Buying Airline Ticket for Spouse through Delta Airlines

[YayaYiyi 0]

If anyone uses Delta Airlines and probably other carriers, if you purchase the ticket in the US and use your credit card, then you must go and confirm the purchase at a Delta terminal customer service location before the person can pick up the ticket in Phils.

Right now, the price is around $1050 for a 1-way ticket from MNL to Washington DC area.

Any insights, thoughts about better travel arrangements is appreciated.

[BBCC 16]

What if you purchase the Delta ticket through an online broker, like Expedia or Travelocity?

Must you still confirm purchase from the Delta terminal customer service?

Unforunately, Delta's confirmation policy may be limited to purchases outside North America. I don't recall needing to do this when I booked tickets for my spouse. We fly Delta a lot.

[VOL 425]

Call Delta and find out

[yannix 24]

 

What if you purchase the Delta ticket through an online broker, like Expedia or Travelocity?

Must you still confirm purchase from the Delta terminal customer service?

If going through a broker or a travel agent, then most likely No.

There are some carriers that require you to do this. Mainly for credit card fraud prevention purposes.

If you can, work with a Phil travel agent. Sometimes they would also have access to cheaper consolidator fares. HTH

[Al422 221]

I used China Air East through Expedia to JFK. Candy reported a fabulous flight, and it was only $800.

[rmarkwallace 7]

It depends on when you fly. Right now it is the summer and the fares are higher. They will go down in September, back up in December, then back down January through March. In the age of Expedia and Kayak, the consolidator tickets through a travel agent can sometimes be more expensive. There used to be a regulation in the Philippines that if the travel started in the Philippines, the ticket had to be issued in the Philippines. The American travel agent would put it on the airline computer and the beneficiary would go into the airline ticket office and have it issued. I don't know what the procedure is now. I am going to have my fiance just buy the ticket in the Philippines to be sure that there is no problem. Be careful about non-refundable non-changeable tickets in case the beneficiary has a problem. My fiance is bringing an eight year old with her. The rules are all different for an emigrant from the Philippines than it would be for a visitor.

[Al422 221]

It depends on when you fly. Right now it is the summer and the fares are higher. They will go down in September, back up in December, then back down January through March. In the age of Expedia and Kayak, the consolidator tickets through a travel agent can sometimes be more expensive. There used to be a regulation in the Philippines that if the travel started in the Philippines, the ticket had to be issued in the Philippines. The American travel agent would put it on the airline computer and the beneficiary would go into the airline ticket office and have it issued. I don't know what the procedure is now. I am going to have my fiance just buy the ticket in the Philippines to be sure that there is no problem. Be careful about non-refundable non-changeable tickets in case the beneficiary has a problem. My fiance is bringing an eight year old with her. The rules are all different for an emigrant from the Philippines than it would be for a visitor.

No problem for me with any of that. I bought Candy's ticket the way I would buy one for myself. She printed it out to clear the entrance security in Terminal 1, presented her passport at the check in counter, got her boarding pass and got on the plane.

[rmarkwallace 7]

Foreign Flag carriers tend to depress ticket prices at the airports that they fly into. It costs me 20% more to depart from the local airport than it does from Kennedy in New York. It also takes longer because the traveler makes a bad connection in Detroit, rather than a good one in Seoul, Beijing or Taipei. Being as you are in Maryland, Dulles might be cheaper and the foreign flag carriers might be cheaper than Delta. That would also go for arrivals. Go on Kayak as a starting point for fares.

[rmarkwallace 7]

A422, how did you buy and pay for your ticket? Did she have a problem in the age of electronic ticketing? Maybe with electronic ticketing, it is issued at the point of check in which solves the problem that used to be when everybody had a paper ticket. I live near enough to Kennedy.

[yannix 24]

 

It depends on when you fly. Right now it is the summer and the fares are higher. They will go down in September, back up in December, then back down January through March. In the age of Expedia and Kayak, the consolidator tickets through a travel agent can sometimes be more expensive. There used to be a regulation in the Philippines that if the travel started in the Philippines, the ticket had to be issued in the Philippines. The American travel agent would put it on the airline computer and the beneficiary would go into the airline ticket office and have it issued. I don't know what the procedure is now. I am going to have my fiance just buy the ticket in the Philippines to be sure that there is no problem. Be careful about non-refundable non-changeable tickets in case the beneficiary has a problem. My fiance is bringing an eight year old with her. The rules are all different for an emigrant from the Philippines than it would be for a visitor.

The rule is still there. Tickets originating Philippines must still be "issued" in the Philippines. How this applies to online brokers, I don't know.

[rmarkwallace 7]

I didn't see your answer of 5:22 PM. That would mean that the ticket is issued at the point of check in. In the old days, if your US travel agent gave you the ticket and you mailed it to her, it would be confiscated and she would be denied boarding.

[rmarkwallace 7]

It is possible that the online brokers don't issue the ticket at all. They issue the itinerary and you show your passport at check in. But I would be SURE, SURE that the person that you are dealing with knows what he is doing.

[yannix 24]

 

It is possible that the online brokers don't issue the ticket at all. They issue the itinerary and you show your passport at check in. But I would be SURE, SURE that the person that you are dealing with knows what he is doing.

Someone has to issue the ticket for you to fly. Even in todays' electronic ticketing, it's still needed. The only difference is you don't need the paper ticket. An itinerary that is not issued, is just a reservation that is definitely not good for travelling. Let's just say I learned this the hard way.

I was referring to how the online brokers skirt/comply with the rule about the ticket has to be issued in the Philippines. Maybe they have subsidiaries or agents within Philippines that do this for them?

[Hank_ 9,174]

If anyone uses Delta Airlines and probably other carriers, if you purchase the ticket in the US and use your credit card, then you must go and confirm the purchase at a Delta terminal customer service location before the person can pick up the ticket in Phils.

Right now, the price is around $1050 for a 1-way ticket from MNL to Washington DC area.

Any insights, thoughts about better travel arrangements is appreciated.

You could email a copy of your credit card (black out all by last 4) and ID to your fiancee, that is what others have done.

[novedsac 355]

Delta covers this quite concisely:

http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/agency/useful-resources/philippines-origination.html

I've never had a problem simply emailing the itinerary/confirmation number and having the passenger check-in/board for departure.

Good luck.