A longtime OMAAT reader shared a story with me regarding something that happened on a recent AirAsia flight, where he was asked for his passport after a strange credit card incident, where the lead flight attendant reportedly looked at his credit card for an exceedingly long time. He has asked for my take — I actually don’t have a good answer, so I’d like to open this up to y’all.
Strange AirAsia inflight credit card & passport incident
This isn’t very long, so let me just share the experience an OMAAT reader (who asked to remain anonymous) shared with me:
I wanted to ask you about something and get your opinion if possible as I was perplexed by something that happened today onboard an AirAsia flight. I was asked for my passport after a confrontation at cruising altitude.
After hitting our cruising altitude on our flight to Jakarta, I had my meals already preordered but wanted to buy a Sprite. I knew they only accepted credit card so handed over my JP, and the purser on the flight turned it over and started examining the back for a full minute. I say JP, as all the card numbers are on the back. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t be concerned, but then it was contactless so I was a tad confused.
After it was somehow declined for whatever reason, not that it mattered anymore as I just wanted my card back, I asked what took so long. They said they were checking to see if it’s a credit or debit card, and that she was making coffee (which she wasn’t, so it got me even more confused). I told her she wasn’t and said she should review the cameras. Hmm, okay. I mentioned that I was concerned they were writing card numbers down as it happened to a friend of mine on AirAsia and wanted to write a report, just to have it noted in the off chance they were.
She then proceeded to demand my passport so she could make a claim back or something (which I don’t understand at all as I’ve never once heard of this from an airline), but then once I refused multiple times, she walked off saying “it doesn’t matter, I have you seat number and name anyways.”
Granted I’m not sure if she was skimming cards or not, I just am perplexed that I was asked for my passport at cruising altitude. Truly baffled. After landing I went to the staff and they were even as confused as me and gave the direct line to the admin email of AirAsia in Jakarta.
Any thoughts on how/why this happened? Has this happened to you? Much appreciated Ben!
Parts of this I can make sense of, parts I can’t…
What stands out to me here? First, I’m confused by the purser examining the credit card so closely. You’d think with contactless payments nowadays, the flight attendant would just hold out the card reader and have the passenger tap, and that would be the end of it.
Do the flight attendants have to process it differently based on whether it’s a debit card or credit card? If so, you’d think they’d ask the passenger about the card type, rather than examining it for an extended period of time, no? Does anyone know if this is the standard policy, or…? Admittedly JP is a bit niche when it comes to credit cards, but still, that doesn’t make much sense to me.
Now, regarding the passport question, I think that’s actually pretty straightforward. Presumably the purser felt she needed to file some sort of a report about the incident, even if it’s as simple as sharing the crew’s side of the story in the event the passenger complains to corporate. I suspect the intent in requesting the passport was to confirm that the person who was occupying the seat matched the person who was actually booked in the seat, since people do sometimes move seats.
I do think it’s interesting that this reader says a friend had credit card fraud on AirAsia. I’m curious just how isolated of an incident this is — I’d imagine it’s very rare, but who knows. Either way, in a situation where you’re making contactless payments, it is a little suspicious if someone spends an extended period of time examining your card.
Bottom line
A passenger traveling on AirAsia was surprised when the purser carefully examined his credit card for an extended period of time prior to processing it, despite contactless payment being the standard nowadays. He was a little worried that this was some sort of credit card fraud, and confronted her about it. She then demanded his passport.
I can’t explain why the purser studied the credit card so closely, though I think the request for the passport is a bit more straightforward. Presumably she intended to file a report about the incident out of fear of receiving a complaint, and wanted to make sure she was referencing the correct passenger.
What do you make of this AirAsia inflight incident?