Problems With Air Asia Payment Gateway For Americans

[devaram]

Have any of you who use credit or debit cards from USA had problems trying to buy a ticket online from Airasia.com?

Well you're not alone. Apparently allot of others have had problems as well. All you have to do is google this subject and you'll see allot of unhappy travelers from the usa that have been unable to purchase a ticket online.

For the past couple of years Airasia no longer accepts american credit cards on the website but when you ask about it they tell lies!

Air asia's official word on this is that "we do not block american credit or debit cards. It is a problem with the verified by visa."

After many unsuccessful attempts to buy a ticket online recently and after getting the official word from the nice lady at the airasia office I made the effort to call verified by visa and make sure there was no problem with my card. They assured me there is no problem with either my bank of america credit card or the debit card.

Still impossible to buy a ticket.

Apparently a disgruntled traveler contacted the airasia office in UK and was told that Air Asia has no agreements with most usa banks ESPECIALLY Bank of America and Chase.

They do however have an agreement with american express. lIKE WHO HAS AMERICAN EXPRESS CARD???

There is one way however to get around the problem and that is if you can understand Chinese (or use the google translator) you can make an account with ali pay and pay in us dollars using alipay but paypal is not accepted.

For those of you who dont understand why I need to buy a ticket online and cannot simply walk into the office to pay cash is that you really can get unbelievable deals online. Recently I saw a fair to Surabaya from Bangkok which is just a short bus ride and a ferry boat ride away from bali for $10 everything included.When money is tight like it is now for some of us we need those cheap fares but they are very elusive now and my original good feeling about airasia have changed.

So Im interested in hearing from other Americans who have experience with buying recently online with Airasia and anyone who has ideas how to get around this problem so I can get cheap tickets again.

Is it possible to pay for international flights at the 7-11?

Any luck with direct pay from a thai bank account?

[pomchop]

I used to have the same problem about half the time i would try and charge air asia to my chase visa....called visa and went round and round and they said they had no block and it was air asia. Air asia said it was Visa....big circle jerk. Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldnt'.

But for some reason this year all my Air Asia purchases have gone through on the exact same card with no problems.

I have no idea why or who to believe but am just happy it now seems to work ok. You'd think Air Asia might actually care as seems they have had thousands of customers with the same problem.

Good luck.

[CMSteve]

Not the response you're looking for, but I've never had a problem with my American debit card.

[thrilled]

I had A problem.I went and contacted my credit card company.They said fill the form out again.I did it and it went thru.Aparently thyey block air asia until you inform them that you want A ticket from there,then they let it go through.

[vont]

Well, using several u.s. credit cards to purchase AirAsia tix at different time intervals,

and never have any problem with any of the u.s. originated credit or debit cards to date, knock on wood.

[Lifer]

Well, using several u.s. credit cards to purchase AirAsia tix at different time intervals,

and never have any problem with any of the u.s. originated credit or debit cards to date, knock on wood.

Hi, Since when did they start accepting Debit cards. Is this a recent change?

Thanks

[devaram]

Good to hear any reports positive or negative!

Rather mystifying!

[dananderson]

BOA and a few other US banks will not do buisness with Air Asia. Not the airlines fault. I had this problem booking a flight here when it came to payment. After several phone calls to my bank I called AA and explained my situation.. He asked for my booking number-which I gave him. He then gave me a 12 digit number. I took the number to 7-11 and paid. I give AA credit for figuring a way around this, tho they do not mention it on their web site.

[DonaldBattles]

Air Asia has the most user unfriendly site I have ever used to try to purchase a ticket. When you think you are about finished it bounces. After 9 minutes of struggling if you have not finished then they cut you off. Many times you go to the end and then you get cut off. This has nothing to do with a stable internet that I have. I have to use my Thai Amex card as they will not take the USA card. They are real sneaky in that they charge you 300 Baht for baggage and then 300 Baht for insurance without notification. This means you have to back up and and start all over. AMAZING!

[Ray2020]

Never had any problem in using my (JPMorgan) Chase (United) VISA credit card to buy AIRAsia ticket at their counters at airports, or at travel agents. But never could buy it online from their website. Unfortunately, the price for the same journey at the places where I could book and pay with my card, and at their call center, is always significantly higher than the price displayed on their website.

The website sucks in more ways than one, but buying a ticket with a U.S. credit card is impossible. When you select the U.S. as the country that issued the card, the pull down menu for the States does not work. If you select N/A and try anyways, the card is declined. Then I thought that the U.S. billing address for the credit card and a Thailand address on my ticketing and membership record might also be causing a security problem resulting in my credit being declined. So, I changed the billing address for the credit card to my Thailand address; I receive no physical bill anyways, but thought I try. Still no pull down menu for the States. Given that the “State’ is not really significant as compared to the street address and the town, I think that the Air Asia does not want the U.S. credit cards for online purchase or website is screwed up.

Learning from one of the posts I used the debit card from the same bank; it worked. This was a small purchase, so I did not lose too many United points in not being able to use my United VISA from Chase.

By the way, last year I had the same problem with EVA AIR. Couldn’t buy online my return ticket to U.S. with my card, had to go to an agent. I did it to get the points because the difference in cost was not much, and got the United points.

