Travel agent asking to deposit money to BoA. Need help!
 

Hi Fellow Flyers,

I am trying to book two tickets to India thru a agent called CitiAir from NY.

They sent me a itinerary about the flight details and after going thru all I was OK with booking. For my surprise the agent told me that they cant take Credit card payment (Saying British airways flights alone dont except credit cards and he could do for other airlines) and asked me to deposit money to their BoA account. After telling I do not have BoA account, they tell me to deposit cash by going to Bank. This sounded fishy and I just told I need time to think.

Later I checked the reservation number in ba.com and I see the seats confirmed by them and all my details are accurate.

Please help! Is this safe? Any one has ever done bank deposit for booking flights?

What is the itinerary and price?

You may well be able to get the same price booking directly through an airline or online TA. BA certainly do accept CC.

Thanks for the reply! It is BOS to BLR on 8th of July by BA. On their site the price is twice as high! Agency quotes 980

Travel agent asking to deposit money to BoA. Need help!
 

Sounds fishy to me too...

Paying for travel with a credit card gives you more consumer protections.

I certainly would not carry cash for the price of one or more tickets to India. Plus it's a waste of your time. I'd even be very reluctant to pay by check and certainly would not do so without throroughly checking out the travel agent. The fact that you can see a reservation on ba.com means nothing as the reservation can always be cancelled with or without ever being ticketed.

Why can't you just purchase the ticket from ba.com using your preferred credit card?

I had another travel agent Alanitha book for me who in past has accepted CC for me.. but this particular flight from BA they want to deposit money to BoA as well. I think this is some prereserved tickets funda from agents.

I wouldnt either. Pay by check is still a better option than depositing cash in BoA. ba.com shows me 2k+ for ticket price and its less than half with this agent.

Are you getting a consolidator ticket? An award ticket using someone else's (purchased in violation of FF program rules) miles?

I am not sure what type of ticket it is.. But sounds like consolidator tickets to me now!

Ask for the fare code and fare rules.

And because you can see the reservation then call BA and ask for details on the ticket. After that then decide.

I have done it before for tix to India... They want to avoid 4 percent to credit card charge

Also ask BA for the cost. If it's too good to be true--if the travel agent is giving you a discount that's more than a fraction of what would be their commission--you might be seeing a dummy booking that's unrelated to the ticket the travel agent will actually give you, such as one purchased fraudulently with someone else's FF miles.

Absolutely no. You need the protection of a credit card in case anything goes wrong with the travel agent. Do not do it - even if it saves you money, it is not worth the risk. No airline I know of refuses a credit card payment. And I have been in the travel agency business for more than 25 years.

If you don't want to appear confrontational, tell them that you have to book on your credit card in order to get the travel insurance through your credit card.