Paying for sons flight home

trying__2b_good

My son is currently finishing his placement year in Australia as you can imagine it’s been a difficult few months. He couldn’t get home but he managed to find work and now his visa will expire in a few weeks and he’s due back to start his final year at Uni in September. He booked a flight home with Singapore airlines for the 29 Aug which has just been cancelled. He’s looking at rebooking with either emirates, etihad or Qatar airlines.  Has anyone  had any experience or problems with these airlines re flights from Australia? 

 I’m wanting to pay for his flight on my credit card but he’ll be booking it. He’s been told he might not get a refund on the cancelled flight for months so he can’t pay for the new flight? Can I just give him my credit card details and he book? I want him to book it because he has all the info he needs and knows what he wants. 

I’d be grateful for any advice, I just want to get him home! 

eDicky

If Singapore airlines has cancelled the particular flight on which he was booked, they would offer him alternatives on the same or a different date or route. What's the problem with this? Did he book direct or through some kind of agent?

You can use your card to book his flight, but divulging your card details for him to do it himself is probably a violation of the terms of your account. Some airlines require sight of the card, prior to or at embarkation, when it's not in the passenger's name.

silvercar

Legally you can’t give him your card details, but you can book a flight for him. I know with BA the online booking asks if the cardholder will be travelling, so they know not to ask to see the card at check in advance.

Misslayed

Friend (slightly disabled) came home from Oz eventually with Qatar Airways, they had no problems, felt very safe, tickets very reasonable. They would definitely fly with them again. Can't help with payment details, but you can't be the only parent/relative/friend helping to get folk home.

shaun_from_Africa

silvercar said:

Legally you can’t give him your card details, but you can book a flight for him. 

Is there anything written into legislation that actually makes it illegal?
It will probably be against the T&C's to the credit card account contract but this doesn't mean that it's illegal.

trying__2b_good

Misslayed said:

Friend (slightly disabled) came home from Oz eventually with Qatar Airways, they had no problems, felt very safe, tickets very reasonable. They would definitely fly with them again. Can't help with payment details, but you can't be the only parent/relative/friend helping to get folk home.

Thank you, I flew back with them after a visit in March. They literally closed the borders behind me! He lost his next placement In March because of Covid  but couldn’t come home because there were no flights!
I was impressed with Qatar as well as your  friend so he’s booked with them. They have a get you home guarantee apparently now too. The only issue is the (very swift !) transfer in Doha for the final leg home, - as long as he gets that flight he’ll just have the 14 days quarantine to do when he gets back. 

Thank you for the positive comments re Qatar, it really helped

trying__2b_good

Mickey666 said:

When I was working, I often bought airline tickets for members of my staff on my personal credit card and claimed the money back from the company on expenses (quite handy when unlimited 1% cash back cards were commonplace!).  There were never any problems.  Also, I’ve never been asked for sight of my credit card by any airline ticket I’ve flown with.
As for giving a son my credit card details to help him out of a sticky situation, I wouldn’t hesitate regardless of it being against the bank’s terms and conditions.  What’s the worst that could happen?  Presumably the bank not refunding any subsequent fraudulent activity, but that could be easily dealt with by reporting the card lost the following day (ie after the son’s airline ticket has been bought) and asking the bank to cancel the existing card and issue a new one.

I agree, I’m not fussed about me getting in trouble. If it’s my card and I’ve authorised the payment I can’t see a problem. I’ve never been asked to show my payment card at an airport and I did that exact same flight with Qatar in March. Im sure it’s never been an issue previously but I have seen it mentioned increasingly.  If we’d know it might have been an issue I would have issued him a card on my account as a second cardholder but the flight was only cancelled yesterday.  In view of everything thats gone on & all the problems he’s had he didn’t want to risk a problem when he got to the airport! I wanted him to have the extra protection that a credit card would give but in the end he’s paid on his debit card and I’ve transferred the money. 
thanks for your reply

trying__2b_good

eDicky said:

If Singapore airlines has cancelled the particular flight on which he was booked, they would offer him alternatives on the same or a different date or route. What's the problem with this? Did he book direct or through some kind of agent?

You can use your card to book his flight, but divulging your card details for him to do it himself is probably a violation of the terms of your account. Some airlines require sight of the card, prior to or at embarkation, when it's not in the passenger's name.

It was booked through a third party who seemed legit but now aren’t being very helpful. He managed to speak to someone on the phone and they charged him$55 for the privilege!  Looking online, Singapore airlines are cancelling lots of this flights. Hopefully he’ll have more luck with Qatar 
thank you for your reply

trying__2b_good

silvercar said:

Legally you can’t give him your card details, but you can book a flight for him. I know with BA the online booking asks if the cardholder will be travelling, so they know not to ask to see the card at check in advance.

Thanks, in the end we darent risk it. Booked on his debit card! 

Caz3121

It was booked through a third party who seemed legit but now aren’t being very helpful. He managed to speak to someone on the phone and they charged him$55 for the privilege!  

There are some really terrible third parties around. He should look to book direct with the airline. If tempted by a third party, do some research - air travel forum on tripadvisor is a good start, (trustpilot has a lot of questionable reviews) Read the terms and conditions carefully, in particular re fees.

Voyager2002

The problem with giving him your card details is that email is not secure: someone could intercept the details and misuse them immediately.