This is strange as airlines usually allow you to enter the PNR (booking reference) and any of the names in the booking. The implementation is usually that they lookup your booking from the PNR then effectively regex to see if your name is inside one of the name lines in the record. I can't think of a reason why this wouldn't work unless it was a connecting journey and the carrier didn't have the correct permissions on the the record.

So my best guess with my limited knowledge about GDS:

- You were on the same booking with an infant with the same name

- You were the primary passenger

- Due to overbooking people get bumped

- They usually start with comfort seats (both in your name) or an accidental double booking

- Because your son, probably underage at that time, was bumped the primary passenger was bumped too

It says that the issue was 2 persons on a flight with the same name. The system can’t handle it.

Cool, but not being able to checkin online is usually a sign of already being bumped, not the other way around.

Well, that's certainly plausible. Though I was told - after escalating the issue - that their system had an "issue with our names being the same" causing some bug in their online system.

Normally our middle initials are carried forward to the carrier's booking system and that differentiates my son and I when we fly together... but in Emirates case it seems they weren't.