Need a credit card to buy flights, but no income!

olic

Hi, I have recently graduated from university and I am off to South America in August for 5 months to do voluntary work. The cheapest way to get there was to book a return to JFK airport in New York and then buy separate flights to the countries I will visit in S.America.

Heres my problem - To purchase these flights off Delta Airlines (delta.com) I am going to need a credit card. I only have debit cards at the moment, which they are not going to accept payment from. I have had a look at the cashback CCs, but the problem is I have no income at the moment, so I can't get one of the recommended ones.

Does anyone know a card that might be suitable for me? I would like to be able to pay it via a variable direct debit every month from my student account.

jonesMUFCforever

Are you sure that Delta won't accept a debit card?

A visa card is a visa card surely.

Have you tried your bank where you have student facilities?

olic

he credit cards that they accept as payment include American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Diner's, Discover, Carte Blanche, UATP, and the Delta Equity Card.

I only have a Natwest Maestro card at the moment, so I need to get one of the above to be able to buy the tickets.

Lazy_Runner

Is is that you don't want a credit card, or can't get one?

If it is the latter, then I would have a word with your bank. When I was a student (many years ago), not only was I given credit cards, but the limits on them were increased whilst I was still a student.

Make sure you comply with ( the one basic I know of):
You are registered on the electoral roll at the address from which you are applying

Not being an expert on these matters, it may be better to talk to your bank. I suspect that NatWest will want to be accomodating.

Also do you want a recommended card? If you can pay the balance off in full every month, you can get any card you want.

HTH.

John_in_the_city

If it is purely a question of purchasing the ticket, use a third party site for flights; e.g. Expedia or Travelocity etc. There are lots of them around and the ones with a uk presence such as expedia.co.uk , take debit cards.

Voyager2002

Before you buy your tickets, check with an agent like Journey Latin America. I refuse to believe that your proposed route is the cheapest way to get where you want to go. (US airport taxes are unusually high, for a start.)

olic

Lazy - I'm sure I could get a credit card, but I have no income, so I don't know which one to apply to. Will Natwest/Tescos offer interest free credit if you make the payments on time?

John - I would like to use third party sites, but firstly it means paying them commission and they don't have the flight I need either (from Delta.com)

Voyager, thanks for the advice, I contacted JourneyLatinAmerica, but unfortunately they do not deal with Delta Airlines, so the cheapest flight is about £80 more than what Delta offer.

John_in_the_city

Hi Olic,

Expedia certainly handles Delta ... I just put in 5th August and some random return date as obviously I dont know your travel plans.

Anyway, I take your point over the commission (£5 I think). However, lets assume you apply for plastic today .... with a good wind its probably at least 10 working days before you see it. By then you will have slipped under the one month advance booking window and the flight will get much dearer and certainly outweigh the site commission charge.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

£560.10 09:15 Depart London (LGW)
Arrive New York (JFK) 12:10 Sun 5-Aug
Duration: 7hr 55min Delta 4 Direct flight

18:00 Depart New York (JFK)
var szFltInBlkLink1="+1 day"; var szFltInBlkTitle1="Flight arrives on Thu 6-Sep" var szFltInBlkMsg1="The arrival date for this flight is one day after the departure date." Arrive London (LGW) 06:20 document.write(szFltInBlkLink1); +1 day Wed 5-Sep
Duration: 7hr 20min Delta 3 Direct flight
[URL="javascript:FD(3,'P','',0,0,'7')"][/URL] [URL="javascript:FD(3,'P','',0,0,'7')"]Choose this flight[/URL]

Dutchgirl_2

I would also suggest Expedia or similar, even for flights outside Europe.

By the way, if you're going to South America, you need to buy return tickets, otherwise you will be refused entry and you will be sent back to your previous destination. Make sure you've got at least a return ticket from South America and check with a travel agent whether you need a return ticket from the same country or a ticket showing ongoing travel.

I know someone who this happened to - it's always mentioned in the guidebooks, but it's easy to forget sometimes...

Enjoy your trip, South America is great!