Originally Posted by linsj
But the problem here is the fact that someone else's credit card bought this ticket and the names don't match. I run a conference and bought several tickets for faculty members this year. I had to show my credit card to a CS rep at the airport. Although I didn't have to sign a release, she checked my credit card and put notes in the computer file, so the people with the tickets could check in. I don't think any of them have elite status.
As everyone has indicated, it's been a while since you should have had to do this. Hopefully the experience you're describing was from that painful era and not a recent occurance. I have bought dozens of tickets for people w/ different names on my credit card in the past year with no problems whatsoever.
And what a relief it's been since that rule has gone. I used to buy tickets on WN for other people regularly just to avoid this hassle. Not just that I would have to endure the stupid trip to the airport for them to put the note in the record, but the inevitable hassle the passenger would have to go through when the agent would question them about it. Remember the horror when even the easy check-in kiosks would ask you to slide the credit card you used to purchase the ticket for verification? Ugh, thank goodness for those three blessed numbers on the back of our credit cards!