T-bone

My concern stems from the fact that upon inspection of some international airline tickets that I just received, I noticed that the form of payment used for the purchase of tickets is printed right on them! How convenient for thieves to have my full name and valid credit card number to do with as they please. Is this standard protocol in the airline industry? What security measures are taken to insure that criminals don't take advantage of such an easy means of theft? Thanks.

meg

T-Bone, I'm not sure what happens to the tickets and now that you have mentioned it, I am curious to hear the answer. I can tell you that the best way to protect your self from crdit card fraud is to pay with cash or ceck. Then you don't have to worry what happens to the information. <BR><BR>I always think about my name and address on luggage tags. Everyone who sees them knows where I live and that I am gone.

joyce

Use an e-ticket and their won't be any stubs with your CC Information.

T-bone

Sorry Joyce, but my itenirary is a open jaw multiple carrier one that cannot be e-ticketed. If I had that option, I would gladley have taken it since e-tickets are the way to go.

WildBill

Congratsulations on perhaps the dumbest post this side of a Travel Agent whining about something. Do you ask the same question of each restaurant or hotel you might go to and pay for with a credit card? Or what about when you go to a store or gas station? LOSER!!!

T-Bone

I have no concerns in using my credit cards at reputable establishments. I just feel that it is foolish for the airlines to print out the complete credit card info right on the flight coupon. They already have that info in their database at the time of purchase, so what purpose does it serve? I don't think that I am a loser for being protective of my personal information. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

jojo

T-Bone, especially with the likes of Wild Bill on this forum.<BR>I have known people who have had their credit cards used, but someone who found their receipts in a trash can.<BR>You are right to be cautious.<BR>I tear up every receipt, every card application. You cannot be too cautious with where someone could get your personal information.

sue

The flight coupons are sent to the revenue department at the ticketed airline. They are then matched to the auditors coupon (or etkt equivilant) to confirm that fare rules were complied to by the issueing agent. If you trust who you bought your ticket from you should have no worries.

lucky

I have had this same concern as well. Getting e-ticket helps but dones not solve potential problem since the CC info is printed on your receipt, and /or is available to all airline personel that have access to the flight data. Seems to me, that the airplines should do what most of the hotels do..and that is to print out your receipt with a bunch of xxxxx's and only showing the last 4 or 5 #'s. Would not solve the internal employee access..but would at least keep CC # from being so conveninetly accessible to someone in the business of trying to find them.

Hector

THey are collected for accounting/Auditing purposes.

mercy

CC' numbers do not have to be printed on the receipt, whether paper or etkts. Ask the issuer to block it from printing the entire number ie Southwest's etkts.

Scott

I have to agree with Wild Bill, I use my AA card everywhere! God only knows how many people have access to it, but I"m only responsible for $50.00. I suppose I don't understand why you feel this area is any more dangerous than any other. I also travel worldwide on my CCs and never had a problem.

Rich

One of my all-time favorite "Dilbert" strips is one where he's at a restaurant telling his date about credit card fraud and how smart he is because he doesn't give out his credit card number over the Internet, etc. He hands the waitress his card to pay for the meal, continues ranting about the topic while she is away running his card for the meal, and is oblivious to the fact that when the waitress comes back, she is wearing a new fur coat and dripping in diamonds.<BR><BR>I agree with Scott; I think the only way you can absolutely assure that nobody is ever going to charge anything without your knowing it is to not have a credit card. I think if somebody really, really wants to charge something without your knowledge, they're going to do it. (Sort of like no matter how many locks and security systems you put on your house, if somebody really, really wants to break in, they're going to do it). <BR><BR>As for your last point, Meg, the travel experts say you should put your business address on your luggage tags so people don't know where you live and that you're out of town. Or just put your name and phone number.

Professional Traveler

Even better than name and phone is simply a frequent flyer number and the airline name. Airlines even provide tags to their elite levels with just that (and your name, I believe), so all airlines do use it effectively to identify bags.

careful

I just checked my receipt, and it has most of the cc #'s blocked out. On my paper ticket, only the "receipt" ticket has my cc#...not the flight coupons