jackr27

This happens quite a lot when I book Iberia flights.

I'm often asked to produce the card I booked with at check-in.

windym

What if you book a redemption ticket on a 2-4-1 and get rid of the card before you fly? I thought you didn't need to keep the card once the voucher had been booked? From what is being said, I would need to keep the card running until I've flown just in case I get asked at LHR to produce the card.

agehall

You need to keep the physical card but you can cancel the agreement making it invalid for use.

Basically, this whole thing is a big scam if you ask me. Printing plastic cards used to be difficult but these days it is a simple thing. I could probably print myself a piece of plastic that would pass as a "credit card" when inspected by any airline staff without any problems.

gms

Indeed. It often seemed quite random. I recall once being asked to produce my credit card at the BP scan at the gate at NCL (just before boarding) on the return leg of my ticket!

I haven't had to do this for BA for some time.

cysyuen

I once didn't bring my card and tried to check in LHR-EDI. The ticket was booked immediately before the flight (I got my friend to open the letter and send the front and back for me) and in order to issue the ticket I must show them the card. I was let go after doing some explaining and show them the pictures.

benjai

I just realised that I booked a ticket in Jan for the missus to travel next month, using my credit card. I booked AMS-HKG-KHH/return on BA/KA. I then booked positioning LHR-AMS-LHR separately using RFS and paying the fee again, using my card.

We'll be flying out together so that should be ok but I worry there may be an issue when she returns by herself. I can't remember if I checked that box saying if the cardholder is flying. Does it matter? How can I check?

The e-ticket does say, "If the payment cardholder is travelling, you must bring the card used to pay for this booking to the airport with you, for verification, before you can travel." But it doesn't say what happens if the cardholder isn't travelling....

benjai

And what do they do if your card expired before you travel? This has got to be the most useless/stupid rule!

rpjs

Once when flying on business my boss paid for my JFK-LHR flight on his corporate credit card. I got paged for a document check at the T7 service desk airside and was asked to produce my boss's card which I obviously couldn't do. I explained that and the agent just shrugged and that was that.

navylad

My advice, given IB have told you that you would need the payment CC is to give them a call and ask. At least then, if they do ask for it, you can note the date, time and who you spoke to who confirmed that you didn't need it.

windowontheAside

I don't think I've ever heard of someone being asked to show the card on the return sectors of a ticket, having already flown the outbound.

benjai

I'm flying on BA/KA but this is still a good idea. Will give them a call and see what they say.

That's promising!

navylad

Better yet, having had some success with IB today via twitter, I'd tweet them actually, that way, put both the @iberia and @british_Airways in the same tweet and then you can always show the reply at the airport.

herzmeh

Flying VCE-LHR on Avios ticket next week, one way. I really have to bring a card that I used to pay roughly $50 in tax? Really?

technical_bob

I have occasionally had to produce a credit card for other airlines (years ago, when buying things online was a new idea), but I have *never* in the last 10 years or so had to produce a credit card when checking in with BA.

Mercifully so, because I can rarely remember which card I used for a booking, and I certainly have some bookings that were made using cards that I've since cancelled.

benjai

So I asked BA on Twitter about my wife's flights and they were surprisingly responsive. They asked me to DM them my booking refs to see whether I ticked the 'card holder not travelling' box when booking her tickets.

Annoyingly, apparently I ticked the box for her RFS positioning flight, but not on the actual exAMS flight.

Then came, "If your wife is picked at random for additional cc checks the airport would cancel the booking, refund your card in full and take the same amount from a card in her name. There's no way to change this (the checkbox) once a booking is made unfortunately!" I asked to confirm that she won't be charged extra and got, "She would need to pay again for her booking if she's picked, but it won't stop her from travelling, and she wouldn't be charged any more."

Great to have this in writing, but I'm super sceptical of this. We'll be flying out together so no problem but she's flying back with our son and without me. Can they really refund both tickets halfway in and on the spot then rebook? I guess chances of a problem are small but I'm paranoid now.

I also worry that the first leg of her return from KHH-HKG is on KA (Cathay), they may operate differently.