Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
The problem is that when a card is cancelled or has expired, many people do as they're told and cut up the card and then throw away the pieces. Now one apparently one must retain the old card and carry it around for up to a year just in case it's needed in order to board a plane using a ticket that may have been purchased with that card.
I had to do just that in Peru. I luckily held on to the card after cancellation.
We booked an Avois redemption LIM-CUS (a great value) on LAN and Rail tickets on Peru Rail from Ollantatambo to Machu Picchu
The card was canceled for suspected fraud.
At the Lima Airport we had to get the Lima Rail tickets
(for those who have not been there, it makes air tickets in 3rd world look positively easy by comparison)
We had 10 min to get the tickets and rush to gate and the agent took almost 9 min using that card for something or other. If we had brought the card, there was no way for him to do whatever he needed to do.
A Pre-Berlin wall East European state would not have had so much to do woth all our passports as Peru does for the Inca city.
For those who do decide to go to CUS, we found on landing that there is a PeruRail booth in Cusco (unlike LIM it is not manned all the time, so there may be a big wait, but good to know it is available if you miss it in Lima)