Mar 1, 2020, 10:34 am
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
POS ==> Point of Sale. For UA, this determines pricing, inventory, fare rules, (in some cases - change fees) ....
Related threads
Different pricing/fare buckets depending on billing country / point of sale
Price delta between united.com/ United app / second phone? (Guam is billing country?)
united handles point of sale by credit card billing address. So will change the price to the local point of sale, based on billing address. If your CC is Canadian with Canadian address, and you start searching from US site, you’ll get the pricing swotcheroo. Sometimes, it’s not much of a difference. Sometimes it is. There can be different class availability, and exchange rate isn’t necessarily up to date.
Online OTAs should let you bill to whatever card you want, so that’s one solution.
Online OTAs should let you bill to whatever card you want, so that’s one solution.
Different pricing/fare buckets depending on billing country / point of sale
Price delta between united.com/ United app / second phone? (Guam is billing country?)
UA forces POS to credit card billing country -- restricts which site/card can be used
Aug 29, 2018, 4:00 pm
#16
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Aug 29, 2018, 4:45 pm
#17
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Aug 29, 2018, 8:57 pm
#18
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: YVR
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dont know how recent you are talking about, but $1336CAD today = $1033 USD per XE. .ca prices in CAD. So actually, that’s a savings. IME, and granted I stopped checking the Canadian website a long time ago, because at least for the typical transborder flights I usually book, prices in CAD on .ca and USD on .com typically had been very close factoring in exchange, and in same fare class, indicating a small exchange rate difference. Depending on the day, sometimes ,ca was slightly better, sometimes .com. Booking with my US card is usually better for me, so I almost always do that.
As I said, different POS sometimes have different availability, which is what would cause a price difference.
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Aug 29, 2018 at 11:22 pm Reason: merging consecutive posts by same member
Aug 29, 2018, 9:11 pm
#19
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Perhaps I am being thick.
I have paid American, Delta and Southwest thousands of dollars all in as they take my UK credit card, but United’s own app only allows paymernt with a payment card based in the US of A?
How is this an issue in 2018? Are direct sales not what UA want?
I have paid American, Delta and Southwest thousands of dollars all in as they take my UK credit card, but United’s own app only allows paymernt with a payment card based in the US of A?
How is this an issue in 2018? Are direct sales not what UA want?
I have -for the last few years- successfully charged a Chinese Credit Card in USD and inputting its information with a USA billing address.
Aug 29, 2018, 9:40 pm
#20
Join Date: Jan 2017
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They don’t actually verify the billing address. I’ve successfully used my EU billed cards with a US address on UA and switched the billing address on checkout page countless times between the local currency address and US address without changing the card.
or if you call in to ticket they’ll accept any US billing address you give them.
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Aug 29, 2018 at 11:23 pm Reason: merging consecutive posts by same member
Aug 29, 2018, 10:11 pm
#21
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: YVR
Posts: 251
Cool, will try that next time. Worth a shot.
Mar 10, 2019, 4:49 pm
#22
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 4
Non US billing address, wanting to book on united.com
Hi all and thank you in advance for the assistance.
I currently live in the UK and am trying to book a flight from SF to Papeete on united.com. The US website shows a significantly lower fair then if I was to book from the uk version of the site. I tried to fair lock it online and when it didn't let me do this I called the hotline number and secured it with them. I made sure to tell them I was residing in the UK and the card I used to pay for the fair lock was indeed a UK card. I am now worried that I will have problems paying the fair once I go on the website as when I click through to the purchase now button the billing address country is US (with no option to amend this for this reservation). Does anyone know if it is possible to pay on united.com if I do not have a US billing address (again when speaking to them I was clear I was not in US), if I pay through paypall, will it surpass this problem and will the money go through fine? Do I need to forward the money to a US friend and use their CC details?
Thank you so much!
