Do you need to have proof of credit card when checking in to a flight?

[Noisyaircon2020]

For the future once the pandemic is not so bad, if I was to book a return from UK to Thailand:

 

If a relative were to book the flight for me with their credit card, would this be a problem? I have read stories that some airlines require you to show the credit card that your flight was booked on upon check in at the airport. Or is that airline specific possibly?

 

Thank you.

[HappyExpat57]

My personal story - I was traveling to the states and had ordered a new credit card, delivered to my US address. I used that card to book the flight with China Airlines. When I arrived and they asked for the card, I explained the situation to them. They pulled me aside while they did some sort of verification, then allowed me to board. Be sure to have the bank name and card number with you. I'm sure they didn't ask me for the 3 digit security code on the back of the card.

[Crossy]

It is airline specific but most of the booking pages have an option for "buying a ticket for someone else" or something similar.

 

[Kildonan]

Been asked several times by Qatar,, even when a Platinum card holder! 

[Olmate]

3 minutes ago, Kildonan said:

Been asked several times by Qatar,, even when a Platinum card holder! 

Did they do a full body search too? 

[In Full Agreement]

3 minutes ago, Olmate said:

Did they do a full body search too? 

 

Don't know about any body searches but I remember a decade ago when I came back from the P.I. to Thailand, some Middle Eastern  airline next to the airline I was using searched the hair of all passengers at the boarding gate.   Don't think they used gloves either if memory serves me correctly.

 

Maybe a cavity search was conducted inside the plane?

 

[Ralf001]

7 minutes ago, Olmate said:

Did they do a full body search too? 

They don't go past second knuckle.

[CharlieH]

I would suggest you get a letter off the card holder just in case, verifying they purchased it for you. With their contact details if they wish to verify. Better to have and not need than have nothing.

[Johnny Mac]

Bit of a grey area, you might be asked you might not. Since you are not just popping around the shop I would be armed with the evidence. Christ, I'm bored.

[Kwasaki]

Only time I was ever ask that by the airline was when I only had a one way ticket. 

[steven100]

as mentioned,  it's a bit of a hit & miss,  some ask to see it and others don't.

[Captain Monday]

Some airlines require tickets purchased online to show the card used when checking in.

It is in the fine print. Friend of mine had an issue with a certain bankrupt carrier.

The card he uses for online purchases  he keeps at home for safety.

 

The solution was they made him cancel the ticket on the spot with a refund to the card he used.

Then he was allowed to buy the same itinerary again at the same price. Stressful waste of time

 

 

 

 

[HashBrownHarry]

I've never been asked for this and travel regularly.

[55Jay]

On at least one airline's on-line booking site, think it was Cathay Pacific, recall seeing a box to check if the purchaser was buying tickets for someone else and wouldn't be flying him or herself.  Never had to tick that box so don't know what the follow on procedure is. 

 

Edit: Oh, mentioned by Crossy already ^. 

Edited August 20, 2021 by 55Jay

[clearance]

What if your card is a virtual one? Like Kasikorn Visa K-Web shopping card for example.

Edited August 20, 2021 by clearance

[Tropicalevo]

I have paid for flights for friends using my credit card.

For their journey I gave them a 'to whom it may concern' letter explaining that I had authorised the payment. They also had photocopies of the card (main side only), photocopy of my id (passport or DL) and a phone number if they wanted to talk to me.

No one ever contacted me.

 

 

[gk10012001]

EVA air was very strict on requiring one show the card at the desk that you booked the flight on.  Now there are procedures and a form most airlines have that allows for when a person buys a ticket for somebody else.  I think at LAX one had to go to some master EVA office, and present yourself and the card to get the form!  So it was not trivial

[treetops]

If it's a concern then you could book through an agent.  This way the airline has none of your CC information to check as they are paid directly by the agent.

 

Booking through an agent brings its own potential problems however, so only do it if it's really necessary.

Edited August 20, 2021 by treetops

[bluejets]

I've found that a quick call to the airline in question will resolve any queries and usually more accurately.

 

After all, the last thing one wants when arriving for a flight is some questionable situation.

