MetricFlyer

I'm confused. I thought AA was an "international" airline flying to dozens
of international destinations. Don't they also have hundreds of thousands
of AAdvantage members residing in foreign countries?

If so, can anyone tell me why AA does NOT accept foreign credit card
so I can pay the USD$2.50 tax for award ticket?(1 hour flight out of
JFK)

The flight was booked using my AA miles online. It said ticket "pending"
or something like that. However, the confirmation email said "Status:
PURCHASED...." I logged in to see my reservation but it was still saying
"Ticket Pending" under my trips.

I called them and spoke to 4 different agent. All agreed that the ticket
had not been ticketed. 2 agents said it was because I had entered a
foreign credit card. 1 agent and 1 supervisor tried to override it. No
dice. After 50 minutes, they gave up. I called back the next day and
spent another 35 minutes with two other agents. Still got nowhere.

Is it just me or is this ridiculous? One agent said that I should drive
to the nearest airport with AA ticket count... oh.. okay.. that' a 3-hour
flight away.

What's worse, I checked my foreign credit card online and there was
already a $2.50 authorization. Yet AA still refused to issue a ticket.
All this over $2.50? Really? I know my card is good... just ordered
a $3100 camcorder from Amazon.com and they had zero issues with
it. In fact, Amazon now lets you pick which currency you want to
be charged.

(sorry... I just had to vent my frustration here because the AAgents
sure were as sympathetic as two monks in a strip club)

DaDaDan

Shouldn't you be able to call your local AA reservations number and pay? Surely they accept cards for the payment of tickets...

britenbsas

I don't understand why AA has such problems dealing with non-US credit cards but they do! There are plenty of recent similar threads about this (search term {credit card} )

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...ge-ticket.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...d-booking.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-portugal.html

MetricFlyer

There is no AA office here. Nearest one is 3-hour flying time away
in another country speaking a different language. I did try calling
them, but my credit card was still a foreign card to them.

I should just mail 250 pennies to AA corporate headquarters and
have them apply it to my account.

theddo

AA USA may not accept European CC, AA Germany will (at least last time I booked a ticket with them).

Shareholder

What country do you live in, is your credit card issued in? Did you book on aa.com or one of the "country" sites? And doesn't AA now accept PayPal?

AAClubGeek

If I remember correctly, it is possible to get around this restriction either by calling an international AA number or by using a foreign AA website. Note that this does not mean calling the US AA number and connecting to the international desk, but rather connecting to an agent in one of the international offices.

Obviously, AA wants to sell tickets to European residents and therefore must accept European credit cards. Agents in Ireland were able to accept those cards, but US based agents could not. AA has or had 12+ international res locations, and I think all of them could accept the cards. Domestic agents could not.

It was a decision driven by corporate security and was a direct result of a higher than acceptable percentage of fraudulent ticket purchases using foreign credit cards. I never understood why it was not a problem when the same card was used by an agent in Ireland, but then I didn't have the data that corporate security had.

My best suggestion is to go to the AA website, and look to the top where it will have a small US flag next to the word 'English'. Change that dropdown option to the appropriate nation for your credit card and you will likely be fine.

MetricFlyer

I wish there was a way to email this picture to AA. I ended up cancelling
the AA award ticket reservation. Instead, I went to United's website and
purchased a ticket on the same route. UA had zero problems accepting my
foreign credit card and charged the US$412 immediately.

Himeno

It only accepts paypal payments when linked to a US bank account.

I've had problems with using my AU card on aa.com as well. Using the AU AA site is crap. It costs more for the same flight (eg, JFK-BOS costs more on aa.com.au then on aa.com even when factoring in exchange rates), the AU site doesn't offer as many options as the US site and aa.com won't accept my cards or paypal.

When I've needed to book via the website, I've ended up having a US based friend pay for it and I pay them back.

hillrider

Yes there is: send it (along with the rest of the relevant information and your AAdvantage number) to [email protected]

MetricFlyer

Thanks! But I already gave up because they wouldn't take the $2.50 from me.

Bought a ticket for the same itinerary on United.com and paid $400+
using the same foreign credit card. Went smoothly and the e-ticket
was issued within 20 seconds.

Guess United likes my money better? (same with Delta and US Airways,
both of which had absolutely accepting my foreign credit card for anything
from $100 to $1700)

American probably has too much money and doesn't need my money.

Guy Betsy

There is a 'trick' to this...

Change your address to a Canadian one...

Doesn't matter which one...

AA's computer cannot verify Canadian addresses either..

Just give your European / Asian cc's and tell them its Canadian.

AA's systems can't verify the address.

The moment you tell them its a card not from North America, they won't accept it. I have used a HK issued mastercard where my account lists a Canadian address but the billing address isn't in Canada..and AA (on the phone) accepted it without question.

MetricFlyer

Wait, let me make sure I understand you correctly.

I can use a foreign credit card and put a Canadian address as the billing
address when purchasing tickets on AA.com?

For example: 91622 Alaska Highway, Whitehorse, Yukon Yukon Y1A 3E4, Canada
(real address of a hotel I stayed at last year)

I will give that a try next time.

Thanks!

kcaluwae

And foreign AMEX seems to work as well without any problems.

Guy Betsy

I don't know about AA.com as I used this method when calling in to pay for taxes and charges on an award ticket and it works.

Just FYI - your charges will end up being charged in Canadian $.