Buying air ticket to USA for foreign citizen

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I was on the receiving end of such a ticket once, when I was invited to a conference in the US. In my case it was a European carrier (Lufthansa), but paid to their US office. In general it was not different from other bookings, where I made the booking myself. I got the same booking confirmations. However, when I tried to check in, it didn't go through. The booking system couldn't deal with a ticket paid in the US for a flight originating abroad. Luckily I tried to check in ahead of time. There was ample time to set the record strait, meaning calling the person ordering the ticket, who in turn called the US-based booking office. I was able to board the flight in the end.

This could have been a glitch of the system where I was just unlucky. However, would I have tried to check in at the airport, I am not sure whether or not I was able to make that flight. In the end getting the record strait took quite some hours.

Given that for the rest it was a normal boarding process, I would advise to try to check in online as soon as possible. At least try to have at least 24 hours before departure to get your boarding passes printed, giving you ample time to fix similar glitches.

Upvote:1

Me and my friends have done that several times. One of my friends regularly uses a ticket which her father buys from Oman to the US to travel to and fro from the US i.e for a flight originating in the US but the ticket is bought in Oman by a different person (a family member in this case).

I have done the opposite several times as well, wherein I have bought a ticket from a US based website using a US credit card and then boarded flights from a foreign country to the US or even to some third country.

I also know of people who regularly but tickets for their parents in the US to come visit from India, I have never seen a problem in either of the cases.

As long as the information on the ticket matches with the passenger, you should have no problems whatsoever. But, it's always nice to make sure, so I'd suggest that you tell your girlfriend to check in online on the flight and even if it doesn't allow her to check in (which has arguably happened sometimes with code shared flights), ask her to verify her information. It shouldn't be a problem at all.

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