Delta Airlines’ Bizarre Credit Card Policy Nearly Stranded Me in London
Last updated September 19, 2025
After spending a wonderful week visiting my cousins Melvyn and Diane in London, my wife and I headed to Heathrow Airport.
When it was our turn to use a kiosk to print our boarding passes, the machine instructed me to swipe the credit card used to purchase our tickets.
The problem: I didn’t bring all my cards with me, and the one I’d used to buy our tickets was at home.
The kiosk gave me no other option to start the check-in process. It wouldn’t let me enter our trip’s confirmation code, as I had done in Seattle before boarding our flight to London, or put in a ticket number.
My wife and I were directed to a Delta supervisor, who explained that without presenting the credit card used to purchase the tickets she could not issue our boarding passes.
The agent explained that Delta’s policy protects us from credit card fraud. But we could verify our identities: We had passports and driver’s licenses. And Delta let us board our flight to London without presenting the credit card.
She consulted with her colleagues and tried a few things on her computer, but she was unable to override the security protocol.
The manager explained that our options were to stay in London (forever?!), use a different card to buy two new one-way tickets (about $6,000, nearly three times the price of our original round-trip tickets), find a way to get a picture of the original credit card texted to me, or have someone take the card to the Delta ticket counter at the airport back in Seattle.
So, at 3 a.m. Seattle time, I called my neighbor Sam and talked him through turning off the burglar alarm and getting into the house via the keypad on the garage door.
Sam texted pictures of the front and back of the card, and Delta finally printed our boarding passes. (Sam got a lovely box of Harrods chocolates for doing this.)
The Delta agent, who was very nice and only following company policy, informed us that this was a recurring issue, especially for children traveling from London on tickets purchased by their parents.
Was It My Fault?
I don’t think so. My wife and I were completely blindsided by this. I don’t recall receiving any notice about the policy during the booking process, and it was not mentioned in any of the numerous pre-flight emails from Delta. And, again: No one in Seattle told us about Delta’s requirement before we boarded our flight to London.
I shared our story with friends and colleagues, and they couldn’t believe what had happened. Responses included “ridiculous,” “that’s crazy,” and “are you kidding me?”
"I'm really puzzled by this,” said Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate.com. “Fraud would be the bank’s problem, not the airline’s. And I don’t see how this protected you, since consumer protection comes from the card issuer, not the airline or merchant. You were covered by bank and card network fraud protections.”
I did a quick search on social media and found angry comments from other Delta customers about this credit card policy. Here’s a Reddit post:
“I bought a ticket for my parents and my child. They told me the agent refused to check them in because they didn't have my credit card (which was used to book the flight) with them. Now Delta wants me to reschedule the flight for $4,000 extra. I'm disgusted. How is this even a thing.”
Another unhappy customer posted on X:
“I booked a flight for my daughter’s fiancé. I called to find out what to do as he did not have the booking credit card and was coming from out of the country. I was told to visit the nearest airport, and they checked the booking and added a special note to the flight. They needed to verify the credit card in person.”
What Does Delta Say?
I asked Delta why it provided was no clear warning about its credit card security policy. I also asked how long this policy has been in place, at which airports, and why Delta did not have a workaround for people like me who did not have the correct credit card with them.
Delta spokesperson Samantha Moore Facteau responded with a link to the company’s “Booking a Flight” webpage, which provides information about paying for tickets, seat selection, TSA’s Secure Flight program, and “Credit/Debit Card Presentation,” which reads:
“To safeguard against credit/debit card fraud, the purchaser may have to show us the credit/debit card along with a valid photo ID. The time varies based on the billing address of the credit/debit card or the country of travel. If the purchaser is not traveling, they can show us their credit/debit card and ID at an airport ticket counter or another ticket office location, whichever is most convenient.”
William McGee, a senior fellow for aviation at the American Economic Liberties Project, a nonprofit that opposes monopolistic practices, called Delta’s anti-fraud policy “ridiculous.” Millions of business passengers, himself included, don’t use a personal credit card to buy their tickets; the company pays for them, he noted.
“You’ve got a driver’s license and a passport. What more do they need to see? Come on,” McGee told Checkbook. “The very least they can do with a policy like this that is going to blindside thousands of travelers is give us a warning, and one that’s not buried in the fine print.”
Contributing editor Herb Weisbaum (“The ConsumerMan”) is an Emmy award-winning broadcaster and one of America's top consumer experts. He has been protecting consumers for more than 40 years, having covered the consumer beat for CBS News, The Today Show, and NBCNews.com. You can also find him on Facebook, Blue Sky, X, Instagram, and at ConsumerMan.com.