[SoloFlyer]

And to top it they charge you a convenience fee. fuc_kers... I just spent an hour trying to log on in 3 diff browsers; when i eventually called, they said busy now, try again later... ridiculous.

[dave111223]

I've had the same problem. None of my US cards would work. The kick in the ass is that if you want to order the tickets over the phone or pay cash in person they won't give you the online rates, and make you pay a ticket prices which is about 15% higher...!

[Digitalbanana]

Never had a problem with my USA Citibank MasterCard credit card for many years.

[FarmerJoe]

I've been trying for 2 days now with my debit card from the states. And I'm trying to book from the states. Not working this time. I usually have to try for an entire week before it works. If I don't get it today, I'll quit flying with them.

[dananderson]

I did the same from the states-no luck. Singapore air was an easy fix if you are entering based on forword travel. 6kb for retern bkk-sing, chok-dii

[NanLaew]

About 5-6 years ago when I started using AirAsia online booking, no problems with US-issued credit and debit cards. Then about 3 years ago, they were no longer being accepted. I spoke with the card-issuing banks and they were not seeing any attempt BY AirAsia to make the charge. It was explained to me that the company that AirAsia contracts to process the card payment is the entity with an incomplete database of respondent banks, hence 'declined' means 'not in database'. Also, it has nothing to do with either the VISA or MasterCard authorization process. Some time in the last 18 months, AirAsia have a contract with a company operated by Royal Bank of Scotland handling the online purchases and my US cards work again. However, my RBS credit card which has loads of wonga in it has been denied.... go figure!

[daveh]

I used my US Chase Visa on the AirAsia website to purchase tickets less than two months ago. This was from the US, if that makes any difference. The only problem I had was with their website, which I assume relates to the browser (Chrome) I am using. When it came time to pay, I clicked the submit button and it just hung while looking as though it was loading a page. I finally clicked the stop button, and that appeared to clear whatever problem it thought it had because I was able to complete my purchase just fine. Another time, the css didn't load correctly, so the payment page was formated terribly.

I don't care for how they opt you into travel insurance by default, but it is pretty clear from their website that is what they are doing.

[NanLaew]

About 5-6 years ago when I started using AirAsia online booking, no problems with US-issued credit and debit cards. Then about 3 years ago, they were no longer being accepted. I spoke with the card-issuing banks and they were not seeing any attempt BY AirAsia to make the charge. It was explained to me that the company that AirAsia contracts to process the card payment is the entity with an incomplete database of respondent banks, hence 'declined' means 'not in database'. Also, it has nothing to do with either the VISA or MasterCard authorization process. Some time in the last 18 months, AirAsia have a contract with a company operated by Royal Bank of Scotland handling the online purchases and my US cards work again. However, my RBS credit card which has loads of wonga in it has been denied.... go figure!

But surely if my US debit card works, then my bank must be in the database. This still doesn't explain why my US credit card (same bank) has been blocked by Air Asia for years.

Anyway, I bought tickets this morning and the situation (for me at least) is still the same. I didn't have enough money in my checking account, so decided to give the credit card a chance again first. 3 attempts at payment, 3 'declined' screens by Air Asia. Through my online banking site, I can tell if there is any attempted activity on my credit card. As usual, Air Asia did not even attempt to charge the card.

I then did an online transfer into my checking account to cover the payment. Put in my debit card details and it went through the first time no problem. Checked my online banking about 30 seconds later, and the money was already taken from my checking account at an exchange rate of 30.04 to the $.

Read my lips. Your problem is EXACTLY the same as I experienced. The CARD PROCESSING COMPANY that does the payment processing for AirAsia is the system 'declining' your card. You watched your account online and saw no evidence that AirAsia had attempted to make the charge same as I did. Then I called my bank to double check and they confirmed that no charge attempt was being seen and then went on to explain how AirAsia's payment processor (not the same as AirAsia) was the reason the charge was being 'declined' or, if that is too subtle, it was not even being attempted as the payment processor cannot verify your credit plastic. However, it does recognize your debit plastic (despite probably being issued by the same bank) because debit cards are processed differently.

I am not making excuses for AirAsia; whoever designs their website needs shooting as much as the company that hosts it! I am surprised that they haven't been sued for that misleading insurance pop-up but, if you take time to read it fully, it does explain CLEARLY what clicking 'Cancel' will do and having said that, maybe that is their bulletproof and legal defence if anyone does claim being cheated into purchasing something they don't want.

[NanLaew]

I used my US Chase Visa on the AirAsia website to purchase tickets less than two months ago. This was from the US, if that makes any difference. The only problem I had was with their website, which I assume relates to the browser (Chrome) I am using. When it came time to pay, I clicked the submit button and it just hung while looking as though it was loading a page. I finally clicked the stop button, and that appeared to clear whatever problem it thought it had because I was able to complete my purchase just fine. Another time, the css didn't load correctly, so the payment page was formated terribly.

I don't care for how they opt you into travel insurance by default, but it is pretty clear from their website that is what they are doing.

Although Chrome is fast and my preferred browser, I do NOT use it for any secure online activity and I have yet to see any secure website that accepts anything more than IE and Firefox browsers.

The insurance opt-out is very, very obscure but.... see my earlier post.