As if the fallout of the government shutdown weren’t enough to deal with, now travelers might have to worry about getting stranded if they don’t have the right credit card on them.
In September, Herb Weisbaum, otherwise known as The ConsumerMan, was almost stranded at the London Heathrow airport when he was trying to fly home to Seattle. All because he didn’t have the credit card he purchased his airline tickets with.
“When it was our turn to use a kiosk to print our boarding passes, the machine instructed me to swipe the credit card used to purchase our tickets,” Weisbaum wrote in his blog. “The kiosk gave me no other option to start the check-in process. It wouldn’t let me enter our trip’s confirmation code, as I had done in Seattle before boarding our flight to London, or put in a ticket number.”
Weisbaum and his wife were directed to a Delta supervisor who said she could not issue their boarding passes if Weisbaum didn’t present the credit card he used to purchase his tickets.
Thankfully, Weisbaum did eventually check in thanks to a helpful neighbor back home who, at 3 a.m. local time, was able to enter his house and take a picture of said credit card. Otherwise, Weisbaum’s only other option was to buy walk-up tickets for $6,000.
[Read: Airline Credit Cards]
Delta’s Outdated Credit Card Rule
As it turns out, Delta has this rule baked into its terms and conditions. Under “Credit/Debit Card Presentation” on its “Booking a Flight Online” page, Delta states:
“To safeguard against credit/debit card fraud, the purchaser may have to show us the credit/debit card along with a valid photo ID. The time varies based on the billing address of the credit/debit card or the country of travel. If the purchaser is not traveling, they can show us their credit/debit card and ID at an airport ticket counter or another ticket office location, whichever is most convenient.”
It’s an antifraud measure — but an outdated one. In today’s landscape, it’s far easier for the consumer to let their credit card issuer handle everything on their behalf if there’s a possibility of fraud. The onus is on the credit card company, not the airline, to deal with credit card fraud.
And while it’s rare that Delta enforces this policy, it’s clear it still does. But what about travelers who didn’t book their own flights? This policy can tie the hands of parents who buy tickets for teens visiting family abroad. Or what if you’re flying on behalf of your company and the ticket was bought with a corporate card you don’t possess?
So if you’re flying with Delta this holiday season — especially if it’s an international flight — have the credit card you purchased your ticket with on hand. Just in case.
Ticket Purchase Policies of Other Airlines
I scoured other major airlines’ policies and called customer service representatives to double check I wasn’t missing anything. As expected, most other major U.S. airlines don’t have a policy similar to Delta’s.
— Alaska. The airline doesn’t require the purchase credit card at check-in.
— American. There is no policy concerning credit card presentation at check-in. You may only need to present your credit card if that card has already been flagged for fraud.
— JetBlue. There is no policy around credit card presentation at check-in.
— Southwest. There is no policy covering credit card presentation at check-in. The representative from Southwest said, at most, you may have to provide the last four digits of the credit card you used if a problem ever arose.
— United. There is no policy on credit card presentation at check-in.
So, if most of the other major U.S. airlines don’t require you to show your credit card at check-in, why does Delta?
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Don’t Get Grounded Abroad Because You Don’t Have the Right Credit Card originally appeared on usnews.com
