Do you need to show your credit card at check-in?
 

Yesterday I purchased a ticket to India for a friend of mine on nwa.co.jp using my credit card. Before booking I checked and found no info that they would have to show the credit card at check-in and so proceeded with the purchase. However when I today received the eticket I see the following line it it:

Please present this Trip Summary and Receipt (TSR), your Passport and the CREDIT CARD USED TO PURCHASE your E-Ticket at the airport check-in counter.

Does anyone here know if this is enforced? I called NW and they said I can go to the ticket counter already now and show the credit card, will this be sufficient? I don't want my friends to get stuck on the return..

I've never been asked of this by NW. I've often bought tickets on my corporate and personal cards for other travelers so don't think it will be an issue. I have had to show this on online books of foreign airlines though when booking online and having to claim the printed ticket at the airport prior to check in.

It depends how the computer finds the record. British Airways,for example, if you check in at a kiosk or ticket counter, DOES require the credit card when the person traveling is the one who bought the ticket.

If in doubt, check in and print boarding passes on line, that can save the line at the airport also.

Dave

I know Thai Airways requires it for e-tickets. This was a pita for the check-in person as I canceled the original CC.

UA enforces this for award travel where the traveller's last name is different from the account holder. I recently purchased a SQ ticket and had to go to their ticket office (!) and have them verify the CC with my ID. No other way to do this not even faxing the info over. So it depends on the situation but I would not take any chances.

Update
 

Well I went to the ticket counter here in HEL and showed the card used for payment. They confirmed what the phone rep. had said that there was a special remark for check-in to ask for the credit card. Funny thing was that they couldn't see the actual number of the credit card in the reservation... Anyway they removed the remark so my friends should be ok to travel. I called NWA again and the agent insisted the card does not need to be shown at check-in ("that is never required Sir"), so it seems like the remark has been removed. I'll post a follow up here in April if there are any troubles..

I was checking in at DEL on a Jazeera Airways ticket. They inforced the rule.

For some time now, DL has required non-Medallions purchasing a ticket within a few days of travel to show the CC and an ID at checkin, apparently as a fraud-prevention measure. Perhaps this policy now applies to NW ticket purchases.

From DL.com:

Credit Card Presentation

To safeguard against credit card fraud, the purchaser may have to show us the credit card along with a valid photo ID. The time varies based on the billing address of the credit card or the country of travel. If the purchaser is not traveling, they can show us their credit card and ID at an airport ticket counter or another ticket office location, whichever is most convenient.

how would this work if your company buys your ticket? this happens a lot in my case.

for other airlines this is required. however i believe you only have to walk up and show your credit card, together with a valid ID, to verify your claim of a legitimate transaction so the passenger won't have a problem on the day itself

But what if i booked my ticket with an online travel agency, do i still need to show them the credit card that was used? this is my first time traveling in an airline that uses e-ticketing so everything is new to me, My aunt purchased this for me as a honeymoon present for me and my fiance, so she booked it with travelocity just 2 days prior our scheduled trip, reading the confirmation email from Travelocity it only stated that i just need to bring a valid ID and a printed copy of my travelocity itinerary.... now im at the airport and i was just viewing airline websites and it just caught my eye that airlines require the credit card that was used to purchase the ticket to be presented at the airline counter... WTH!!!? travelocity never told me that .....getting the credit card is not possible, my flight is tomorrow, im here in the philippines and my aunt is in australia on vacation and i cant call her up cos i only have her home phone number in New Jersey and i dont know wether or not she has a cellphone number...HEEEELLLPP!!!!

i think the posts above refer to the policies enforced by airlines on their customers who purchased from them directly. since travelocity will be the one to pay the airline, the airline doesn't need to see the CC IMO. i'm not sure though if travelocity has a separate policy for this

I've only experienced this credit card thing outside of the US, especially on low-tech airlines such as Air France and Thai. I think NW is advanced enough to find/confirm our reservations via many methods.

I don't think tech has anything to do with it. If it were tech related, I'm not certain our beloved NW has the most advanced res system. Certainly not our CC industry.

In my experience, many foreign carriers impose the CC check to prevent fraud and unauthorized use (ie. kids using parent's CC). CC use is pretty relaxed here in the US compared to some of the Asian and European countries (at least the ones I've visited).