MasterCard declining transactions - Card issuer shrugs

[A. L. Breguet]

Hi, first post here. I read and enjoyed the Boglehead's Guide to Investing many years ago and have been meaning to register here for quite some time. A recent issue has finally motivated me to do it! Anyway...

I tried to buy tickets on Iberia (from the U.S to Spain), but the charges were repeatedly declined. I called the card issuer (big bank!) prior to this transaction and they told me that there should be no issues. I called Iberia and was told that their system was down, and that was the reason. I was advised to call back later in the day. I called back as advised and was told that the issue was my card. I called Big Bank again to inquire and they told me that they saw no attempt to charge the card. I am nowhere near my credit limit, and I pay the bill in full every month so as to avoid interest charges. I tried to put it on AMEX, but immediately, after entering the first digit, I received an INVALID CARD!!!!! warning. I had had enough and started to look around more. (Iberia was our first choice because we wanted nonstop flights)

After a few days of looking at alternative flights on other carriers, I went over to AAA (Auto Club) to have a travel agent do it. We actually got what we wanted at a good price--were happy with AAA. Needless to say, the same Big Bank card worked with no problems at AAA.

Long story short, I called Big Bank yesterday to inquire about another big, dumb, time-wasting problem, and was connected to a supervisor. I asked him about these charges for Iberia being declined, and he told me it had nothing to do with Big Bank, that Big Bank was happy to approve them, but that MasterCard was declining these charges because they suspect fraud. (I can see why they suspect fraud given the fact that I have used this card to charge many trips on foreign carriers in the past. Makes perfect sense!) I asked him whether Big Bank could contact MasterCard and advise them that these charges are legitimate and that we will be in Spain making (trying to make) charges over there. He said there was nothing they could do (a lie perhaps??) but that I was welcome to call MasterCard myself--but that it would probably not do anything. I guess the MastersOfTheUniverse at MasterCard do not talk to mere mortals...

A massive, vexing waste of my time. Now, I have to go to Iberia to select seats and will try the card again. If not I will try one of my Visas, or maybe my own Bank Credit Union ATM card.

Does anyone know why this is happening to me suddenly? The Big Bank dude I spoke to told me that he has this conversation with angry, puzzled people all the time!

What can be done about this aside from using another card and hoping it works?

Thanks for any thoughts.

[Nyc10036]

I would guess that most BH have more than one credit card.

If this big bank is not being helpful, it is time to get another credit card.

[erp]

It does sound like it was an Iberia website issue, esp if they even told you they were having problems earlier. The Amex thing might be poor website design - I guess a single digit is an invalid card number though. Did you try entering the whole number?

Most of my cards now have a way to alert them of upcoming trips, both domestic and intl, thru the online account. It's supposed to avoid card declines while on that trip. Some cards will also text/email you in real-time to authorize a charge they feel might be suspicious.

[mighty72]

Usually when a transaction is declined, I get a notification from the issuer asking if I indeed tried to make the transaction and if yes, then try it again. I suspect it is an issue with airlines website or payment processor

[Prokofiev]

It does sound like it was an Iberia website issue, esp if they even told you they were having problems earlier.

I have been wrestling with the Iberia website for sometime now. Trouble with CC acceptance seems to be common.
Trying to even secure (ie buy) seat reservations has proven impossible online. Good luck.

[typical.investor]

I have had it happen multiple times on airline tickets — particularly when the flight originated outside of my country of residence.

The bank issuing the card assured me they had no record of declining anything, said they would approve the transaction and told me to try again. Sometimes that worked.

The same tickets bought on a card issued in the same country that the flights originated from always worked. (I had cards issued in multiple countries)

[A. L. Breguet]

Thanks for your comments everyone. It is amazing to me that these issues exist in the year 2023, especially for someone with outstanding credit, a high credit limit, a long history of international travel, notified the card ahead of time etc. About 15 years ago we (U.S. citizens) were living in Canada and went on a two week trip to Russia. Complicated? Extremely. But we never had these CC issues with the tickets (AC and LH).

With this particular Iberia issue, I don't know what to believe. Iberia contradicted themselves, as did Citibank (no point keeping it a secret--I use this card for 2% cash back). I do have a few other credit cards, but will soon cancel my old AMEX green card, which sees little to no use. I am looking to apply for a new Visa or MC--something with a decent sign-up bonus and rewards. I have no desire to churn cards--the next one I will likely keep for quite a while.

On a tangential topic, lately (last few years), is is amazing (in a bad way) how long everything takes these days. Buying tickets to Spain on Iberia? Should take an hour or less. Instead, it turned into a week-long ordeal--just like seemingly everything else these days. Time inflation, I call it.

[kramer]

Earlier this year, I was buying an airplane ticket and had problems with 2 different Visa credit cards during the purchase process. The solution was to use a debit card (my Schwab card). Yes, it's ridiculous. I didn't get the usual message from my credit card companies of "did you try to use this card, if so, select yes and try again". I have had these visa cards over 10 years. I didn't bother to call up the credit card company, I don't have time or patience for that. I think this was for a trans-Pacific flight but I travel so much that I can't remember.

[purpleKatz]

Check to see whether Spain is on the Mastercard bank's blocked countries list.
Here's an example of North Shore Bank's list.
https://www.northshorebank.com/personal ... bited.aspx

[sad2]

No solution offered but this happens frequently when attempting to buy airline tickets for domestic travel in India.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g ... India.html

[THY4373]

Not saying it was the Iberia website but their website is trash even by the low standards of airline IT so it wouldn't surprise me. Honestly my experience with big banks and fraud alerts is when it is them they are very good at removing once you contact them. Also as others have said this is why (one reason) I hold and travel with multiple CCs from different banks and run on different networks. If buying train tickets for travel within Spain be advised the RNFE website can have issues with foreign CCs as well.