Edited August 20, 2021 by bluejets

[markeewan]

It is standard for airlines to request to see the credit card upon check in if this was an on line ticket purchase, due to fraud avoidance. But if the ticket is booked via a travel agent then they don't ask.

 

In any case if booked online, the airline has a form to cover this eventuality and you can get a pre-approval for this way of paying. Go search the airline website and look for the form to download and proceed from there and for sure they will have a option to cover what you are asking.

[theoldgit]

17 hours ago, clearance said:

What if your card is a virtual one? Like Kasikorn Visa K-Web shopping card for example.

 

A number of airlines specifically exclude the use of virtual cards to book a ticket online.

[theoldgit]

I understand that if a ticket is purchased via a travel agent rather than online, then there's no need to present a card at check-in.

[theoldgit]

17 hours ago, HashBrownHarry said:

I've never been asked for this and travel regularly.

 

I also travel fairly regularly and have been asked to produce the card used for booking a number of times, you must have an honest face.

[Salerno]

32 minutes ago, markeewan said:

It is standard for airlines to request to see the credit card upon check in if this was an on line ticket purchase, due to fraud avoidance.

I'd say it's standard to have it in the small print, less standard to actually be asked to see it.

 

I think it's possibly a geospecific thing in that personally I've never been asked to show it whether I booked directly or via a 3rd party site (vast majority of flights being Asia Pacific but I've never been asked in Europe, Middle East or the US either) but I have heard of people being asked to show it.

[khunjeff]

I've been asked to show the card a couple of times with different airlines at Suvarnabhumi, but most of the time it hasn't been requested, even when the airline website gives dire warnings that it will absolutely have to be presented at check-in.

 

I've also purchased a number of tickets for my girlfriend directly from airline booking sites - as others have noted, there's never an issue when buying through a third-party site - and fortunately she was never asked for anything, though I did provide a letter just in case. Interestingly, I was worried and actually went to an airline office here in Bangkok with my credit card and asked whether they could notate the reservation to indicate that they had already seen the physical card, but they said no, I should just give a letter (that carrier didn't seem to have any form for the situation).

[kennw]

21 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

They don't go past second knuckle.

Why cant people stick to the topic "credit card" . If you book on line with your credit card it says you must show that card at checkin.

[Ralf001]

28 minutes ago, kennw said:

Why cant people stick to the topic "credit card" . If you book on line with your credit card it says you must show that card at checkin.

I thought that was common knowledge..... since before the days baby jesus was soiling nappies.

[chalawaan]

21 hours ago, clearance said:

What if your card is a virtual one? Like Kasikorn Visa K-Web shopping card for example.

Are they not debit cards? Either way, if you show a virtual card, why would it be any less valid than a virtual boarding pass? 

Most airline staff, thankfully are not as obtuse as the seat-warmers who refer to themselves as "the authorities".

[scorecard]

22 hours ago, Olmate said:

Did they do a full body search too? 

No, only cavities M and F.

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, khunjeff said:

I've been asked to show the card a couple of times with different airlines at Suvarnabhumi, but most of the time it hasn't been requested, even when the airline website gives dire warnings that it will absolutely have to be presented at check-in.

 

I've also purchased a number of tickets for my girlfriend directly from airline booking sites - as others have noted, there's never an issue when buying through a third-party site - and fortunately she was never asked for anything, though I did provide a letter just in case. Interestingly, I was worried and actually went to an airline office here in Bangkok with my credit card and asked whether they could notate the reservation to indicate that they had already seen the physical card, but they said no, I should just give a letter (that carrier didn't seem to have any form for the situation).

Over 2 decades I've booked and used my VISA/Thailand based bank credit card to pay for maybe 25 flights for my Thai son when he was going backwards and forwards to Singapore to go to school, plus son and wife, sons' wife, son & wife and 3 kids. At check-in never once any questions about/requests to see the credit card used to pay for the tickets.

 

However the first time I did this I was in Bkk and my son was in S'pore and about to return to Bkk. I was concerned he might be asked to show the card at Changi. So I did a one page scan of the credit card (back and front but not showing the sec. no), plus a copy of the first page of my passport. They didn't ask. At home in Bkk my son laminated the page I had prepared and carried it with him for all his school trips. Never once did anybody ask any questions.