As expected, the TA said the ticket and passport had to match. Never mentioned that the ticketee had to be the payor, though! But his price was high - a couple hundred dollars more than what I paid for the same thing last year. His explanation was that the industry has been picking up and prices have been increasing. So off to do some online comparison shopping! Thanks to all!

One more thing on the matching credit card thing: I buy tickets for my adult daughter all the time and I put them on my credit card. Our last names do not match.

A United Airlines reservation agent told me we would have to go to the airport together, before the day of the flight, and verify who we were. I didn't buy that ticket.

I bought a USAirways ticket instead, and they told me it is no problem, people do it all the time. This is probably the 20th ticket I've bought her, and the United Agent was the only person who ever said a word or told me it would be a problem.

I've heard of a few airline scenarios where the check-in agent wanted the exact same credit card produced as was used to buy the ticket, even if that CC had expired. This sounds like a related issue to having the credit card match the passport.

What agents and what airlines have this idea? It would be good to know.

When I buy an e-ticket, the web-site (BA) says that I have to have the credit card I used to purchase the ticket with me. I have been asked to produce the card at check-in, but not always.

I think the credit card issue is primarily with e-tickets. Check with the airlines about their rules for purchasing the tickets as gifts for someone else.

Oh sigh, this is rather like back to square one isn't it? So considering the last few posters comments maybe what I was told by NW and the passport office was not wrong. The joys of traveling in these days.

When I got married I took my passport into the local passport office along with my marriage certificate. A notation was made at the very back of my passport with the name change so that I wouldn't have trouble going through immigration in any other country. I usually put a post it note tab on that page when I'm travelling. With security being what it is now both here and abroad, I think it's better to cover all bases. No need to get a new passport though.

Leburta, at least in the SF Bay Area it does not seem possible to just walk into a passport office as one did in the pass. Thus one needs to get the form from the appropriate P.O. or download it and mail the info in.

We use to be able to walk into the Passport Office in SF but no more. Times have changed.

Recently I traveled for business on an e-ticket purchased with my boss's credit card. At the Delta kiosk check-in, the monitors said "Insert your credit card." I thought I would have to stand in the regular check-in line since I hadn't paid with my card.

The kiosk attendant said, "No, just put in any credit card with the same name as on your ticket. The computer will search for that name." So I did. No problem -- the reservation came right up and my card was not charged.

Not sure if this is true for all airlines.

I always buy tickets online and it is required that the person paying is the person traveling. When you check in at the airport you must swipe your credit card in the machine. Once, I did not have the card handy and---not knowing that the same card was required---tried another. It was rejected, and we had to wait in line to find out that the card I originally purchased the tickets with (in my name, husband couldn't use his even though he was a passenger and the card NUMBER was the same) was required for travel.

Perhaps that is not the requirement of every airline. Our experiences were with USAir and Northwest.

While you are talking about names, make sure the name on your luggage matches the hotel reservation. If you luggage is lost and has to be delivered to the hotel later, they will know where to deliver it. This happened to someone I was with who hadn't changed her name on her passport and reservation because she had just gotten married. Her luggage, however, had her husband's name. He wasn't on the trip and when the luggage was delivered to the hotel, it went to someone else's room who had her husband's common last name.

OP must be totally confused by now. The key issue is that what you take to the airport matches - ticket, passport, ID. The airline has no way of knowing if she takes her husband's name or not. Just as long as things match.

One more vote for credit card not needing to match anything. I kept my name when I married over 25 years ago and have bought tickets for my husband, children who have different last name - even when I was not traveling with them. No one has questioned this in many flights.

whoops--make that, at least ONE of the persons traveling must be the cardholder, and then that cc must be presented. I tried to make reservations online for my 21-year-old's apartment finding trip to Florida and could not.

But do take along the credit card that was used to buy the airline tickets, no matter whose name is on either - every carrier I've flown has self-checkin kiosks that print your boarding passes with a swipe of the card.

hmmm...I have purchased tickets in the past from TAs and online and have never been asked to present a credit card. On our last flight, we used e-ticks and did not have to show a card. That sounds off to me. I'm certainly not giving my son my cc to take to Paris! (No matter how much I trust him!) He'll just have to go to the main boarding desk; why would they want to see the cc? All they need to see is the tickets.

And my husband and I (from Florida) have traveled on tickets my father (in SF) have purchased on his CC to Ireland, with no problem. When I checked in, they asked for the CC the tickets were bought with. When I explained that my father bought them for me and I don't carry him in my purse, the ticket agent explained that it's one of those policies they have to say, but seldom enforce, due to situations just like mine. This was Delta, in 2002.

Some airline websites do require that you use a credit card in the same name as one of the traveling passengers. I think this is just to help deter credit card fraud. You always have the option of purchasing a ticket over the phone for someone else if that's the case.

At airport kiosks that I've used, I can swipe any credit card in my name (or my ff card or enter my record locator) regardless of what card was used to purchase the ticket. The card is just used to identify me.

I don't see how they could require you to produce the same credit card at check-in. If I purchase a ticket for someone else, I'm certainly not going to loan them my credit card for the entire trip.

I was interested in kswl experience because the airline that gave me the info was Northwest Airlines. So apparently different airlines have different rules. Again, traveling has become so confusing!

LoveItaly,
Hmmm... that's really strange. I'm almost positive when I purchased tickets for my husband on NW using my credit card that he was able to swipe his own card to check in at the kiosk.

Patty, all I know is what a supervisor at Northwest told me. KSWL obviously had experiences with this.

As I stated, I do not know. And when I get to the point of buying tickets for family members (which I plan to do at some point down the line) I will research further.

This credit card business is so strange to me. We are a family of four with 2 diffferent last names. I am usually the one making reservations (name different than husband and kids), but sometimes husband makes reservations for kids and me. We have flown on AA, USAir, Continental, Delta, Northwest, Egyptair, pluys others I don't remember. Flown in US and outside of US.

Currently make reservations on line, either directly thru airline website or Expedia, etc. In past, would call airline on phone. Have never had a problem with this credit card business. All of us do not travel together always, and sometime the credit card holder is not present. Not only have I never had a credit card problem, but no one has ever asked to see my credit card.

Is this just a kiosk problem? I know I directed son to use in-person check-in rather than kiosk since the reservation was made on my named credit card 2 weeks ago.

Has anyone actually been refused boarding for different name credit card?

If this were really a widespread policy, why would airline and other websites ask for name of travelers and then later name on credit card with no alert that there was a problem if it did not match. I think I am missing something here - would certainly like to know to avoid any future problems.