Fliers must carry photocopy of credit card used for purchase
The next time you buy an air ticket online for someone you know, don’t forget to give that person an attested photocopy of your credit card because airlines are becoming stricter in implementing a fraud-prevention rule that has been in existence for some time.
Amitabha Banerjee (name changed on request) was unaware of this when he checked in for an afternoon flight to Mumbai last week. The executive at the check-in counter of the private airline sought a photocopy of the credit card that was used to buy the e-ticket, leaving him puzzled.
Banerjee said he had bought the ticket from a travel agent and didn’t know whether a credit card had been used in the transaction. “On being told that airlines are being extra cautious in regard to tickets bought with credit cards, I called up my travel agent from the airport to ask for a faxed photocopy of his card,” he recalled.
He was lucky to get it in half an hour, just in time to board the flight.
The high incidence of identity theft — all you need for an online purchase is the credit card number, the expiry date and the three-digit CVV number printed at the back — is the reason why airlines are insisting on fliers carrying photocopies of credit cards if their tickets have been booked by someone else.
“There have been several such frauds over the last six months,” a Jet Airways official said.
He said almost all airlines had this clause in their e-ticket rules, though very few were implementing it until recently. “Henceforth, if any passenger fails to show the photocopy of the credit card attested by its owner, the ticket will be cancelled and a fresh ticket issued. The owner of the card will get the refund,” the Jet official said.
The system is, however, far from foolproof. A card that is stolen can be used to buy tickets, photocopied and presented as proof of the purchase being bona fide. “If a person commits this kind of fraud, there is nothing one can do,” said an official at airport police station.
There have even been instances of hackers cracking online payment gateways with fake credit card numbers and purchasing tickets. In such cases, airlines incur losses.
Last month, the e-commerce department of Jet Airways asked its airport division to look out for a passenger booked on a Calcutta-Mumbai flight because of doubts about his online purchase. "We were asked to check the photocopy of the credit card and if the passenger failed to produce it, the ticket should be cancelled. The passenger did not turn up. It seems he had a hunch he would be caught," an official said.
Most frauds are committed by small-time tour operators. "Tickets are issued usually 24 hours before departure, giving us little time to detect the fraud," a Deccan official said.
"We advise passengers to buy tickets from authorised travel agents. They should not fall for unusually low fares offered by tour operators whose credentials are not known," said Anil Punjabi, chairman (east) of the Travel Agents’ Federation of India.
According to sources in the aviation industry, 5-7 per cent of airline tickets are bought online. Around 20 per cent are purchased with credit cards from travel agents.
By Sanjay Mandal
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