I had posted that AA's RTW desk referred me to their official ticketing agent in CAI to ticket a few AONE5's...

[Edited as Emeco ended up apologizing and being quite helpful.]

[This message has been edited by JonNYC (edited 10-10-2003).]

WOW!!! I guess your they have heard about you in Egypt already!! Any response from the AA RTW desk who refered you to the this highly "motivated" business.?

rich

That's a good point, I should send a copy of the correspondence to someone at AA. I'm sure they don't expect much from their GSA in Cairo--- but it would be nice if they didn't accuse people of credit card fraud by simply checking their mailing address against credit card records (I assume that's what this genius did.) First-class detectives these Egyptian travel agents are.

I fail to see what this agent could have done at all to investigate you. I assume you did not give him your credit card number so what record could he look up.

rich

I'm assuming that he took my office address (my mailing address) and my home phone number-- which is what I provided-- and looked it up on some database and determined that I am a walking credit card scam because the two didn't match. He tersely asked for my mailing address and phone number "before we can proceed" and then the next e-mail from him was the one above. So, you are certainly right, but that only makes the guy look that much more dim-witted, IMHO. What a boob.

I wonder if the Egyptian Detective is available to help "solve" the Laci Petersen case?


[This message has been edited by JonNYC (edited 07-15-2003).]

I think the matching of card with adres is mostly done in the US. At least in Asia and Europe you can charge what you liek without ever being asked your adres (website or otherwise) - so I doubt this was at issue.

I wish FT had a "spell check" function.

In the UK, credit cards are always matched to addresses for cardholder not present transactions.

I have dealt explicitly with the AA GSA office in Cairo and there is no 'Emeco' working there as far as I am concerned. I have had no problems whatsoever in passing bookings booked on SABRE and then queing the information to them (and also reminding them via Email), and also queing the PNR to AA's rate desk in Dublin for the fare quote. All this had been done in less than 40 minutes. AA in CAI then emails me to confirm fare, after I retrieve the booking on my SABRE to double check the fare.

I then advise the appropriate personnel in Cairo about ticketing details and then highlight the creditcard details on the reservation.

Note that SABRE is still based in the USA and has the name / address matching function activated of which any AA office can use to their advantage.

Please note that the EASIEST way to issue this ticket is not by fax/phone.. but rather just by showing up and paying for the ticket with your credit card on hand. The AA office may prepare the ticket but would still only release the ticket when they have sighted your credit card and ID. Best not to do 'it over the phone'.

Of course, JonNYC, I could say that you're a friend of mine and the AA office in CAI will do whatever I instruct them to do. But since I don't really know you... it's kinda hard to do that.



[This message has been edited by Guy Betsy (edited 07-16-2003).]

Emeco is AA's GSA in Cairo (the company)-- the "gentleman's" name was William H.

Thanks for the "offer" . I'm sure I'll get my tickets issued without your kind assistance-- and I don't want to deal with Emeco at all.


[This message has been edited by JonNYC (edited 07-16-2003).]

FWIW, I received a very, very apologetic e-mail from WIlliam at Emeco this morning. It was lengthy and very sincere and he explained all the scams that Egyptian travel agents have been the victim of recently. I will quote just this short part of his e-mail:

A nice note and a nice apology from a person who made a very, very dumb mistake-- if he would have asked for an address and phone number for "verification purposes" I would have been certain to give him one that would have matched. I intend to write him back and tell him that at the minimum I certainly appreciate the time and effort that went into his reply. I still think I feel a little more comfortable now with BA doing the ticketing-- even though as a fellow OW FTer e-mailed me "AA is my airline and AA's RTW desk is an absolute joy to deal with." I feel the same way and I wish I hadn't had this ridiculous experience with AA's GSA in Cairo.