credit card 'issue number' field for online award booking

newK2 · Dec 4, 08, 10:12 pm

i have a US based BAEC account. I went to make an online booking and at the payment page was presented with an entry for an 'issue number' for my credit card. A note on the page said to ignore this if it was not on the card. There was a separate entry for the 3 digit security code from the back of the card and this was properly provided. No matter what I tried I could not complete the transaction. it kept kicking back to the page. it appears to be one or two digits since the box accepts no more than two characters. I called my bank and they had no idea what this is. I called BA web support and they told me that after the first failure I should just reset the field for card type and proceed and it would go through. This did not work.

Can anyone, especially US account holders with US credit cards offer some info on a workaround for this. I would prefer not to pay phone booking fee if I can figure out how to get the payment page to work.

thanks

Roger · Dec 5, 08, 2:31 am

In the UK, some debit/cash cards require an issue number. AFAIK this is not the case with any credit cards.

I know this is not the answer to your question; perhaps it narrows down the requirements. Good luck.

theaxe · Dec 5, 08, 2:34 am

Not sure if this is relevant but if you're paying with Amex it's the four numbers on the front of the card rather than the last three on the back.

Euan · Dec 5, 08, 2:36 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roger

In the UK, some debit/cash cards require an issue number. AFAIK this is not the case with any credit cards.

Debit cards (maestro) generally have an issue number in the UK.

Credit cards don't.

newK2 · Dec 5, 08, 9:02 am

so are people leaving this field blank and succeeding in booking since it seems it does not exist for most credit cards. I tried that repeatedly and it just kept failing! was this just a glitch perhaps because of high traffic during the half off sale?

OPebble · Dec 5, 08, 9:04 am

I can only think that the cc you tried to use had an odd number format that caused the system to think that it was a Maestro type card?

newK2 · Dec 5, 08, 10:50 am

my credit cards are from Chase BofA and Citi, all with 4 groups of 4 numbers and standard 4 leading digit for Visa and 5 for Mastercard, none worked.

the question remains: are people with US cards leaving the field 'issue number' blank and successfuly completing the booking? If someone could clarify what they are doing precisely on that page, with a US credit card number on a US BAEC account it would be great to know

thanks

HIDDY · Dec 5, 08, 11:35 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by newK2

i have a US based BAEC account. I went to make an online booking and at the payment page was presented with an entry for an 'issue number' for my credit card.

I did a dummy booking on the BA USA site and there isn't a "issue number" box in the payment page?
Are you maybe using the UK version of BA.com which does have the issue number box?

speedbird2027 · Dec 5, 08, 12:51 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by newK2

my credit cards are from Chase BofA and Citi, all with 4 groups of 4 numbers and standard 4 leading digit for Visa and 5 for Mastercard, none worked.

the question remains: are people with US cards leaving the field 'issue number' blank and successfuly completing the booking? If someone could clarify what they are doing precisely on that page, with a US credit card number on a US BAEC account it would be great to know

thanks

I have a US Chase BA Signature card, and have always used that on ba.com with no issues. If I ever see a issue number box, then I just leave it blank.

What browser are you using? Sometimes page redirects / refreshes can cause glitches with some less mainstream browsers (e.g. Google Chrome)

newK2 · Dec 5, 08, 1:37 pm

I am using IE 7.x, i tried clearing cookies, rebooting, etc. I see an 'en/us' in the URL so it looks like it is the US site (as far as a nontechie like me can tell). Somtimes the 'issue number' window is not present on the first page load, I enter the required 'bank name' field and hit continue then the page reloads and that 'issue number' box is present and the card type is reset to null... i choose the card type again, ignore the 'issue number' box and send again, and it just keeps circling back to the page endlessly.

jbalmuth · Dec 5, 08, 1:51 pm

I advise that you temporarily turn off any pop-up blocking. In my experience when buying on britishairways.com with a Chase card, a special security screen pops up requiring you to input your Chase security code. If you're not seeing that screen, it may be because you are "blocking" that screen from appearing.....

NNH · Dec 5, 08, 3:29 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by newK2

my credit cards are from Chase BofA and Citi, all with 4 groups of 4 numbers and standard 4 leading digit for Visa and 5 for Mastercard, none worked.

the question remains: are people with US cards leaving the field 'issue number' blank and successfuly completing the booking? If someone could clarify what they are doing precisely on that page, with a US credit card number on a US BAEC account it would be great to know

thanks

I have successully booked using US cards: specifically Amex, Citi debit, and Alaska BofA. I ignored the issue number without any problems. However, using the Citi AA card, it was extremely sensitive to the spelling and structure of my address, and I eventually had to fetch a statement to make sure I used exactly the right abbrevations and line structuring.