Turkish Airline ticket / credit card / free miles dilemma

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

MODS, not sure where best to post this, move if necessary.

I have 24,960 miles saved up with Turkish Airline.

I was told I need 30.000 for a one way ticket and then by another agent 42.000, so I complaint to their customer relations department about the inconsistent

information from 3 different agents.

I was told I needed to buy extra but could only buy 10.000 and no more for the 42.000 and sorry but they can't help blah blah and can't apply

my 24,960 for this trip but I can travel at some other time when I only have 10,000 to add. I was livid. Not traveling anywhere soon elsewhere

if ever with them.

I finally got the right answer saying it is indeed only 30.000 I need and can purchase the additional 5040 for $149.

Awesome !!!!

Here is the problem:

I want to book the flight and pay with my miles of course and the rest with a credit card.

Several agents said the same thing that my fiance would need to show my credit card at the ticket counter for verification before boarding

if I book from the USA. Of course he doesn't have it there duh !

I read a thread years ago about a similar issue but can't find the thread.

TA said to go to the nearest TA ticket counter and verify it. I can't do that because it is a 10 hour round trip and the nearest one

from my home. I may as well walk to Cyprus and walk back home with him.

There has got to be some solution to this. I called their Chicago office and left a message but no one picks up or returns phone calls.

TA offers no solution for any other means of CC verification. This should be verifiable over the dang phone somehow.

Any ideas or similar experiences ?

[Lainie B 465]

Moving to Work and Travel in the US forum

[d3adc0d3 186]

I bought my husband's flight with miles.

I used American Airlines, and I had half the miles put away. The cost of FF miles points for a flight can vary depending on availability. Best to book as far in advance as you can.

When I purchased the miles, I had them added to my account, so I had the full amount of miles applied to my account. Then I purchased his flight via the FF miles and put the ticket in his name & added his passport information. He had no issues with the flight, and it was a pleasant trip.

I would suggest you ask them about purchasing the miles necessary and using those miles to purchase a ticket for someone else. They should not require you provide them with your credit cards, once the flight is booked and ticket in hand. All that should be necssary is that his passport number matches the information on the ticket. Consider contacting a booking agency to handle this for you, this happens all the time. They may be mistaken on what you're looking to do.

If they insist that you do this again, ask to speak with a supervisor. Requiring that a customer hand over their creditcard to a non-cardholder would be requiring that cardholder to violate the agreement between the cardholder and the bank. This is against US law.

Edited November 6, 2014 by d3adc0d3

[usmsbow 800]

I would recommend going to flyertalk.com and asking the question on the Turkish Air forum there. I've found it to be a very useful site for airline info (although I've never asked about Turkish Air).

Also, to make sure I'm understanding the situation correctly: you are buying his ticket with your credit card? That's why they're saying he will have to show the credit card? My own comments:

1. I've bought tickets for ex-girlfriends on a number of occasions. Never been a problem. I have never heard of anyone ever being asked to show the credit card used for buying the airline ticket. Hotel, yes, but air ticket? Never.

2. Can you just buy miles separately? Then book the award ticket? I know some US carriers allow you to buy miles separately.

3. Do you have any other frequent flyer miles? More specifically, do you have United or Lufthansa miles by any chance? The reason is they're also Star Alliance carriers, and you might be able to book a ticket using those miles instead.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

Thank you both for the response and advice.

I think I have to pay the tax in cash but will double check. I will also purchase the miles separately and then book the trip.