Purchase ticket for someone else to come visit

Upvote:0

Something similar happened to me once when my father bought me an air ticket through his credit card. It was a hassle and I was asked to provide the airport security with my fathers ID card and my relation to him to confirm the ticket was actually bought by someone for me. It was strange because it wasn't even international flight. If you are buying a ticket for someone, they will have to clearly state their visit is being sponsored by you. Otherwise it might cause some issues at airport. Regards.

Upvote:3

Different people (clients and conferences) routinely buy plane tickets for me, and I buy tickets for family members to visit me. Generally the whole thing can be done entirely by email and I have never been asked to show the credit card it was booked on, etc. The people I have booked for have never had a problem using the tickets I bought them. Not when I book on the airlines own website, not when I use expedia or equivalent, not when the client uses a travel agent. Sometimes there is wording on the web page or in the emails that warns you may be asked for it, but it has never happened to me or my people in over 20 years of doing this.

That said, it may depend to some extent on privilege. If I show up at the airport in business clothes to check in for a flight from Canada to Germany, two roughly equal countries, perhaps that's why nobody asks. Perhaps if I showed up dressed like a person who can't afford plane tickets, or was flying from a very poor country to a rich one, there would be more scrutiny. I expect Australia to the USA to be a less-scrutiny situation.

Upvote:5

Different airlines have different policies so you need to check with them before buying. I've bought plenty of tickets for other people in other countries and never had a problem using the following process:

  1. Make sure you have user account and profile with the airline
  2. Setup up the actual passenger as an additional "traveler" on your profile. You can typically add as many as you want.
  3. Buy the ticket through the airline's website and select the desired traveler from your profile.
  4. Don't bother with a paper tickets: the e-ticket and confirmation number are enough and can easily be e-mailed.There is no need to pick up anything.

Again, it's different from airline to airline, so you should talk to them first or buy the ticket over the phone confirming that the other person does NOT need to present the booking card at check in

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