing the surnames would be £220 – twice the price of the plane tickets.

So instead, the practical student took the cheaper option and changed his name instead, saving himself £117.

With the cost of processing a new passport via the Home Office’s Fast Track scheme only £103, it was 50 per cent cheaper than coughing up to the Irish airline.

The pair will now fly from Manchester to the holiday island – where Ed Miliband retreated to after his bruising defeat at the general election – next week.

Adam West was the name of the actor who stared in the 1960s series of Batman and also plays a recurring role as mayor Adam West in popular cartoon Family Guy.

A spokesman for Ryanair said: “Customers are asked to ensure that the details they enter at the time of booking are correct before completing their booking and we offer a 24-hour ‘grace period’ to correct minor booking errors.

“A name change fee is charged in order to discourage and prevent unauthorised online travel agents from ‘screenscraping’ Ryanair’s cheapest fares and reselling them on to unwitting consumers at hugely inflated costs.”