UA - a global airline but not for "foreigners"?
Aug 31, 2014, 3:47 am
#31
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POS is exactly that. If you walk into a travel agent in NYC with a US or foreign credit card, your POS is NYC.
If you walk into a travel agent in London with a US or UK credit card, your POS is still London.
United's website/billing system is just stupid, and changes POS based on billing address - that does not mean that that is how it is supposed to work.
Aug 31, 2014, 3:48 am
#32
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Taunton, UK
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Aug 31, 2014, 4:19 am
#33
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: NYC, LON
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I think it is you who do not understand the concept of POS for airline tickets.
POS is exactly that. If you walk into a travel agent in NYC with a US or foreign credit card, your POS is NYC.
If you walk into a travel agent in London with a US or UK credit card, your POS is still London.
United's website/billing system is just stupid, and changes POS based on billing address - that does not mean that that is how it is supposed to work.
POS is exactly that. If you walk into a travel agent in NYC with a US or foreign credit card, your POS is NYC.
If you walk into a travel agent in London with a US or UK credit card, your POS is still London.
United's website/billing system is just stupid, and changes POS based on billing address - that does not mean that that is how it is supposed to work.
These issues are not as simple as walking into a travel agent in New York. The issue per se is not about credit cards but about internet trade across international boundaries - the CC address is just one tool used by some to force local point of sale but there are others.
Aug 31, 2014, 4:41 am
#34
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: NYC
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130 people sitting in the same seats in coach, and there are at least 20 different prices paid for the exact same seat.
Bought at completely different times, with widely varying terms and conditions
The physical seat has little to do with the pricing.
Aug 31, 2014, 5:02 am
#35
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Location: Dubai / NYC
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Case in point. LAX-DXB (STOP) - CMB in F on EK $16,000.00
OR coming the other way
CMB-DXB (stop) - LAX in F $6000
Same story with Ex India and Ex Korea
Aug 31, 2014, 6:42 am
#36
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: DC|NYC
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I understand all the POS issues but this is still just a United issue.
I'm an American who lives and works in the USA but for a Canadian company. Accordingly, my corporate credit card has a Canadian billing address.
I go through this Canada vs USA pricing thing constantly. I've been doing this for over five years and, in my experience, it's never been less expensive on United to have a Canadian billing address for your credit card than an American one. I always get screwed when I pick the Canadian credit card from my profile.
Other airlines? Not an issue. Enter a Canadian billing address with Delta and American and nothing changes. Same prices, etc. JetBlue doesn't even require a billing address.
My solution: have a travel agent ticket the trip for me. She doesn't even know it's a Canadian billing address.
This is solely a United and solely a United website issue. Call it POS or discrimination or revenue management: it's all the same. If you have a international billing address and you want to buy a ticket off the UA website, UA will screw you.
I'm an American who lives and works in the USA but for a Canadian company. Accordingly, my corporate credit card has a Canadian billing address.
I go through this Canada vs USA pricing thing constantly. I've been doing this for over five years and, in my experience, it's never been less expensive on United to have a Canadian billing address for your credit card than an American one. I always get screwed when I pick the Canadian credit card from my profile.
Other airlines? Not an issue. Enter a Canadian billing address with Delta and American and nothing changes. Same prices, etc. JetBlue doesn't even require a billing address.
My solution: have a travel agent ticket the trip for me. She doesn't even know it's a Canadian billing address.
This is solely a United and solely a United website issue. Call it POS or discrimination or revenue management: it's all the same. If you have a international billing address and you want to buy a ticket off the UA website, UA will screw you.
Last edited by EnvoyBoy; Aug 31, 2014 at 12:58 pm
Aug 31, 2014, 7:43 am
#37
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Many carriers do this and it is both deliberate and the nature of a competetive business. The specific of the POS issue is cureable, but the broader issue of price discrimination has existed for a long, long time.
There are even fares which cannot be purchased with a US address for domestic US travel as there have been cheap rail tickets in Europe, thing EuRailPass (dating me) as long as 45 years ago,
There are even fares which cannot be purchased with a US address for domestic US travel as there have been cheap rail tickets in Europe, thing EuRailPass (dating me) as long as 45 years ago,
Aug 31, 2014, 8:08 am
#38
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: DXB / KUO
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Posts: 858
For future reference when booking tickets your PAYMENT details should be input as follows:
Address line 1: your sing/EUR address line 1
Address line 2: your sing/EUR address line 2
City: your sing/EUR city
Zip: any USA zip (I use 33316)
State: Florida (corresponds to above zip)
Country: USA
Majority of processors will accept a country mismatch so long as the f holders full name, address line 1, city, CCV and expiry all match.
Means it will be charged in USD btw
Address line 1: your sing/EUR address line 1
Address line 2: your sing/EUR address line 2
City: your sing/EUR city
Zip: any USA zip (I use 33316)
State: Florida (corresponds to above zip)
Country: USA
Majority of processors will accept a country mismatch so long as the f holders full name, address line 1, city, CCV and expiry all match.
Means it will be charged in USD btw
I might not have remembered to give it a try in this case...
Aug 31, 2014, 8:12 am
#39
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So your title is misleading. You clearly understand tbe concept of point of sale restrictions. They aren't like Peru, which is like your title, discriminatory based on your natl origin, they are based on the point if sale. I go to LAN and as a gringo, but a ticket from LIM to CUZ, I pay more that the Peruvian who bought the exact same booking 5 min later. That is against foreigners. You could of course go to HNL, find someone who could issue a ticket, even a travel agent, and pay the same for your HNL-STL flight that I would pay, an American, as long as we both utilized the same point of sale.
It's location discrimination, not nationality based.
It's location discrimination, not nationality based.
