cbe2468

Hi All ,

This is my first post and i would like to share my experience when flying from IAD by Etihad airlines for international travel . I would like to get inputs from you all if this is something you encounter as well or is it really a one-off occurence .

I booked my ticket directly from Etihad website by my AMEX BCE credit card on Nov 2015 for the travel date of first week of April 2016 . After i booked the ticket , i received an email from Etihad confirming my booking . In that email there was this sentence -

"The credit card used for payment needs to be presented at time of check-in. For your protection, Etihad Airways reserves the
right to refuse carriage if the form of payment cannot be validated."


Unfortunately , i missed to read this text which resulted in issues i encountered at the airport(I came to know of this text only after i completed my travel) . On the day of the travel , i went to IAD for my check in and the airline representative mentioned to me that i need to give them the card through which the ticket was booked for verification or to mention the full card number to them . At this time , i was still unaware of the text sent by Etihad earlier in the email confirmation . Since i was not having the card with me at the moment , i questioned the representative why they need the card for verification when i am the only passenger travelling in the ticket and i booked the ticket myself . He mentioned that in the check in screen , he sees a message stating that the passenger needs to provide the credit card for issuance of the boarding pass . When i protested further , he checked with another representative and she basically said the same thing after asking the reason for not having the card with me - Is it at home , was it lost or cancelled after booking the ticket etc . The reason i did not have the card with me is i left it at home as my destination region in Asia does not frequently accept AMEX cards .

Since i did not receive any help from airline representatives , i called the AMEX representative from the check in counter and explained my situation and asked them to provide me the 16 digit card number . He mentioned it cannot be done due to security reasons . When i requested further , he checked with his manager and the answer was the same . But , this time he provided me an option to call AMEX Global team who can speak to airline representatives and sort out the matter . By this time , i was not sure how long it will take for the issue to be sorted out by AMEX and airlines .

So i took a taxi out of the airport and went to my home to get the AMEX card and submitted the same at the airline counter to receive my boarding pass . I was able to do this due to two main reasons - 1) I went to airport early for my check-in , so i had time to get to home and back to airport . 2) My home was relatively close to airport .

While i understand all these issues could have been avoided had i brought the credit card in the first place , i do have the following questions to understand the process better -

1) Who decided that i need to hand over the credit card at the airline counter
to receive my boarding pass . Was it Etihad or AMEX ?

2) Why i was chosen for this verification ? As far as i know , I was the only person who was asked to submit the credit card for verification during the check in process .

3) Luckily for me , i was able to get the card from my home due to the two reasons i mentioned earlier . What really would have happened had i not been in a position to get the card from my home and AMEX Global also did not help ? . Will the airline really would have denied me the boarding pass for not submitting the card ?

4) How would the airlines have handled the situation if the card was lost,cancelled, replacement card en route etc . The second airline representative did ask me these questions when i said i did not have my card with me , but she did not mention what is the remedy for each of the situation .

Thanks .

worldspan

Next time book through a travel agent, your issue is "never an issue" as agency issued e-tickets are exempted from this rule.

Mlee888

Will try and help answer....

Question 1 - Ethiad decision not Amex. Unless transactions contain 3D secure, merchant is responsible in event of a fraudulent transaction when booked online. This could be the reason. Ultimately it's the company not Amex that has made decision here. Do you remember having to enter a one time password for the transaction?

Question 2 - Guessing the other passengers probably used 3DS if you hadn't.

Question 3 - I've seen passengers being refused to board before because they couldn't show the card.

Question 4 - Amex Global would have been able to help. They would have been able to verify with you and the check-in staff that you are the cardholder, they would have also most likely provided the airline with guarantee that the purchase was definitely handled by you and advised them of an authorisation code or something. When cards have expired / lost, a new card is issued with the first 12 digits usually being the same as the previous card. Also, you have option to show statements for the booking. The start date will also be after the purchase was initially made too.

Hope this helps.

warakorn

This is standard procedure for many Asian airlines, when the passenger books directly with the airline.

djjaguar64

Lesson learned. But why would you not have the card on your person? All of my active credit cards are in my wallet.

Moomba

As this is not a trip report I shall move it over to the ETIHAD forum.

Moomba
Moderator: Trip Reports

kiwiandrew

I can imagine it was very frustrating, but having worked in the industry a number of years ago I was shocked at the amount of credit card fraud. Disputes and chargebacks are a nightmare for airlines ( although usually more of a problem when a third party credit card is used rather than one which matches the pax name) . It used to be incredibly easy to dispute a transaction and in these paperless days it can be very hard for a merchant to prove the transaction really was authorised.

MacMyDay

I had this with SQ over Christmas, even though I had flown with them multiple times before and paid using the same card and was logged into my KrisFlyer account when purchasing the tickets. It was required for all 4 flights booked with them during a 21 day period. Luckily they stuck notices absolutely everywhere during the order process and email confirmation, so you couldn't miss it.

User Name

OP explained this in the initial post.

irishguy28

Amex cards have a 15-digit number!

It is not uncommon for airlines to state at some point during booking, or in the confirmation, that the credit card used to pay may be required to be shown at check in. In future, always bring the credit card you used to pay with you when travelling.

If you read your story, you should try to see it from an outsider's perspective. Not only can you not show the card, but you also can't quote the number (my Amex card is the only credit card number I ever remember - but it's the one I use most frequently).

Hope the rest of the trip went well!

johan rebel

I've memorized the number, expiry date and CVV of the card I mostly use for online purchases just because it is convenient, but I suspect that we are the exceptions. The vast majority of people have no idea what their credit card numbers are. Heck, many people don't even know their own phone number, or the license plate number of their car.

Johan

User Name

What companies say in a myriad of terms and conditions and what they communicate (much more strongly, via their actions) can be two very different things. I've flown regularly for 20 years all over the world and with dozens of different airlines, and have only ever been asked for my credit card once at check (at JFK, a few months ago). As it happens I wasn't carrying it, so they just pressed a button and made the problem somehow "go away".

I assume my experience isn't entirely atypical, so I it doesn't surprise me at all that people learn that this isn't an important issue and then get caught out on the odd occasion it happens.

cbe2468

Thanks for your comments . No , the reservation system did not ask me the one time password .

cbe2468

Two reasons -

1) AMEX card is not frequently accepted in my destination country . So i carried only a Visa and Master Card to the airport .

2) I have multiple credit cards and always carry only upto 3 in my wallet as a standard practice . The rest of the cards including the AMEX are SD and i charge them once every few months to ensure it stays active . The only reason i booked the ticket using the SD'ed AMEX card was there was some pending rewards which was less than the minimum redemption threshold limit . In order to boost the pending rewards over the minimum limit , i booked the ticket via AMEX . Since i do not carry AMEX card regularly in my wallet , i did not see a reason to carry the card to the airport .

Yes , this is a lesson learned for me . From here onwards , i will make sure i always carry the card through which i booked the tickets to the airport .

ft101

I agree, not many get asked. However, the credit card rule is well enough known so why take even the small risk of being refused when it's so easy to comply?