India-based Airlines - Air India online purchase - foreign transaction fee

I booked a flight on airindia.com using my Citi card, and now I'm seeing a 3% foreign transaction fee. The FAQ on Air India's website says this about extra fees:

35. Will extra fees and taxes be charged on top of the price shown online?
A. All known taxes at the time of reservation have been collected. However there may be some taxes which are collected at the airport on departure. As the merchant is based in India, some credit cards also charge a foreign transaction fee. This fee is not charged by Air India.

How can I dispute this (besides getting a no-transaction-fee card)? Citi told me I have to dispute the whole charge; they won't waive the fee for me as a "courtesy" either.

Anyone have experience with this?

I booked a flight on airindia.com using my Citi card, and now I'm seeing a 3% foreign transaction fee. The FAQ on Air India's website says this about extra fees:

35. Will extra fees and taxes be charged on top of the price shown online?
A. All known taxes at the time of reservation have been collected. However there may be some taxes which are collected at the airport on departure. As the merchant is based in India, some credit cards also charge a foreign transaction fee. This fee is not charged by Air India.

How can I dispute this (besides getting a no-transaction-fee card)? Citi told me I have to dispute the whole charge; they won't waive the fee for me as a "courtesy" either.

Anyone have experience with this?

You can't dispute it...

It's not an Air India charge, it's a charge by your credit card company (Citi).

Next time, book using a US based online travel agency such as Orbitz or Expedia.

There's nothing you can do about this charge now that you've been ticketed - if you were to dispute, it would create a lot of headaches for you - after all, Air India hasn't done anything wrong...

I agree, there's nothing you can do about it. Going forward, you should look into getting a credit card without foreign transaction fees:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-card-programs/1250450-usa-cards-no-foreign-transaction-fees-8.html

Ya, I agree Air India has done nothing wrong. Just wondering what "foreign transaction" occurred. I paid in US dollars, on US land lol.

you win some you lose some I guess...

It's not an Air India charge, it's a charge by your credit card company (Citi).

exactly....this thread really doesn't have anything to do with 'airlines of india'....

I too had the displeasure of getting a 3% fee on a 9W flight. Annoying!!!

Ya, I agree Air India has done nothing wrong. Just wondering what "foreign transaction" occurred. I paid in US dollars, on US land lol.

you win some you lose some I guess...

The difference is - you bought a ticket on a server that's hosted in india.
Foreign txn, there you go.

The difference is - you bought a ticket on a server that's hosted in india.
Foreign txn, there you go.

It's not that the server is in India, it's that the credit card processor that AI uses is based in India...

But same idea...