+ I quite like the convenience of booking online.
I can't remember seeing prices jump with Hawaiian, Alaska, US Airways, Spirit (
) etc. etc. - or when I have booked domestic itineraries in other countries in recent times,
Aug 31, 2014, 8:18 am
#40
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If you believe this is discrimination, then nothing in this forum can possibly change your mind, and I really don't understand your purpose here.
Living in SIN, I'm surprised you are not aware of the fare differences to be had based upon location of purchase, whether you are in Singapore or Malaysia or Indonesia. Likewise, a US traveler purchasing a ticket for travel in or to any of those places likely pays more than a "local" does sometimes. It's a way of life in Asia and perhaps other areas as well, and most folks realize and accept it's the name of the global travel game these days.
Sometimes--okay, often--UA is guilty of one thing or another, sometimes they are not. In your case, IMHO, no way; but if you truly feel that you are being discriminated against, recommend you contact UA directly. Perhaps their reply will not change your mind either, but it will be the last word.
As you already stated, there are plenty of other travel options at your disposal from Singapore.
Living in SIN, I'm surprised you are not aware of the fare differences to be had based upon location of purchase, whether you are in Singapore or Malaysia or Indonesia. Likewise, a US traveler purchasing a ticket for travel in or to any of those places likely pays more than a "local" does sometimes. It's a way of life in Asia and perhaps other areas as well, and most folks realize and accept it's the name of the global travel game these days.
Sometimes--okay, often--UA is guilty of one thing or another, sometimes they are not. In your case, IMHO, no way; but if you truly feel that you are being discriminated against, recommend you contact UA directly. Perhaps their reply will not change your mind either, but it will be the last word.
As you already stated, there are plenty of other travel options at your disposal from Singapore.
I am not using the word "discrimination" in the sense that I would compare this to a human rights issue of some kind.
...just find the whole hassle of dealing with united.com and being told to pay hundreds of dollars extra a bit crazy.
I have booked a number of domestic flights in Malaysia this year, for example, and no - the price has not be moved. Just can't think of a whole lot of other examples from recent years to be perfectly honest.
Aug 31, 2014, 8:24 am
#41
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My situation here was comparable to a store / restaurant in Singapore charging 50% more if one does not use a Singapore-based credit card. The merchant probably would be free to do that, but the policy would not necessarily make visitors too happy.
Aug 31, 2014, 8:30 am
#42
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What fare bucket did you get when pricing in US dollars vs. another currency? It could be that you got a W fare or something, but with the foreign credit card, you priced in at M.
If you want to talk about discrimination, we can go down memory lane and discuss how business travelers used to get bled dry on transcon flights. The Saturday stay, the two weeks in advance BS, there used to be a buttload of price fixing and gouging that we don't have much of anymore. Unless you count the concept of fare buckets in general, which is a direct form of price discrimination. 130 people sitting in the same seats in coach, and there are at least 20 different prices paid for the exact same seat.
If you want to talk about discrimination, we can go down memory lane and discuss how business travelers used to get bled dry on transcon flights. The Saturday stay, the two weeks in advance BS, there used to be a buttload of price fixing and gouging that we don't have much of anymore. Unless you count the concept of fare buckets in general, which is a direct form of price discrimination. 130 people sitting in the same seats in coach, and there are at least 20 different prices paid for the exact same seat.
I just want to be clear - "price discrimination" is not a form of "discrimination" in the conventional sense.
Just find it very strange that I would have to pay more in this case - that's it. USD500 is a decent amount of cash in my books.
Let's say I'm reasonably familiar with the concept of airline revenue management. ^
Aug 31, 2014, 8:32 am
#43
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Careful with that. If the name on the CC and the name on the ticket aren't the same, many airlines will require that you show your CC when you check in (fraud avoidance). That happened to my wife last year and she ended up having to buy another ticket with her card (ticket was in her maiden name).
Aug 31, 2014, 8:42 am
#44
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Thank you again to everyone who replied. ^
Really appreciate your thoughts on this. I flew over to the US and back on a UA ticket (ex-MNL) booked via a travel agent here in SIN - happy to use travel agents for more complicated bookings, but booking a domestic itinerary in the US should be a 2-minure job.
I have flown domestic sectors at least on the following airlines over the past 12 months - booking via the local website, and the price certainly did not change because I used a foreign cc:
ANA (StarFlyer, IBEX, AirDo)
Skymark Airlines
JAL (JAL Express, JAC)
Finnair (flybe)
Alaska Airlines
ERA Alaska
Hawaiian Airlines
Mokulele Airlines
Island Air
firefly
Malaysia Airlines
Malindo Air
British Airways
SpiceJet
Indigo
Really appreciate your thoughts on this. I flew over to the US and back on a UA ticket (ex-MNL) booked via a travel agent here in SIN - happy to use travel agents for more complicated bookings, but booking a domestic itinerary in the US should be a 2-minure job.
I have flown domestic sectors at least on the following airlines over the past 12 months - booking via the local website, and the price certainly did not change because I used a foreign cc:
ANA (StarFlyer, IBEX, AirDo)
Skymark Airlines
JAL (JAL Express, JAC)
Finnair (flybe)
Alaska Airlines
ERA Alaska
Hawaiian Airlines
Mokulele Airlines
Island Air
firefly
Malaysia Airlines
Malindo Air
British Airways
SpiceJet
Indigo
Aug 31, 2014, 8:44 am
#45
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Careful with that. If the name on the CC and the name on the ticket aren't the same, many airlines will require that you show your CC when you check in (fraud avoidance). That happened to my wife last year and she ended up having to buy another ticket with her card (ticket was in her maiden name).
All segments flown with no issues.