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I am an entertainer and a promoter purchased a first class ticket on AA for me to travel within the USA with their credit card and 3 months later I am being billed due to fraud. According to AA the promoter used a stolen credit card. The ticket was bought in a South American travel agency. I had no knowledge. What are my rights and liabilities?

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    What do AA's terms and conditions say? Moreover we are not really here to give legal advice.
    – JoErNanO ♦
    Apr 15, 2015 at 15:51
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    We can't give legal advice, but if you are asking whether AA is going to let you fly with the ticket, I think it's safe to say "no".
    – DJClayworth
    Apr 15, 2015 at 16:03
  • I would think this would be an issue for the credit card company, not for you.
    – Matthew Herbst
    Apr 15, 2015 at 16:34
  • I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that the ticket was used three months before I got the notice/bill. The AA rights of carriage/regulations do not mention anything relating to a situation like this.
    – Ray
    Apr 16, 2015 at 18:51

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A standard disclaimer first: we cannot give any legal advice - for any legal advice you must consult an attorney licensed to practice law within the jurisdiction of where the issue arose (in this case, USA).

That out of the way, the main thing to note is that you are the passenger - and hence the customer of the airline - and consequently are liable to hold a valid ticket for travel. The fact that another party purchased a ticket for you is irrelevant, as the airline doesn't care who purchased the ticket, all they care is that the passenger holds a valid ticket.

In your case, when the airline received a charge-back for the original ticket, they will want to recover their costs - and the only way to do so is to go after the one party that they are aware of - the passenger. From their point of view, you, the passenger, are liable for their losses, because you receive the service they provide.

Naturally, you are unhappy about this situation, but that's a matter between you and the third party (the promoter in your case). You can try to recover your costs from the promoter - either directly or via a court - although that may prove problematic if you are in the USA and the promoter is an alleged criminal using stolen credit cards in South America.

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  • It's not obvious to me that being named the passenger on a ticket someone else buys makes the OP "the customer of the airline". I would say that the customer is the person who buys the ticket, and would expect that this customer is the only person the airline has a contractual relation with.
    – hmakholm left over Monica
    Apr 15, 2015 at 23:59
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    @HenningMakholm - The person who received the services IS the customer, not the person or entity that paid. Technically when you use a credit card, the bank issuing the card actually "pays" the airline and then you reimburse the bank at month's end. But the OP is still the customer who received and used the services.
    – user13044
    Apr 16, 2015 at 2:50
  • @Tom: For me the customer is the person who enters into a contract with the airline. The bank doesn't do that, and neither does the passenger (if the passenger is different from the customer and doesn't even know someone is buying a ticket for him at the time the contract is made).
    – hmakholm left over Monica
    Apr 16, 2015 at 14:13
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    @HenningMakholm well in this case the airline obviously doesn't agree with you and they tend to have a well paid legal staff to advise them as whether they can go after the traveler or not.
    – user13044
    Apr 16, 2015 at 14:39
  • They are going after me the traveler because they only have my information thru frequent flyer status. They do not have information from the persons who bought the ticket. I have that info and i'm willing to give it to them.
    – Ray
    Apr 16, 2015 at 18:55

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