Show credit card
 

I am booking an avios trip on Iberia.com LHR - MAD - RAK BA/IB

I get this message when I try to pay:

"For the correct verification of the payment card holder´s identity, the holder must show the card on the day of departure of the flight at the check-in desk. To the contrary, the passenger in the booking will be refused embarkation.
The card will only be required at the first starting point of the trip (not on the return trip or connecting flights).
Virtual cards
Virtual cards are not admitted as forms of payment. The purchase of a ticket with a virtual card means you will NOT BE ADMITTED on the flight, being able to fly only by purchasing a new ticket at the time of departure. Return to previous page and modify your form of payment."

Someone is paying for the ticket and therefore wont be there to show the card. Will BA enforce this show card rule at Heathrow?

Many thanks,

If you told BA when you booked that the cardholder was not travelling then they won't insist on this (e.g. booking online there is a tick box to this effect).

If you didn't do this then it could cause you problems.

The wording on BA.com is that if the card holder is travelling then the payment card may be required to be shown, though it doesn't say what may be required if the holder is not travelling. The OP is purchasing and quoting from Iberia.com but checking in with BA at LHR so BA rules would apply.

so, if I book this on Iberia.com - will it be OK if i take a photocopy of the credit card.

Is it likely that I will be asked to show the credit card as I booked it on Iberia but I am flying with BA?

Doubt BA will care, as they are not the ones issuing the ticket. It's similar to buying from an OTA and then travelling on QR/CX/another airline that's picky about showing credit cards.

I believe if one use a fake credit card, OTA will suffer and they still need to pay the airline the fare.

If one buy it directly from airline website, the airline will suffer.


BTW, why dont fly LGW-RAK direct?

Yes, but this is a different airline issuing the ticket (075 vs 125). I'd be surprised if BA could even see the details of payment.

Is the flight from lhr on BA or IB metal?

I doubt many people would accept a photocopy of a credit card as proof of anything!

From a quick search on Iberia.com (my bolding):
So if Iberia.com is telling you that you will need to show the payment card, then you will be a bit stuck if they do ask to see it. Others can better advise as to whether BA will want to see this at LHR on your departure.

I have not booked on Iberia.com for years, so am not sure if there is a 'cardholder not travelling' option like on BA.com. If not, you might want to consider booking by phone to confirm with Iberia.com it will not cause any problems.

I dont think BA will accept a photocopy of the credit card, man I dont know what to do in your situation. maybe ask to borrow your friends credit card and give him yours while you're away.

I don't think it matters, as all flights depart as BA flights from T5. A "ghost" PNR will be created on flight BA5xx, even though the flight really is operated by Iberia.

But if it is a 075 ticket and IB are the operating carrier and if IB state that card needs to be produced at check in then I would expect that this will be rigidly enforced.

Just curious, is this another security measure they implemented recently or just another money grab attempt? I've never heard of any airline ask for payment verification at checkin.

It's a security (fraud protection) measure that has been around for ages.

You have now!

BA used to do this more than it does now. It was actually quite routine for a while when online bookings began to be offered. Then there was a phase when certain passenger characteristics (eg higher-tier BAEC membership) would tend to exempt you from the check - although that wasn't universal and I remember one occasion when I was the last person of the group of three to arrive at the airport and BA simply wouldn't print BPs for the other two until I'd got there. Now, it's unusual for me to be asked, but it still sometimes happens - particularly with Comair in South Africa.

About 10 years ago, I booked a ticket for a friend on CX to fly from HKG to somewhere like NRT. The way that our plans evolved, I ended up departing HKG earlier than she did, taking the credit card with me. She found that she couldn't travel without paying CX again for the ticket with her card, with me getting a refund afterwards.

This happens quite a lot when I book Iberia flights.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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....

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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?

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.

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. :confused:

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

That solution has been reported on here a couple times before.