nick5000

Booked two tickets Friday 12th January and got eticket and confirmation right away. After 6 hours got another email with request to verify the credit card, asked me to send passport and cc statement. I did this and got a reply next day that they also wanted to see screenshot of the charge from Qatar airways and another ID.
I replied to this in January 13th and have not heard anything since. I sent another email to them on Monday 21st, still no reply.
Is this normal ?? And is there still a chance they might cancel the ticket ? The price is gone up since so I would obviously like to keep the original reservation. It still shows as confirmed when I click view reservation.
The flight is in 2 months from now.

hawkfan7314

Have you tried their twitter or just regular customer service line? I've had good luck with both.

I'm hoping this situation doesn't happen with me, I booked through American and they haven't asked for any of this information. What country are you booking out of? I've heard certain ones are the reason they ask for verification.

nick5000

I did call them the day after I booked, as they sent a reminder to verify the card (else the reservation would be cancelled) after I sent the documents. After holding for a while she asked me to call back in 2 hours.. I hate to call, so avoiding it. Don't use twitter, but maybe I should sign up for this.

The trip is from OSL, but I booked it while in Malaysia and my card is USA issued.
What I think is very strange is how they can threaten to cancel the reservation after they have sent the e-ticket. I would believe there are EU laws that makes it hard for them to cancel an issued ticket.
First time I'm booking with QR, and it certainly doesn't make for a good first impression.

Could I have booked the same promo fare from another website? I guess I would have missed the double miles promotion.

zsc

Can't help with the first unfortunately. For the second however, yes, if you booked via an OTA, your journey will not qualify for the 2x Qmiles promotion.

plunet

Card verification procedures are a function of risk, and making a transaction based on a sales point, with a card issued from both another country and currency with the transaction being made from yet another place is likely to hit the risk profile jackpot.

Also bear in mind that risk decision are likely to be led by the airline's Bank or the payment brands (VI, MC, AX). The travel industry is more susceptible to fraud than some other retail sectors. So awkward challenges like this are the payment industry trying to protect cardholders and themselves.

​​​​​So Qatar is probably a middle man here, being told to do this verification by their acquiring bank or the card brand because a risk threshold has been exceeded. But the manner in which Qatar implement the verification seems to be so substandard, asking passengers to submit personal information via email (unencrypted) rather than by a secure portal, making the process cumbersome, and not making card verification at check in an easy option all points to substandard customer service practices again.

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nick5000

Yes, however this doesn't happen to me with any other airline (with same card etc). I have bought tickets with this card from United, Thai, Cathay, SAS, Malaysia, Singapore, Spring and others.
Also, I think it should happen when you place the order, not 6 hours after you get the e-ticket and confirmation.
And why don't they reply after 14 days, and now it's been 5 days since my follow up messages. I find that quite extraordinary.

Dr. HFH

I've never had a verification request from QR. I use a U.S. based card (AMEX PLT); and I buy my tickets online from the QR website in Thailand.

brunos

So the agent asked you to call back on 13th January and you never did?
That's a bit risky, isn't it? Just because you hate calling.

The only time I ever needed to go through the paperwork you described is with a China trip (not QR) and they had to follow Chinese banking rules. You list PVG as your location, are you residing in China? That would add to the weirdness (Oslo, Malaysia, US cc).
If you used a visa card, I am suprised that you did not get verified by visa if you booked online.

hawkfan7314

I would say just to call. Make them do their job, since they are there for your needs, even though sometimes it doesn't feel like it. I think the multiple different country aspects of your travel/booking/paying could be a flag for them as all three happen in regards to different countries, if that makes sense. If you don't want to call and you hold out, just make sure you go to the airport with the card you used to purchase the tickets.

plunet

I have had this with RJ, MH and CX in the past. Never with QR. I've never had it with AX transactions, only Visa and Mastercard based cards.

nick5000

Thanks, I might try to call again. However it seems strange that they have a support system online and that they wouldn't use it?
This is where my fraud "ticket" is going, and I can log in and write reply and read their replies.
https://qatarairways.zendesk.com

She didn't ask me to call back, she said I could call back in 2 hours to check on the status. It seems the fraud team are not on phone, so the agents on the phone can't handle the fraud issues.

I did try to go to the ticket office while in HK this week, however they had moved I found when I got there (google maps was wrong). I also tried at HK airport but no QR ticket office there.

In the future I will make sure to book a ticket with United and fly to my billing address and make the QR booking while there, originating from there, if this is the only way to get a ticket verified with QR. Who would have thought that a frequent traveler would be in another country than his billing address. ;-)

nick5000

Yes I live in China. I must be very weird.

My card doesn't have verified by visa (seems many US cards don't).

R2

As I wrote in another thread, I used to get this annoying verification request almost every time I booked on QR's website. I started using Paypal to pay for the tickets, never had a request nor an issue since.