maxmin

Anyone else having this problem?

Very strange... no matter which global EK site I use, for various origins (UK, US, Asia) my credit card is always declined. The VerifiedbyVisa page flashes up for a brief instant, then returns to the "EK Please wait" page, before finally being declined.

Tried two visa cards, Amex... I called the verified by visa and they dont even see an incoming request. I had some success once with VbV fraud department, and they preauth'd the EK transaction. However on another occasion it didn't worl.

This has been going on for 3 weeks. I call EK and they say "Oh our payments system must be down"

whimike

This is a known, and very annoying, issue. You can read about some rants, just use the search function.

Try waiting a few days before trying to make payment, and use your AMEX to avoid the "Verified by VISA" stuff.

maxmin

Thanks - amazing - they must lose some revenue as a result.

I did try Amex, perhaps will try again tmrw.

I could book via a 3rd party site such as expedia, but that would stop me assigning seats etc on Emirates.com, I believe.

Emirates202

All of my EK tickets originate in HYD. That being said, up until a few months ago, they only accepted MasterCard and visa. The first time like a few years ago, I tried my 2 masters and my one visa, which were declined. I usually had to call MasterCard, and had to stay on the phone with them while booking it. Visa never worked, not sure why, but MasterCard ended up working after 2 attempts, a call to EK and a call to MasterCard. I prefer using my Amex cards so it irritated me, and I sometime had to book using expedia, when I wasn't in the mood to call EK/MasterCard. You still can choose seats while using Expedia on EK.com after the booking is paid for, but I prefer booking with EK because when booking with a travel agent, third party, any changes before the journey begins must be done with them, which is annoying at times.
Anyway, I was thrilled a few months ago when I went to book my flights, and saw that Amex was listed as a possible card, so it made my life much easier. Never using a travel agent for EK flights again!

The reason that MasterCard apparently didn't go through, is because they think that since my card has a US billing address, a booking in F/J originating internationally is fraud.

Anyway, stay on the phone with MasterCard while booking, as they will get a notice of the payment trying to be charged, and they can allow it to go through. Good luck!

mankap

I´ve had the very same problem. Ended up calling and spent like 45min on hold because the call center agent was looking for a solution and even had to contact the supervisor and HQ in Dubai. In my case I was only able to use credit card payment. Paypal or other alternatives are not avail. for all countries.

Result was:
They did not know what was wrong. However, EK´s IT-system will automatically decline your credit card after 3 attempts for 24h. They ended up sending me a credit card verification slip, which I had to fill out and return to EK.

tomnativenewyorker

I have used my Visa with a US address numerous times the past two years while here in Kuwait without any issues with verified by Visa.

On the other hand, had numerous issues with vbv trying to make bookings on Air Asia. A telephone call to their UK customer service number verified to me that the rep was an idiot. He told me that because Air Asia did not fly to the US that the system rejects all US cards. hahaha

Never had an issue with vbv when booking with TG until this past weekend and kept getting errors and rejections. Used an Amex card instead.

I am really starting to think there may be issues with verified by visa themselves.

chinatraderjmr

Happens to me all the time, especially w tkts that have more then 2 segments or cost over $10,000. Very simple. I just re create the booking on Expedia & let them ticket it. I don't lose anything, get the same SW credit so it's no big deal

whimike

Expedia is easier to book on, however, as somebody mentioned upthread, changing flights becomes more problematic.

chinatraderjmr

I've never had a problem & change flights all the time. I just call EK to make the change, no need to call Expedia. At least this is how it is w F class tkts. Maybe other fares are more complicated

ukdoctor

I've never had a problem with my visa, amex or MasterCard credit cards(Uk issued)

KU104

I've had this problem once here in KWI with two differnet cards.

The best way to sort this is call the local office, they will confirm there is a booking and several attempts to pay for it online. The system usually holds the booking for a few hours even if CC payment is rejected. Once the local office locates your booking tell them that your CC is not going through and the bank is confirming nothing is wrong, they will tell you to come down and pay for it if you like and they will waive the office fees. Just make sure that they quote you the same fare as the online one!

donnabella

happened to me to, they have something called GLOBAL COLLECT BV which takes the payment, I had to have that recognised by my bank to get the payments processed, once I did that, my online booking payments went through smoothly.

mrtdxb

Once ticketed you should be able to access through Manage My Booking on ek.com and assign seats there.

lax.sea.jnu

Has anyone had success resolving issues with PayPal and EK? I had a multi passenger F booking get authorized by PayPal and fail with EK. PayPal says that EK has to cancel the authorization or it will expire in 30 days. I would like to confirm the ticket before then. I called EK and they submitted the issue for escalation, but I’m not sure to whom.

FlyGuy330

Folks, I've had exactly the same problem. Was tearing my hair out. Eventually I think I solved it.
Firstly - DO NOT select your seats. Just skip that and go straight to payment. You can go back later and do the seats.
Second - If you've recently added a new card but haven't deleted old or expired ones, do that on the payment page - there's a little waste bin symbol beside old cards. Use it to bin them.
Thirdly - In desperation, if the above won't work, delete your CURRENT card and RE-ENTER it in the system.
It worked for me.
Terrible system!
Good Luck.