Bangkok Airways - Credit Card Requirements

[muppet]

Hi Everyone

I just booked my sister from coughet to Koh Sumui on Bongkok Airways and the receipt came through saying that the credit card holder must be travelling and present at checkin or a new ticket will have to be purchased.

Credit Card Restriction
For any payments made by credit or debit card, the cardholder must be one of the travelers on the itinerary. The cardholder is required to present the respective credit / debit card as well as valid identification (Passport or Identification Card) upon check-in and prior to the issuance of boarding passes.
Failure to present the credit / debit card will require payment of a new fare. Any passenger found to be travelling with a fraudulent credit / debit card will be denied boarding.
For virtual card payments, documented evidence of the deducted bank account amount will need to be presented.

Are they serious? Has anyone experienced this in practice lately? I will be flying from BKK the day before, should I try to show my credit card then? Or just cancel and rebook with her debit card and give her the cash?

Thanks.
m.

 

[Cynicor]

I think I had to show the credit card, but I seem to remember others on this forum not having the card and a substitute/photo ID being successfully used. I completely forgot the 'show the card' requirement but luckily had booked on one of my travelling cards.

 

[bjm76]

I flew Bangkok Airways back in May 2009 from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and return. The conditions at the time said that you needed to show the credit card at the airport. We just showed passports and that was all that was required, no mention of the credit card verification at either port. Excellent airline too, nice new planes (Airbus A320s I think from memory), friendly service, snack is included too. Great airline.

 

[Mrmaxwell]

I flew the same route in Jan this year (HKT-USM) and was requested to produce my credit card so I guess it depends on which checkin agent you get. If you can rebook with her debit card without penalty then better be safe than sorry!

 

[elemist]

Flew USM - BKK with Bangkok Air last year and had to produce my credit card for proof and photo ID/Passport.

 

[Justchecking]

Yes they are serious and most airlines in Asia ask for the same thing. They also state that in not so fine print before you book and pay for the ticket online. Call them, they are very helpful over the phone and may be able to cancel and rebook the ticket for you without charge.

And just reading the above comments, about not being asked to show the card, it appears those people were the card holder, so the name on the ticket\ID matched the cc name holder. That may be why they weren't asked to produce it. But your sister isn't the card holder and that could be a bigger issue. I flew them 2 months ago and had to produce both passport and card.

It seems the airline has been stung many times with tickets bought with stolen cards.

 

[muppet]

Yes they are serious and most airlines in Asia ask for the same thing. They also state that in not so fine print before you book and pay for the ticket online. Call them, they are very helpful over the phone and may be able to cancel and rebook the ticket for you without charge.

And just reading the above comments, about not being asked to show the card, it appears those people were the card holder, so the name on the ticket\ID matched the cc name holder. That may be why they weren't asked to produce it. But your sister isn't the card holder and that could be a bigger issue. I flew them 2 months ago and had to produce both passport and card.

It seems the airline has been stung many times with tickets bought with stolen cards.

Damn.
Yeah I did noticed it when I went back to book mine. This was a case of just clicking 'Agree' to everything as we've been trained to do.

I'll call them and book it with hers.

What do people without a card do? What do parents do?

Thanks for your experiences everyone - won't chance it, I'll call.

m

 

[amaroo]

I flew Bangkok Airways back in May 2009 from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and return. The conditions at the time said that you needed to show the credit card at the airport. We just showed passports and that was all that was required, no mention of the credit card verification at either port. Excellent airline too, nice new planes (Airbus A320s I think from memory), friendly service, snack is included too. Great airline.

We've had the same experience as bjm76.

Although I think the call made by muppet is a good one & I would recommend doing the same.

 

[Justchecking]

What do people without a card do? What do parents do?

m

Buy it from a ticketing agent. One would imagine parents would either be flying with their child, or at least dropping them off at the airport if they are travelling unaccompanied. IIRC Ive also been asked to present my cc used for booking by Asian airlines when flying out of Oz too.

 

[travelislife]

Haven't had personal experience with Bangkok Airways on the credit card front, but if they are anything like Thai airways then it is something to watch out for. Have had it a couple of times with Thai and if it is not the exact credit card you booked with (even same name doesn't work from experience 2 weeks ago when the credit card the flight had been booked direct with Thai website had been cancelled). They send you over to ticketing and make you buy a new ticket at the same price and refund back to the original card the original fare. Now haven't gotten to the bottom of this and how it is going to work with the original card being cancelled! So yes an agent does avoid this!

From the parent/child side of things, when I was at boarding school often I would get taken to the airport by our driver, no parent or guardians, so it does happen. So it was imperative that it was all ok with the bookings, my parents just had a travel agent manage all the bookings and charge back to the one credit card, once I figured this out I managed to get a few cheeky side bookings through the travel agent before the old man realised!

 

[meloz]

I have flown PG approx 50 times and have always had to provide at check in the CC made for the booking.

I would sort things out before travel.

Meloz

 

[v8Statesman]

I have flown PG approx 50 times and have always had to provide at check in the CC made for the booking.

I would sort things out before travel.

Meloz

I've had the same with 2 of 3 trips on CX ex SIN.

 

[albatross710]

I recently purchased a tix for my son via Eva Air website the relevance being another asian airline. Same credit card present requirement was noted on the website.

There was a form to download which I signed and took to the Eva Air office at Brisbane International terminal. They sited the card and my ID, took copies of everything and gave my form an official stamp.

Alby