Beware: The Delta snag I hit on a last-minute booking

Zach Griff

November 26, 2025

ZACH GRIFF

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One of Delta’s big fraud-prevention practices seems to be popping up stateside. And it nearly derailed my parents’ dinner plans.

To combat fraud, Delta (and some other carriers) sometimes require travelers to present the physical credit card used to purchase their ticket at the airport.

If your ticket is flagged, you won’t be able to complete online check-in and bypass the airport ticket counter.

Historically, I’ve only seen this applied to higher-risk itineraries, especially on routes to and from Africa.

But my recent experience booking a domestic flight tells a whole new story.

Delta credit card fraud prevention

During the government shutdown, my parents were scheduled to fly from South Florida to New York.

I had initially booked them on JetBlue, but a four-hour delay meant they’d miss our dinner plans.

So I started looking into backup options.

(In general, I always recommend having a refundable backup flight booked well before the day of departure. Theirs ended up being canceled.)

One of the best options I found was an on-time Delta flight leaving in about two hours.

There were two (pricey) seats left, but I didn’t really have a choice. If they wanted to make it for dinner, that Delta flight was their only hope.

So I went to book the flight like I usually would.

Open Delta.com, log in to my dad’s SkyMiles account, search for the flight, and book.

At checkout, I paid with my Chase Sapphire Reserve card for 4x points on flights booked directly with an airline.

An unexpected pop-up warning

That’s when I saw a pop-up I’ve never seen before on a domestic flight.

Unfortunately, I was in a rush and didn’t screenshot it, but it said something along the lines of “by purchasing this ticket, you agree that you’ll need to show the credit card used during booking at the airport.”

I’ve seen this language before for flights I’ve helped friends book to a few cities in Africa, but never before on a domestic ticket. (Several of my followers have mentioned that they’ve seen this in recent weeks, but I had never experienced it myself.)

I’ve since asked Delta whether it updated its fraud-prevention algorithm, but the airline (understandably) didn’t provide many details.

“Out of many proprietary business and security considerations, Delta is limited in what it can say on this front,” a carrier spokesperson shared in a statement.

The airline did point me to this general guidance that states:

“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.”

I proceeded with the booking, and the confirmation page displayed just a few seconds later.

I then tried to complete online check-in, but, as expected, I received a message saying this itinerary was only eligible for airport check-in.

The big problem

My parents were already at the airport, but they couldn’t get their boarding passes without my credit card (which was physically with me in New York).

They were told that a digital version of the card in Apple Wallet wouldn’t suffice. The physical card was required.

My immediate plan was to cancel the tickets and quickly rebook using one of the credit cards my parents were physically carrying.

But just before I canceled, the flight ended up getting delayed by three hours, so there was no need to proceed with the second purchase.

Bottom line

In the end, I found my parents the only on-time flight of the day to the New York area: a Southwest flight to Islip. They made it to dinner.

But the big takeaway is that, based on my experience (and that of my followers), Delta’s fraud-prevention checks appear to be popping up on domestic routes, not just on high-risk international ones.

This was a first for me, but it’s something I’ll be watching closely going forward, especially with last-minute bookings.

Thankfully, Delta surfaces a pop-up during purchase if your ticket is flagged. Just don’t move too fast, or you might miss the warning.

Zach Griff Author

Zach Griff is a travel expert who’s covered airlines, loyalty programs, credit cards, and travel tech for nearly a decade. He’s visited 60+ countries and regularly shares his insights across Instagram, TikTok and X — and at From the Tray Table.