Kingfisher-site booking problems
 

I thought it would be useful if I copied you with my post from another forum.

Having spent over half an hour checking availability/schedules / pricing and then completing the long booking process it was rejected after credit card input with the message “booking not completed, rejected by web browser”

I then phoned their UK freephone number which eventually was answered by their India call centre
I explained the problem and they said they would take a telephone booking.
Long conversation, poor line and lots of phonetic spelling eventually got to the credit card input.
Result-booking failed.
I suggested a different card but was then told that their Indian Bank did not accept Mastercard or Visa from non Indian residents, only American Express and they will not take debit cards.

Why didn’t you tell me this before I started, I politely asked through gritted teeth?!

I checked with my card providers to check the amounts had not gone through or had been rejected but was told there was no activity and they had probably been blocked by the Indian Bank, a common occurrence.

So I tried to book the internal Kingfisher flights through my usual sites.
Netflights and Expedia couldn’t or wouldn’t quote although the former said if we booked our International flights they could do them as an add on.

Anyway – ebookers came up trumps, flights available on line at only £5 more for DEL/SLA return than if I had been able to book direct with Kingfisher.

makemytrip.com is also a good site for booking flights in India.

i have had trouble with Kingfisher, Air India and Jet online booking sites. So i stopped using them for ticketing..only use them for schedules.

Not sure if this is a problem but websites in india require verified by visa or or mastercard secure code per rbi regs. Perhaps thats why it keeps being rejected.

I used amex recently and it worked.

This is largely true. Unfortunately banks who issued my MC/Visa do not use the above guidelines, and therefore we get rejected on transactions.
Amex kept getting rejected for no reason as well.

Also, interesting to note that the Indian Railways website definitely requires the criteria quoted by rsh913.

There was a case/scam about 2 years ago where a person was selling Kingfisher tickets through an email and mobile phone in Mumbai.

1) This guy was advertising in local papers/it cafes etc
2) You ask him for a ticket
3) he quotes 50% less than what airline are selling.
4) he purchases it with a stolen credit card.
5) you pay 50% in cash to him
6) he pockets the cash and you fly

Kingfisher were targetted big time and that is why there website can be a bit anal with foreign credit cards.

Also the reserve bank of India stated that cards without verified by visa or securecard codes will not be able to use online bookings. fair play to them to try and cut down fraud.

The RBI must be one of the few establishment organisations that get it right more often than not. An example on the other end of the spectrum is the Civil Aviation ministry!

Silverswimmer, Most likely the charges were blocked by Kingfisher itself and never submitted to any bank, foreign or Indian, in the first place. Please see my first post in the following thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/airli...s-portals.html

I had meant that thread as a 1-stop lounge for a current snapshot of foreign card acceptance by Indian portals. I haven't updated it, but plan to do it somewhat regularly.

d3vski, I understand that you have no choice but to stand up for IT for personal reasons, so no comment. :)

but was he actually using a foreign CC? it seems like the same could have happened with any CC

In Sept I tried to book on line and the booking was always rejected so I telephoned the Kingfisher telephone support office and they told me several sites but as I spoke with the lady, each booking at sites she was suggesting during our telephone conversation was rejected until she finally suggested Travelocity. So I finally got booked on travelocity.ca.

I fly DXB-CCU return and the booking shows up OK. Now to try to purchase an upgrade option before I fly...