booking internal US flights with Irish credit card

danger_mouse_tm

Hi,

We've been trying to book flights online to go from Fort Myers to Minnesota and back using a variety of different sites and credit cards. We think the problem is with the low cost carrier Sprit Airlines that fly direct on this route. Other airlines do also but they are considerably more expensive. It keeps coming back saying that the card has been declined. Spirit already did a "test" transaction of $1 that is showing up on the card but according to commercial cards (ulsterbank business mastercard), no further attempt has been made by anyone to take money out. Yesterday we went to the travel agents here in town and they tried three of their own cards with no joy.
I was wondering if anyone can shed some light on this as I called spirit and made the booking over the phone but when it came to payment, the card was declined. The sales rep said that it should work once the address matched the card (which it does).

rossie1977

probably an issue with spirit themselves, i have booked numerous internal us flights with various carriers such as us air, southwest, independance (when they were still going), united without issue using my ulsterbank credit card

have you tried booking them through a 3rd party e.g. look and see if same flights are available on e-travel

danger_mouse_tm

We had tried several sites linked from skyscanner. Most would take the booking and supply a reference number but the following day we would get an email saying that the booking had been canceled because they didn't have an agreement with spirit air.

I have asked my sister in law in America to book them for me and I will just transfer the money into her account. I have read on other forums that many airlines will not accept a credit card for internal flights unless it is linked to a US (or UK) address as a result of credit card fraud.
A couple of years ago I was able to book the flights I needed with Delta and that worked out fine, but this time around they were quite expensive to go with.
My only concern now is if we are going to run into any problem with either of our cards at the car rental desk when we arrive.

ProudDUB

danger_mouse_tm wrote: »

My only concern now is if we are going to run into any problem with either of our cards at the car rental desk when we arrive.

I used my Irish Mastercard (issued by Bank of Ireland) last year with Alamo, Avis & Hertz and had no problems in Portland Maine, Boston, Tampa, and Atlanta. If you are really worried, Google will turn up the phone number of the office/airport desk where you are picking up the car in about 30 seconds. Give them a ring and ask them if they have any special security procedures in place for non US credit cards. (I doubt if they do btw.) It shouldn't cost that much if you ring from a land line, in the evening or on a weekend.

endofrainbow

also be aware that some airlines insist that you produce the card the flights were booked with at time of check-in , it rarely happens but it could....

.danindudlin

I oddly had the same problem the other day. I changed my address from my Irish address (where the card is registered) to my US address, an it worked! Must be something to do with the card needing to check a US address

ProudDUB

I think it is something to do with the zip code. If that field is not filled in with a valid 5 digit zip code, it confuses the website and it can't process the transaction. A lot of the (so called) genius software engineers who design the websites for US companies, seem to be unable to grasp the fact that the entire planet does not have a 5 digit zip code as part of their postal address.

I have not lived in the US for 2 years. My US credit card and debit card are registered to my Irish address, and that is where my statements are sent. But if I want to use the cards on a US website, I have to put in my old US address and a zip code or the transaction won't go through. Happens all the time when I order flowers and stuff like that to be sent to friends and family over there. It's nuts !

goldenhoarde

Try Eire for the postcode/zip