Checking in without credit card
 

I usually buy my own tickets, but this week i'm flying on one bought for me by a client. E-tix says "bring credit card used to purchase with you" I called uA and agent said buyer has to go to airport and sign a release before I can get BP without the credit card. Person who bought the ticket is our of the country and can't do this. Question- will this be a problem or will they issue me a boarding pass? Will easycheckin work? If it helps, I'm a 1k and my MP number is in the record.

I doubt
 

if there will be a problem. In my last 4 or so trips (Intl.) I have never been asked to show my card for my e-ticket.

Just use your 1K card with Mr. Easy Checkin or Easy Checkin online and you will have no problems. I have done this several times myself.

I have never been asked to show the credit card on my personal travels. For my business trips, my company travel department purchases the tickets using a coporate card, and I have never been asked to show it. I think most counter agents don't even bother to see if the traveler actually bought the ticket or by someone else. Now with online check-in and EasyCheck-in terminals at the airport, it is just impossible to enforce it.

The only time Mr. EasyCheckin - or a counter agent - will ask to see the credit card is if you are not a Mileage Plus elite. Since you are a 1K and your MP number is on the reservation, use your 1K card as usual in Mr. EasyCheckin.

If you use an agent at the counter, just hand over your ID and 1K card.

Two letters:

BS

I haven't been asked to show a credit card either. So, there should not be a problem for elite members.

Use Mr. Easy with your MP card. Works just fine.

FWIW, I believe this credit card stuff was abandoned a while ago when UAL.com et al started asking for the security code on the card, etc. They advertised this on the home page for a while.

I may be mistaken, but I believe back in January they started asking for the verification number on the back of the card when you made the reservations online, and stopped asking to see the card at the counter when checking in.

I don't think they took the text off the e-ticket page. My booking confirmation for upcoming trips says only photo ID must be presented, nothing about a credit card anymore.

It is something you need to find out for sure before getting to the airport though.

Exactly - if you gave the CVV when you purchased the ticket, they don't need to see the card at check-in.

Yes, we don't have to show our credit cards at the airport anymore.

But the problem here is the fact that someone else's credit card bought this ticket and the names don't match. I run a conference and bought several tickets for faculty members this year. I had to show my credit card to a CS rep at the airport. Although I didn't have to sign a release, she checked my credit card and put notes in the computer file, so the people with the tickets could check in. I don't think any of them have elite status.

A couple of years ago I read (in UA produced materials) that 1K customers were exempted from showing the credit card upon check in. (This was before Mr. EZ).

The few random times I've been asked for a credit card (I always buy my work tix on my boss' CC) I have said "As a 1K I don't have to show the credit card" and that was the end of it.

Also, if you buy with a UA Mileage Plus Credit Card I don't think there is a prompt either. (The other good thing about this card, is you can go way over on your credit limit if you're buying UA tickets ;D)

On rare occasions, I'm asked to show credit card when checking in with a live agent. However, the 1K card has worked fine for several yrs. The last time the message came up on the CSR's screen, she dismissed it as unneeded and didn't ask for anything beyond photo ID.

I haven't been asked to show my credit card for ages.

As everyone has indicated, it's been a while since you should have had to do this. Hopefully the experience you're describing was from that painful era and not a recent occurance. I have bought dozens of tickets for people w/ different names on my credit card in the past year with no problems whatsoever.

And what a relief it's been since that rule has gone. I used to buy tickets on WN for other people regularly just to avoid this hassle. Not just that I would have to endure the stupid trip to the airport for them to put the note in the record, but the inevitable hassle the passenger would have to go through when the agent would question them about it. Remember the horror when even the easy check-in kiosks would ask you to slide the credit card you used to purchase the ticket for verification? Ugh, thank goodness for those three blessed numbers on the back of our credit cards!