Tears of Rage, or Why The Grass Isn't Always Greener...

Today was to be the day. After a number of anxious nights, I got up this morning determined to make the bookings for Australia over Christmas.

Scheduling this trip is a little complex, as we would be flying from LHR, and #1 Daughter from MAN. However, its seems possible on Emirates, as we can hook up in Dubai and fly off to Oz together from there.

Further complication is that #1 Daughter needs to fly back before we do. OK, I think, rather than trust to the vagaries of the website talk to an agent, who would (I hoped) put sets of flights on hold to ensure we wouldn't end up out of alignment.

Final check of the website, enough availability, flight numbers noted, price X. Call the call centre.

Them - "Yes sir, that'll be Flight Numbers XX and YY".

Me - "I've not seen those before. How much would those be?"

Them - "X + 50%"

Me - "Your website is showing X for flight numbers AA and BB"

Them - "Sorry sir, my system is not showing those flights"

Me - "? What about CC?"

Them - "That's a codeshare, I can't book you onto those flights."

Me - "Byeee"

Ok, ok, what I shall do is open two browser sessions, login on one to do our and t'other to do #1 Daughter's and hope that as long as I get through to the payment page on each them all will be well.

Which it was, until I see a notice that says I can't book #1 Daughter's ticket on my credit card.

Call the call centre. Use the "If you're flying business" selection..

Me - "Here's my situation <snip>. Can you confirm this is the case"

Them - "Yes it is"

Me - "Please can you suggest a way to get around it?"

Them - "Go to the aiport with your credit card."

Me - "But they won't have the credit card."

Them - "Go to the airport and buy the ticket for them on the day."

Me - "Sorry? Will I get the price quoted on your wesbite today?"

Them - "No sir, of course not".

Me - "Mmmm....is there any way we could make this work?"

Them - "Go to your travel agent."

Me - "Will I get the price quoted on your wesbite today?"

Them - "Probably not sir".

Me - "Byeeee..."

#1 Daughter does not have a credit card, and I do not wish to alert her to the price being paid for the flight.

All I can say is "aaaaaaaaaaaargh!" I presume the issue of booking flights for other people is security and money laundering related and I may have to live with that, but is this the case generally for all airlines?

[Neil]

So they won't let you book a ticket for your daughter on your credit card?
I've booked tickets for my parents, friends, family on my credit card when I haven't been flying a number of times with VS, so it certainly seems to be airline specific.

Can you not book your daughters ticket through someone like Expedia?

So they won't let you book a ticket for your daughter on your credit card?
I've booked tickets for my parents, friends, family on my credit card when I haven't been flying a number of times with VS, so it certainly seems to be airline specific.

Can you not book your daughters ticket through someone like Expedia?

Good suggestion! Kind of worked out that way. Before I went in for spleen venting here I phoned FlightCentre and gave them the details. I've just put the phone down after they called me back and all is now booked for the price I wanted. Now to break the news to #1 Son and # Daughter that their inheritance is spent, and to MrsPJH so she can fire up TripAdvisor and begin planning...

Am ?| ?| why EK would say / do this.

Your situation isn't that out of left field as to be so unreasonable or verging on the money laundering situation but their reaction is verging on the ridiculous.

Still you got it sorted.

Pleased to read it has all been sorted. What a relief for you. The moral is don't give up I guess !
Have a great trip.

I had a similar issue with Royal Jordanian.

I had booked a J ticket and turned up at the airport. They asked for hte credit card used and I replied that it had expired, but this was the replacement. they would only let me fly if I had a letter from the bank saying that this was replacement (which at midnight is impossible).

So despite my best pleas I was denied boarding.

To rub salt in the wounds the buggers charged me $250 for the refund too!!!

I did the same as pjh this morning. I booked two LHR-SYD tickets and then they said I had to take the credit card to the airport. I explained that the card would have expired by the time I took the flight and they said I would need to take it anyway? Given I will have a passport that supports the flight information and the flight has been paid for in advance I just can't understand it? ?|

It can be done with some airlines. Recently we had a similar situation with one son and his wife travelling to PLS via JFK and MIA we were just via MIA business/ club another daughter was PE/MCE and my other daughter and grand kids were travelling to a different final destination. We had a desk top two lap tops and an iPad closely pressing each stage at he same time. No problems over credit card either. Good luck

Also forgot to add I am travelling from ALC to DXB with BA and my daughter I joining vm t LHR for final leg to Dubai. Again BA had no problems with e paying for birth tickets on one credit card. Plus pricing was very competive

I did the same as pjh this morning. I booked two LHR-SYD tickets and then they said I had to take the credit card to the airport. I explained that the card would have expired by the time I took the flight and they said I would need to take it anyway? Given I will have a passport that supports the flight information and the flight has been paid for in advance I just can't understand it? ?|

Googling the issue reveals many threads where regular travellers continue to carry expired credit cards around just to meet this challenge,

Apparently it is an attempt to reduce credit card fraud. Presumably it's something in the contracts regarding payments between the credit card companies and the airlines and the strength of the latter's fraud protection systems. If you book via a travel agent the airline treats the transaction as cash payment with the risk on the travel agent so no problem.

