[OT] Nasty IB experience in MAD
 

This morning I went to the airport to check-in for a flight MAD-EZE, on an IB e-Ticket purchased with a VISA c/c. The IB agent asked for my passport (normal), FF card to ID the e-ticket (normal), and the credit card used to purchase the ticket. As it happens, this ticket was bought by somebody else for me, for whatever reasons, and that person was not there with me, nor, obviously, do I carry his/her credit card with me. Well, after half an hour, and two supervisors involved, no dice, original credit card or I was not checking in, no matter what. So, four hours later, I am now back home, with my luggage and a pretty long face. :mad:

Viajero, It's terrible that you had to go through that unpleasant and unfortunate experience. We learnt the hard way as well, although in our case it was only on a domestic flight.

Apparently the prerequisite to have THE credit card used for purchase of an E-ticket started at the beginning of this year, and unfortunately the banner advising of this prerequisit is not very obvious and appears when your selected itinerary is displayed on Iberia.com. It's abanner using smallish font and an insipid yellow colour.

Hope you're able to sort this out.

Yikes. Hope your plans can get back on track.

(Maybe only understandable to North Americans) but given this alongside the now-near-universal imposition of $5 or $10 airline ticketing fees for human involvement, maybe we should just get it over with and invite Ticketmaster to take over airline transactions.

This is a common requirement -- almost every airline requires it; actually the credit card companies require this, I believe. I don't think it is fair to blame IB for this behaviour at the airport; whoever took payment for the reservation should have made this requirement quite clear. Didn't IB give you the option to (re)purchase the ticket using a card that you did have (and then process a refund for the other card)? Or did you refuse that option?
I guess there is quite a bit of fraud with 3rd party purchases of airline tickets, and the more expensive your ticket the less flexible the airline is likely to be on this -- one time that fully refundable is less desirable!

Who's blaming IB? I took great care in my post not to blame anybody, and tried hard to stick to the facts. No, I was not given the option to (re)purchase the ticket, maybe because it was not refundable, maybe because the agent did not think about it, maybe because it was one of those days when nobody thinks straight. In any case, I did not refuse anything; in fact, I took it on the chin, politely thanked those involved, accepted they were simply doing their job, and returned home. My post, far from being a tirade against IB, or anybody, was simply designed to sound a word of caution for those who may find themselves in a similar situation in future. And on the subject of this being so common, no, it is not: an IB manager has since explained to me (just got back from the airport, again) their computer runs random checks on credit card purchases, and from time to time somebody gets hit with this. It is anything but a common thing, or so they say.

Well, read your post title again. It's pretty loaded.

If IB refused to give you the option to repurchase the ticket using a different card and travel on the original flight, then I would blame IB, they had this capability as do all airlines. A lot of credit cards have a 3-digit code on the back which does not appear on the front of the card (on imprints taken from the card), and this is a security feature of the card. If the airline doesn't request this code when the ticket is paid for, the odds of needing the physical card is greatly increased. It may not be such a random process as the airport personnel think it is. This in turn ties into the credit card authorization and processing system that is used by the ticket issuer.

If you read the title as 'loaded' then it was a poor choice of words on my part, which I regret, for it was not my intention to convey such meaning. I meant to say 'I had a nasty experience involving Iberia in Madrid'; the negative being on the experience, not on IB, or Madrid.

FWIW...
In July, I purchased e-tickets for AGP-MAD-AMS and used the machine @ Malaga to check-in a day early (about 18 hours or so). My vague recollection is that I had to insert the credit card used for the on-line purchase in order to obtain boarding passes from the machine. When passing through the regular check-in line, the agent did not ask for the credit card.

I just purchased another e-ticket but this time it's for my sister-in-law using her boyfriend's credit card.:eek: (long story - not for FT...) Based on Viajero's advice, I will forewarn her to ensure that the boyfriend is present (with card) when they check-in at BCN.

Precisely. I have purchased, with my c/c, 10 or so tickets over the years for my daughter, who lives a world apart; never had a problem, so was none the wiser, until now.

Anyhow, off to the airport, to catch (all fingers crossed) my flight to EZE. See you all from beautiful BUE. Thanks.

Viajero really sorry to hear about your experience. If your post serves for nothing else, at least it will be a warning to others. Hope you made it to beautiful Buenos Aires safely.

vt

I bought an e ticket on LH for my 10 year old son departing Madrid in July, and noticed after purchase that the ticket required the presentation of the CC at check in. Since I was travelling at the time of my son´s departure and my wife would take him to the airport, I approached LH at MAD at my own departure and asked them how I could deal with that problem. Could I show them my CC now ? Should I leave it with my wife ?(this would cause problems because I had used that specific CC to guarantee other purchases, Car rental/hotel).

They just said that the CC at check in is no longer required since the 1st July(just ID), and that the computer confirmation erronously still mentions it.

This indicated that there is a way for the airline to get around the issue with the CC company.

In any case, e tickets are a pain for the customer (useful for the airline), and I avoid them like the plague.

It's not only IB in MAD, but especially so with SQ in SIN.

SQ in SIN would like the original cc holder to sign an indemnity form as well have photocopies of the creditcard used faxed to SQ res before they will issue the ticket. SQ will then forward this copy to the check-in dept on day of departure and cc you a copy as well. On day of check-in, you must produce this letter which they will match against the fax. If you 'forgot'...hmm, well that's tough... you don't fly.

Otherwise you're SOL!

One must remember that the 3 digit codes behind your cc only works for US verfification. Many a times, such safety guards simply cannot work elsewhere.
For the 'address verifcation' against your cc number, so far this only works on certain airline CRS and is actually only good for addresses in North America and England. I think some laws in the EU prevent this.

I have had to buy tickets domestically in US for my parents, who would be connecting straight from a ex-MEL flight in LAX - obviously I would not be with them at the time. I asked about this issue as I knew the purchasing cc was needed. I was told I could go into LAX on a prior date and present the card to a check in agent and explain the situation, and this would be noted on my parents' record so they would have no problems.

I did as instructed and it worked out fine for them. I believe it was UA.

Yes! Thank you. Just woke up in magnificent BUE, and here is the best part of an otherwise painful experience: got to airport for check-in and there must have been a message in the system, because a supervisor came around, took us aside and guess what? ... Viajera and I both rode up the front, courtesy of Iberia. :cool: