Paying for an Indian air ticket with non-Indian credit card?

akt

An Indian friend in the USA finds himself in a peculiar situation: He is trying to buy an air ticket for an elderly relative in India. It is Delhi-Mumbai, tons of flights, available seats, should be slam dunk. However, all airlines and travel portals he checked with so far have refused to accept his US credit card. Apparently all non-Indian cards are black-listed.

Still, this does not seem to be government policy, just business decision of many businesses. That gives him some hope, but he hasn't found any exception yet. (In case you are wondering the traditional Indian way of dealing with such sits is to ask your Indian relatives. I think he doesn't have anyone very convenient.)

So his question: Has anybody paid for a ticket in India with a non-Indian credit card recently? Do yo uknow of any travel portal or agency that will accept a US credit card?

I mean, in these days of "globalization" that should not be too much to ask.

Thanks for any info.

GoanCanuck

Go to an Indian travel agent in any major city in the US and they should be able to issue you an Indian Airlines or Jet Airways ticket either on a cash payment or by credit card. To make it easier, look for an Indian travel agent who is an authorized Air India reseller and he is guaranteed to be able to sell you a ticket on one of the domestic airlines operating in India with the exception of Air deccan.

Anders

Spicejet accept foreign cards.

akt

"Go to an Indian travel agent in any major city in the US and they should be able to issue you an Indian Airlines or Jet Airways ticket either on a cash payment or by credit card."

Sorry I forgot to mention this dimension of the problem. The USD prices available here are 2-3 times higher than those sold in rupees in India. That's why he prefers to work with an Indian portal. The traveler is an Indian national living in India. The ticket can be delivered to an Indian address, or picked up there. The only hitch is, how to pay with a US credit card.

BTW, sometime maybe a year ago I was able to buy a Spicejet ticket from the USA. Something has changed since then because my freind can't do this any longer.

akt

Yes I used them too in the past. But my friend says he has tried their site and they are among those not accepting foreign credit cards right now.

GoanCanuck

In this case you have no choice but to transfer funds to India and have someone buy the ticket locally.

Anders

Must be a very recent change, cause I booked a ticket with Spicejet less than a month ago.

akt

OK, this seems recent enough. Also, when I press my memory, I am not sure if he tried Spicejet directly or tried to buy a Spicejet ticket from an online agency. So, I'll pass on your suggestion to try Spicejet again.

However, it would still be good to discover a general travel portal that works for us "foreigners". Thinking of my own forthcoming trip in a few months, often several airlines are needed to cover all the places. I myself would be looking at Sahara, Spicejet, and Air Deccan.

Anders

Your friend is trying to use his credit card to book a ticket for someone else? I have actually never tried it but I would expect it to be very difficult to find any online travel agent or airline that would accept that.

akt

Another very good point, but that's not what the sites have rejected him on, so maybe he is traveling too. I am sorry, I didn't ask such details. He just said the sticking point everywhere (he even phoned a few places) was that his card was "international", not anything else.

Oddly enough, his card is from Citibank, which has branches in India, so you'd think they could figure something out about verifying that he is legitimate.

It just seems like an odd kind of problem in the modern interconnected globalized world, kind of blast from the past. I mean, which traveler carries cards issued in every country he might be dealing with?

What the heck, when all is said and done, maybe Indians don't really want foreign tourists there, only NRI's who have relatives there!

GoanCanuck

The reason why the airlines and online portals are not accepting payment through international credit cards is because of large scale fraud not because the airlines don't want overseas bookings. Every time a stolen or compromised card is used to make an online booking, the airline has to absorb the entire loss not the credit card issuer. The domestic airlines in India are quite small by international standards and it is simply not possible for them to absorb these losses. As it is most of them are struggling to survive.

akt

Fraud affects all countries and all industries, not just travel sector in India. While many others deal with it while minimizing inconvenience to innocent customers, Indian travel industry's response has been ham handed and bureacratic.

Air tickets are booked weeks and often months in advance, giving the industry ample time to detect any fraud before the passenger flies, an option many other industries do not have.

I can understand placing limits on immediate travel perhaps, but just what kind of fears are paralyzing them from selling a ticket for a flight 3 months later?

crvlvr

Akt you should try to understand that there is no standard govt issued ID card in India. Due to this, the airline cannot verify if the passenger traveling is actually the one who booked the ticket. If they are able to prove that, then the credit card company would take the loss, not the airline.

Air Deccan has signs posted at check-in requiring picture ID. But, I traveled with out any ID. So the airline can either demand that passenger's produce a picture ID or simply stop accepting credit cards. They have chosen to stop accepting foreign cards, which may affect a smaller portion of their passengers than enforce the ID rule, which will affect all passengers. Its just business, nothing personal.

MadeinIndia

Hi,

If you are flying from Delhi to Mumbai or Mumbai to Delhi and want to book your flight with a Non-Indian credit card, then fly AirIndia Express! I just did that last week!

The catch is..there is only one flight every week on wednesdays, both ways! BUT...just check out what's the amazing price!! It's just Rs.1800/- one way including taxes! Cheapest ever you can find! 1800 ruppes is less than $40 USD!

You can go to AirIndiaexpress.in and book your tickets there! All the best!

P.S: You need to enter the passengers Photo ID details while booking the ticket! After booking online, it generates a E-Ticket. Your friends relatives can go to the AirIndia Express site, put in the PIN number and get the ticket generated and take a print out! Very simple!

akt

Thank you. My friend as well as I need to buy Indian tickets once or twice a year, so we are most interested in a system that will work smoothly for most cities and most airlines.

However, for this particular situation, I'll pass along this info in case Wednesday works for them. [Ouch! I just checked. It is once a week red-eye flight. Leave Delhi at 5 AM, which means plan on getting to the airport at 3 AM, which means leave your home at 1 AM. No sleep all night for a 2 hour flight. I think they'd pay extra for a better schedule. :-)]

Speaking of Air India Express...maybe this should be a different thread...aren't Air India and Indian Airlines going to merge in very near future? Ho will that affect life? Anybody have any news or thoughts?