I paid for my nephew and niece online with VS for their trip a couple of weeks ago whilst my sister paid for her and her husband with no problems at the airport.

It was an adult and a child fare so not as if 2 child fares where they wouldn't have had a credit card.

I suppose as had been said before, it varies airline to airline.

Whilst I can understand the security side of things, there must be many times this happens and surely there must be an easier, less frustrating way. ?|

David

Huh, sounds like a rubbish experience. Good to hear that all is booked now though. y)

I have also booked on behalf of family on a couple of occasions. Only once I was told that my credit card would have to be shown by me at check-in, even though I wasn't travelling that day - guess I was driving the parents to the airport then - funny thing is that I parked up, went along to check-in with them, was asked for the card and that was that... no ID check or anything.. appears I needn't have gone myself ?|

Doesn't really combat money laundering or fraud if they ask to see the card, take one glance and don't check any other form of ID, does it Perhaps some regulation buried somewhere of every *insert random number here* pax needs to have their payment method fully screened. Sometimes your number just comes along.. ii)

Typical EK in my experience ... I've trotted down to the office at Gloucester Road on a number of occasions because of their odd booking requirements.

Typical EK in my experience ... I've trotted down to the office at Gloucester Road on a number of occasions because of their odd booking requirements.

Had the agent on the phone bothered to investigate the issue and my situation and propose anything other than 'you need to be in both Heathrow and Manchester' airport at the same time' they would have found I could easily have gone to Gloucester Rd sometime in the next 10 months.

Goes to show that a shiny working website doesn't always mean (and presumably can actually substitute for) decent service. Had Flight Centre been able to come up with an alternative suggestion at a similar price point I would have taken it.

@Joey - some to the stories on various fora report that other carriers with the the same requirement will accept an document that included an image of front of the card together with wording along the lines of 'I, the [insert name] the cardholder declare that this card has been used by myself for a ticket for [insert name] to travel to A on date B with airline C'

Now is the time, however, to relax and start enjoying the planning for the trip.

I once tried to book for a family member SIN-LHR one way with BA and was,told I need to present the credit card at check in, even though I was in the UK and not SIN, went to QANTAS and was able to book the ticket as a QANTAS code share on the same BA flight without having to show the credit card.

I once tried to book for a family member SIN-LHR one way with BA and was,told I need to present the credit card at check in, even though I was in the UK and not SIN, went to QANTAS and was able to book the ticket as a QANTAS code share on the same BA flight without having to show the credit card.

Now don't get me started about the codeshare issue! It's amazing how an alliance appears to mean that neither party provides the services you thought we're part of your booking... v(

Hopefully this is simply due to the fact that the EK / QF lovefest has yet to be really consumated and all will be well in time.

With respect Paul, the EK rules vary by country.....and obviously tend to be harsher where cc fraud is prevalent.

As far as the UK is concerned, if cardholder is one of the passengers, the card used to pay for travel must be presented when you check in at the airport so this applies to you leaving Heathrow and also the wonderful Jacki, whether her card is expired or not.

However there would be no requirement for your daughter to show the cc in Manchester as YOU are not one of the passengers.

And to avoid any need for such cc possible display EK does provide the option to pay by Paypal.

With respect Paul, the EK rules vary by country.....and obviously tend to be harsher where cc fraud is prevalent.

As far as the UK is concerned, if cardholder is one of the passengers, the card used to pay for travel must be presented when you check in at the airport so this applies to you leaving Heathrow and also the wonderful Jacki, whether her card is expired or not.

However there would be no requirement for your daughter to show the cc in Manchester as YOU are not one of the passengers.

And to avoid any need for such cc possible display EK does provide the option to pay by Paypal.

Thanks for doing some active research. I saw this, but also the statement that if your name appears as a drop down when you come to pay (which it did) then the cc has to be present in order for the boarding pass to be issued. Hence my call to the agent and the conservative interpretation of the rules. I would be more moody and rebellious and willing to take on 'the man' if I had read any actual experience of someone else successfully doing what we are. The thought of leaving my daughter at MAN arguing the finer points of t&c with an agent who can just say 'no'...? :w

Typical EK in my experience ... I've trotted down to the office at Gloucester Road on a number of occasions because of their odd booking requirements.

Had the agent on the phone bothered to investigate the issue and my situation and propose anything other than 'you need to be in both Heathrow and Manchester' airport at the same time' they would have found I could easily have gone to Gloucester Rd sometime in the next 10 months.

Sorry, what's in Gloucester Road?

You can sort of see the point with security and credit cards, but isn't it infuriating when you're an honest person and still come up against all this?!

Sorry, what's in Gloucester Road?

That rarest of beasts, a bricks and mortar airline office.

Oh, thanks! This is Virgin? Who knew? Not me, clearly

Oh, thanks! This is Virgin? Who knew? Not me, clearly

No, Emirates....

And for those who are (a) still tuned in and (b) interested I eventually managed to get the Qantas booking references from Emirates and now have aligned the stars so that we have assigned seats together on the DXB to SYD leg.