Anat
I currently live in the UK and am trying to book a flight from SF to Papeete on united.com. The US website shows a significantly lower fair then if I was to book from the uk version of the site. I tried to fair lock it online and when it didn't let me do this I called the hotline number and secured it with them. I made sure to tell them I was residing in the UK and the card I used to pay for the fair lock was indeed a UK card. I am now worried that I will have problems paying the fair once I go on the website as when I click through to the purchase now button the billing address country is US (with no option to amend this for this reservation). Does anyone know if it is possible to pay on united.com if I do not have a US billing address (again when speaking to them I was clear I was not in US), if I pay through paypall, will it surpass this problem and will the money go through fine? Do I need to forward the money to a US friend and use their CC details?
Thank you so much!
Anat
Mar 10, 2019, 5:01 pm
#23
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You will be able to pay for it, no problem. At the US price, well no.
When you check out, and provide your billing address and use UK from the drop down, it will reload the page on the UK site, at the prevailing UK rate. That’s how UA works - it directs you to the point of sale based on the card billing address. This is different than most other airlines, who when you do a search, direct you to the POS of the departing city.
The PayPal option mayor may not work - I’ve never tried. Another potential option is to call and do it - they should be able to ticket it as is with your UK card. Yet another option is to use a US OTA like Orbitz, Expedia, etc. who should be able to take an international-based card.
When you check out, and provide your billing address and use UK from the drop down, it will reload the page on the UK site, at the prevailing UK rate. That’s how UA works - it directs you to the point of sale based on the card billing address. This is different than most other airlines, who when you do a search, direct you to the POS of the departing city.
The PayPal option mayor may not work - I’ve never tried. Another potential option is to call and do it - they should be able to ticket it as is with your UK card. Yet another option is to use a US OTA like Orbitz, Expedia, etc. who should be able to take an international-based card.
Mar 10, 2019, 7:47 pm
#25
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Welcome to FT, anatlc!
United will always charge you based on your billing address. And credit card companies in general are getting more serious about address checks, so I don't recommend using a fake address. We have a credit card with two addresses on it (primary and mailing address) and we're even gotten charges declined when using the mailing address.
United will always charge you based on your billing address. And credit card companies in general are getting more serious about address checks, so I don't recommend using a fake address. We have a credit card with two addresses on it (primary and mailing address) and we're even gotten charges declined when using the mailing address.
Mar 10, 2019, 8:08 pm
#26
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Ventura
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I’m Guam based and I have had success selecting the pay at a city ticketing office option in order to hold the reservation for at least 24 hours, then calling united to pay for it with a credit card. When I tried paying for the reservation online, it cancelled the reservation when it noticed the discrepancy in billing address. I called the web support desk and they were able to reinstate the reservation and took my Guam based credit card.
Additionally, maybe as a last resort, have you considered buying secondhand electronic travel certificates from an electronic marketplace like eBay?
Additionally, maybe as a last resort, have you considered buying secondhand electronic travel certificates from an electronic marketplace like eBay?
Mar 10, 2019, 8:31 pm
#27
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Why do you need to buy this on united.com? Just use a non-online US travel agent to handle the transaction, the credit card billing address has no bearing whatsoever.
Mar 11, 2019, 10:17 am
#28
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 4
Thank you everyone for your really helpful comments. I just dealt with the payment now, to update, paypal will not work as you need a US billing address still (it cancelled my reservation) but as suggested, I phoned and they were able to process a non US card through the call centre. So this seems to be the most useful method.
Thanks again! Anat
Thanks again! Anat
Mar 24, 2019, 4:09 am
#29
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Cannot buy airfare from United (Canada) with USD credit card?
So I was trying to purchase airfare from United's Canadian website with my credit card (USD) and United won't let me proceed with it. The reason why I want to do that is because there is about a $10 difference after currency conversion. When I put in my billing information and click "purchase", United would stop processing the transaction and tells me that they have updated the pricing to reflect the billing information that I had entered. Anyone here experienced this before? Now I know it's only $10, but money doesn't grow on trees...
Mar 24, 2019, 4:36 am
#30
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well-know problem. Search is your friend.
Your solution is likely https://www.expedia.ca/ or similar OTAs which will process your reservation in CAD.
Your solution is likely https://www.expedia.ca/ or similar OTAs which will process your reservation in CAD.