Beware of United Airlines outrageous requirement regarding on-line credit card purchase
 

The other night I used United.com to purchase a one-way fare to our home airport in Colorado, using my Visa credit card. This is how I have been purchasing tickets on United.com for over ten years. As long as United's been on-line I have used my Visa to pay airfare for different members of the family to fly home and away.

But, when I read the e-ticket receipt carefully, I noticed a new line: "Bring the CREDIT CARD used for purchase AND a valid photo ID to check-in." Thinking this must be wrongly stated, I called United.

This began a very tortuous one hour on the phone with United's people at web support, and then at its reservation service. It is actually a United requirement that the passenger present the Visa card. Even though it was crystal clear in the electronic purchase process that the payer and the billing address is Colorado, yet the passenger's name is different and the passenger is in a city other than Denver.

Really ridiculous. How hard would it be for the website to recognize this situation and post a pop-up warning to this effect? Nowhere in the purchase process was I advised of this. If I had known, I could have easily used another Visa card, one which the passenger also has. It would have been a very simple thing to do during the purchase process.

But now, it is set in stone. I was told by five different United representatives, including two supervisors (to whom I was VERY reluctantly transferred) that this is an unbreakable rule.

I was given at least four different explanations: 1. it's a random selection, executed during the purchase process by United's computer (read "faulty programming"); 2. it's because the credit card is in one city and the passenger is in another (now that makes sense!!); 3. I must have typed in the wrong three-digits from the back of the card (oh, jeez, but United still accepts the payment, even if it might be an illegitimate purchase); 4. it's a new Visa requirement (blame-the-other-guy strategy).

United's web support people told me to call reservations. Reservations told me to call web support. No one suggested I call United customer service, which I will do ASAP. But they don't open till after the holiday, and airfare prices will be much higher by then.

The only "solution" I am offered by these five reps is that I have to take the card and my own ID to the nearest airport, to verify the purchase (because United closed all its customer service locations in cities years ago, when it truly abandoned any ruse of providing Customer Service). Or, to overnight my Visa credit card to the passenger-- but my name is on the card, not hers. So that wouldn't help, now would it, United?

They present this "solution" as though it is perfectly reasonable. For me, it means a half-day ordeal with driving, parking, standing in line at the airport, and explaining the situation for the umpteenth time. Not to mention paying gas and parking fees. All this is presented as a perfectly acceptable way to treat United customers.

To make the process more unpleasant, of course, each of the reps I spoke to was in India and had a very heavy accent. So it was extremely difficult to understand them, and vice versa. Each rep very politely, very firmly and robotically repeated the "solution" and refused to let me speak to a supervisor.

What if we lived a further distance from DIA, like up in the mountains? What if we lived in Wyoming, and Denver is our nearest airport?? We would still be expected to drive to the "nearest airport." One rep even asked me how far away is Aspen airport!!

My request to United seems much simpler than their "solution" to me. I ask that they simply let me re-purchase the ticket, using another Visa card. Now, that's a reasonable solution that would take them a few key-strokes and a little bit of flexibility in policy. But, Noooooo.

To refund the ticket, United would charge the $100 change fee. And United would charge the higher airfare, because airfare has already increased since the purchase date a few days ago.

On top of that (as if I need anymore aggravation from United), because I'd applied a United $100 "goodwill certificate" to the purchase (due to unpleasantness on another United trip to California), every one of the United reps told me I have now "used" that coupon and it would not apply to a re-purchase. Even though I haven't really "used" the coupon at all, it's just applied to a ticket that has not been used. It should simply be shifted to the re-purchase. But again, Noooooo.

Could this be any more unreasonable and any worse customer service?

Especially now that Southwest has opened non-stop routes out of Denver, and Frontier is always pleasant to work with, I will not use United again for our family, unless there is absolutely no alternative.

I will call United customer service on Tuesday morning. All they need to do to make this right is refund the first ticket, move the coupon to another ticket, and re-issue the fare on another Visa card AT THE SAME PRICE to me. Too much to ask, you say??

Otherwise, I will end up driving to our airport to get it verified. I have very little faith in United at this point, though, and am a bit concerned that even that effort will not prevent my daughter from going through the third-degree when she checks in and perhaps even being barred from boarding.

As a matter of fact, I am still waiting for my e-mail from United, which three different reps claim to have e-mailed to me last night. Curiouser and curiouser.

Any fodorites who work for United and can address this ridiculous problem? All other fodorites, beware of this situation when purchasing United airfare with a credit card.

That is such BS. I know that I've always had to show the credit card OR a photo ID, but I don't recall having to show both unless I was e-ticketed, and then I've always been with whomever I purchased tickets for.

You can't be the only person who's run into this problem. Their solution is beyond absurd. I don't understand how they can't see how unreasonable they're being.

Have you been able to speak to anyone higher up?

Nina, I was very reluctantly transferred to supervisors, who only repeated the company line. I have e-mailed United's Customer Voice for help, and will call Customer Service when they open Tuesday morning. Wish me luck! Thanks for the support.

