Buying A United Airlines Ticket Online

[fred mertz]

I've been checking different airline and travel websites to find airfares from the U.S. to Southeast Asia United Airlines seems to be the only company who will not furnish airfares to me, because I tell them that my billing address is in Argentina. "We were not able to find any seats meeting your requirements". If I say that my billing address is in the U.S., the list of available flights is endless. I probably could change my billing address to the U.S, but that seems foolish. Although I live in Buenos Aires, I am a U.S. born American citizen. My credit and debit cards were issued by U.S. banks. None of the flights that I plan to take will leave, return or fly over Argentina. United seems to have the best fares, schedules and benefits for me.
I'm wondering if others have had this experience? If I call United in the U.S. they probably won't know what I'm talking about. If I call their local office, I'll probably get an insane answer. How do you say "class action suit" in Spanish?

 

[sleslie23]

If your credit cards are issued in the US, but your billing address is in another country, that may be a red flag for the system.

I doubt you would be able to complete the reservation by using a different billing address. I would try calling the US reservation line and see what they say.

 

[Ceviche]

get a us billing address. lot of US service providers for receiving mail.

 

[Sher BA]

If your credit cards are issued in the US, but your billing address is in another country, that may be a red flag for the system.

This. I used to work for a company in the billing department. If the country where the card was issued and the country on the billing address didn't match, they wouldn't accept the payment.

 

[ben]

Besides for that, Argentina also raises a lot of red flags with United. They have clamped down quite a few restrictions on Argentina, more so than other airlines. Their fare rules for virtually any flight, from anywhere to anywhere, contains the following language:

TICKETS MAY NOT BE SOLD IN VENEZUELA/ARGENTINA.
[...]
FOR ITINERARIES SOLD OUTSIDE OF AR - CREDIT CARDS
ISSUED IN AR ARE NOT ACCEPTED.

 

[Alicia karr]

Wow! Why'd they do that?!

 

[ben]

Because there have been a few scams done from here that had the airlines losing money and getting into some trouble. I'm sure there are some I don't know about, and the ones of which I've heard were elaborately done. So they want to limit their Argentine exposure to a local office that knows the lay of the land.

It isn't only United, either. Here's an excerpt from an American Airlines fare:

EXCEPTION - FOR ALL TICKETS SOLD IN ARGENTINA
TRANSPORTATION VOUCHERS NOT ALLOWED. ANY FULL OR
PARTIAL REFUND MUST BE PROCESSED THROUGH AA
REFUND DEPARTMENT OR AT THE ORIGINAL ISSUING
LOCATION IN ARGENTINA.

 

[Joe]

Any restrictions on using miles to buy a ticket here?

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

What? Scams in Argentina? Unbelievable!

 

[Happy Lady]

We have maintained a US. mailing address for 21 years. Our credit cards are also issued by US. banks. We do not have any Argentine credit cards. We use United a lot and our children buy our tickets in the US., send us the itinerary online and we print it here and have never had a problem. Of course, they are reimbursed when we arrive there.
It's a good thing for us , having a US. mailing address.