Passengers grounded in credit card mix-up

by Stephanus Surjaputra on June 9, 2008

Whose credit card did you use to buy that airline ticket? If you didn’t say “mine,” you might not be allowed to board.

That’s what happened to passengers on Ras Al Khaimah Airways, the carrier based in the United Arab Emirates. RAK reportedly offloaded numerous passengers from its flights because they had booked their tickets online with a credit card that wasn’t theirs, but a friend’s or a relative’s. They had to buy another ticket if they wanted to fly.

They even have this condition “flashing” on their Web site — possibly due to the many complaints they’ve gotten.

But this policy isn’t limited to RAK and another middle eastern carrier, Jazeera Airways.

Our own Christopher Elliott had to assist two people who almost had to buy another ticket because one used a corporate credit card and the other lost the original credit card.

Why these rules? Airlines say it’s done to prevent credit card fraud. But what happens if you don’t have your own credit card or don’t want to use your own? What happens if you lose your credit card?

If you do lose your card and you find out about it before the day you travel, call the airline, explain the situation and ask them make a note in your record.

Otherwise, you might be grounded.

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Tagged as: airline, credit card, denied boarding

  • http://notravelmlms.blogspot.com John F

    It used to be SOP that to obtain your e-ticket and BP at the gate or in a kiosk that the credit card needed to match the form of purchase. This made it tough for corporates and they used paper tickets.

    Then they switched to using ANY card to name match.

    I suspect that it is an additional security measure considering these home bases of these airlines. There is a lot of CC fraud and identity theft out there today and I think it is a good idea.

  • http://leftcoastsportsbabe.com Janice Hough

    Credit card issues – use a travel agent and worry about something else.

    There have been some horror stories on this blog and others of passengers being denied boarding for not having the credit card with them that was used to purchase their tickets.

    And it sounds annoying as all get out if you are the person who bought a ticket for your child, relative or other friend, and that traveler can’t board a plane. Not to mention how annoying it is for the traveler.

    But this is one of the few airline rules that makes some sense. With phone or on line reservations, do you really want someone to simply be able to give your credit card number, obtained from who knows where, and purchase a ticket for a third party? If the transaction is fraudulent, you may not get the charge until after that ticket has been used. And then it’s a battle between you and the credit card company and the airline to see who picks up the tab.

    If you legiitimately want to purchase a ticket for someone else, there’s an easy solution. Book through a travel agent. With the bond agreement agents and airlines have, the airline will waive the requirement for the passenger to show a credit card, because they can (and will) go back to the agent in case of fraud. And any competent agent will only accept phone or email orders from someone they know.

    Yes, you will pay a service charge. But you will probably get a good fare. And you won’t get the call ‘Mom, I don’t have your credit card…they won’t let me on the plane.”

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  • Bill

    Air Canada uses “verified by visa” to sell tickets online. If I buy a ticket and it goes through that process, and my bank approves it, then it shouldn’t matter who is flying.

    The banks started up these credit card systems without adequate fraud protection, get everyone using them and then try to frustrate you.

    I hope these people denied boarding were given full refunds on whichever credit card was used.

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