Maureen, I find this kind of odd. Like you, I've been purchasing United tickets for my mother for years. She has two outstanding tickets for travel in the next few months that I've purchased recently (one just in the last few days) via united.com. I just spoke to someone at the Premier Executive desk to see if she would be required to show the credit card; since she lives 1500 miles away, that would be problematic! The answer was no. Years ago, I'd have to go present the credit card used to purchase her tickets at a ticket office, but I haven't had to do that in probably 5-6 years.

Did you enter the three-digit security code on the back of your credit card when you purchased the ticket? If not, that might be the problem??

This isn't new, I don't know how you've managed to avoid it before. I think the idea is to protect you, the card-holder, from someone else using your card without authorization. In the past, I have booked tickets on United for my mother to fly from the UK to California and because of this requirement, the tickets were sent to me and I had to mail them to her. Most airlines do this.

There was another mention of this in a post here in past week. When I read it, I filed it in the recesses of my brain, but your post brings it to the surface again since we regularly purchase tickets for our son to travel home from college. And my husband regularly travels on business, sometimes with the client arranging his air on their credit card.

So this really could be a nightmare for many people.

You have my empathy and support in your low regard for UA phone reps - we had an issue on a flight last summer (Jackson Hole to Boston) when our adult son had lost his ID - was trying to find out what to do to allow him to fly.

I also got non-knowledgeable phone reps with indecipherable accents. My favorite was when I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told "No" and disconnected. No, on second thought, my favorite was the argument I had over whether or not Wyoming was part of the US.

Would you like to join my "I hate United" club?

I pretty much agree with Barbara. It's been in place a long time. I get the tickets for our kids and mail them to them. I think it has been in place since 9/11.

Gretchen/Barbara - how would that work. I understand OP to mean no matter how tickets are issued, traveler has to present credit card used to purchase ticket. Since most tickets are e-tickets these days, I am a little confused (which is not entirely unusual)

I wasn't given the option of having a paper ticket to mail away. It wouldn't work anyway, as time is too short to get it to her before the flight date. I've used this same credit card for years with United, I've used this same process with United for years, and never before run into this. Yes, I put in the three digits on the back of the card.

Gail, as I understand it (!) you can have them mailed to an address that is the same as the address your credit card has.

Everyone here is right. It has always been an *ostensible* requirement that was not actually enforced. When I recently bought a tkt for my mother on AA, I called the internet help desk--as opposed to the general services--and they said they would just note it (the fact that the CC and the passenger were different names) in the record for her E-ticket and it would be no problem.

Barbara/Gretchen,

What you guys are saying doesn't make sense - and Gail is not the only one who is confused.

You are talking about having tickets mailed to you and then mailing them on to your family members ... but what has that got to do with your family members then having to present the credit card? ... Am I missing something?

Lots of people have others buying tickets for them. What a mess!

I don;t understand why this is such a surprise. Every time I get my boarding pass via machine (since I travel for business only with carry-ons) you must put the credit card with which you bought the ticket into the machine to get your boareding pass.

Perhaps if you're willing to stand on those enormous lines and get a boarding pass from an agent you can explain it - but the machines won;t give boarding passes without a matching credit card (to protect the cardowner from theft).

The only times I have been forced to show the CC is at theater "will call" windows.
My PP has been enough for airlines.
M

I flew round-trip to Italy this month and didn't have to show my credit card even once, on six different flights. I used my passport to receive my boarding passes, as described above by nytraveler.
I thought the rule was that you provide one form of government-issued photo ID, but were not required to present credit card, too.

Can't you avoid all of this (and we have had to do it sometimes and not at others so who knows) by just checking in online? No one checks anything in that situation and it is so easy.

Taitai

Actually, for E-tickets, at the kiosk I have to swipe <b>a</b> credit card to verify ID and call up itinerary, but it doesn't have to be <b>the</b> credit card used to purchase it. In fact, you can input the confirmation code to call up the itinerary. You then have to show government photo ID to finish check-in/check bags/get through security.

I haven't flown United in several years. American, JetBlue, America West/US Air... they all have similar procedures. And I've bought tickets for my mother-in-law for travel where I didn't accompany her-- and it's all been as I described above. Never been a problem (and, given how dotty my dear MIL is, I would have expected a problem!!)....

Checking in online is probably the best way to try and get around this. Once you have that boarding pass, all you should need at the airport is the photo ID.

Checking in on-line would possibly be the solution, except you can't do that till the day of flight, can you? I hate to leave this hanging till the last minute, then find out I have to rush to the airport to deal with it. I think, though, after talking with 7 United reps now, that the credit card is required and there's no way around that.

MaureenB, with all due respect to the nice people in India are you talking to reps in the U.S. or India? The reason I ask is I've had to call United on several occassions recently and have been transfered to a call center in India. The reps I talked with did not understand my questions or what I was asking so out of frustration I went to the United ticket counter at our local airport and in two minutes resolved my situation. Very frustrating if you're experiencing a similar situation.

MaureenB: If that is indeed correct, that is really a nightmare.
Online check-in is within 24 hours of a flight (unless United has a nightmare rule for that too). I agree that it's best way for you to get around this.
My experience with CO and AA is that if you check-in using a KIOSK, then you have to swipe A credit card. It does not have to be the one that was used to purchase the ticket but I do believe it has to be one with same name of person who purchased the ticket(s).
Good luck.