Edit I see the bank is Citi. My experience with Citi for extensive international travel is they are generally very good.

[chassis]

Hi, first post here. I read and enjoyed the Boglehead's Guide to Investing many years ago and have been meaning to register here for quite some time. A recent issue has finally motivated me to do it! Anyway...

I tried to buy tickets on Iberia (from the U.S to Spain), but the charges were repeatedly declined. I called the card issuer (big bank!) prior to this transaction and they told me that there should be no issues. I called Iberia and was told that their system was down, and that was the reason. I was advised to call back later in the day. I called back as advised and was told that the issue was my card. I called Big Bank again to inquire and they told me that they saw no attempt to charge the card. I am nowhere near my credit limit, and I pay the bill in full every month so as to avoid interest charges. I tried to put it on AMEX, but immediately, after entering the first digit, I received an INVALID CARD!!!!! warning. I had had enough and started to look around more. (Iberia was our first choice because we wanted nonstop flights)

After a few days of looking at alternative flights on other carriers, I went over to AAA (Auto Club) to have a travel agent do it. We actually got what we wanted at a good price--were happy with AAA. Needless to say, the same Big Bank card worked with no problems at AAA.

Long story short, I called Big Bank yesterday to inquire about another big, dumb, time-wasting problem, and was connected to a supervisor. I asked him about these charges for Iberia being declined, and he told me it had nothing to do with Big Bank, that Big Bank was happy to approve them, but that MasterCard was declining these charges because they suspect fraud. (I can see why they suspect fraud given the fact that I have used this card to charge many trips on foreign carriers in the past. Makes perfect sense!) I asked him whether Big Bank could contact MasterCard and advise them that these charges are legitimate and that we will be in Spain making (trying to make) charges over there. He said there was nothing they could do (a lie perhaps??) but that I was welcome to call MasterCard myself--but that it would probably not do anything. I guess the MastersOfTheUniverse at MasterCard do not talk to mere mortals...

A massive, vexing waste of my time. Now, I have to go to Iberia to select seats and will try the card again. If not I will try one of my Visas, or maybe my own Bank Credit Union ATM card.

Does anyone know why this is happening to me suddenly? The Big Bank dude I spoke to told me that he has this conversation with angry, puzzled people all the time!

What can be done about this aside from using another card and hoping it works?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Fire big bank.

I have had more success with visa over my career of business travel.

[bob60014]

In my research for trips to various locations in Europe it's somewhat of a common problem with some cards. Its especially true when attempting to make purchases while in the US from merchants in Europe with rail lines, museums and Iberia mentioned. It seems to relate to the security protocols that are in or not in place, with 3D Secure mentioned.

[Jags4186]

Look: if the Iberia website was having issues it’s probably Iberias fault. There’s nothing Citibank can do. Don’t expect frontline Iberia CSR to know anything and to just say something to get you off the phone.

FWIW I know Citi is generally pretty awful but I haven’t had actual issues using their cards. They even send texts and emails if they think there is a fraudulent transaction that you can approve with 1 click.

[tonyclifton]

If it helps…Someone (not me) successfully used my credit card to fraudulently buy multiple plane tickets on that same airline. Maybe they are a high risk vendor and master card is not liking whatever website is sending to validate the purchase? I had to attest that my card was with me and that I did not authorize the purchase. The planes had already landed (tickets used) before the fraud was suspected.

[slickwillie]

As others have noted Iberia website is garbage. Bought tickets last week and can't pull up the reservation on Iberia's site. Had to use Malaysia Airlines site to select seats.

[EddyB]

If you’re using an Iberia site aimed at Europe, and trying to use a U.S. credit card, it’s entirely possible that the merchant bank defaults to rejecting the card and the transaction never even advances to your bank. Although I live in Europe, I prefer the rewards of a card I acquired in the US (even with the costs of conversion through Visa), but it’s not so unusual for me to find web sites that just won’t process that card.

[chassis]

In my research for trips to various locations in Europe it's somewhat of a common problem with some cards. Its especially true when attempting to make purchases while in the US from merchants in Europe with rail lines, museums and Iberia mentioned. It seems to relate to the security protocols that are in or not in place, with 3D Secure mentioned.

Agree with this. When I buy Deutsche Bahn train tickets from my phone, a two-factor authentication screen appears. When I do the same transaction on my laptop, the 2FA does not appear. Trains and fraud seem to be linked...

[02nz]

I agree that for travel (especially overseas travel) you need to have more than one card, preferably a different network and a different issuing bank. Why bother trying to figure out who (the merchant, the payment processor, MasterCard, or the issuing bank) is at fault, when you can just use another card?

[Chuckles960]

Many countries have instituted 2FA requirements for card-not-present transactions. Most US card issuers refuse to institute such requirements, swallowing some losses to make life easy for customers (but also making life worse, as in the OP's case). This is why the card gets turned down with no option to bypass the problem. The charge never gets to Big Bank---they are actually telling the truth that they didn't do it and they can't clear it.

For online transactions, my AmEx card works well because it sends me an e-mail and I approve the purchase. But apparently AmEx is not accepted by Iberia according to the original post, that is why it says invalid number.

Having another card won't solve the problem by itself. One needs to have a card that works with "3DS" (3D Secure).

Needless to say, the same Big Bank card worked with no problems at AAA.

Not in any way comparable. First, you were paying a US company; second, your card was physically present at the transaction. It was not an international, internet-based charge.

[CAsage]

Have had issues in the past with foreign travel tour reservations, being unable to properly charge through a European vendor to my desired highest cashback card. No clue. The bank assured me they were not refusing the charge, it just died somewhere in the web. I never solved it, just had to use a different card until I found one that worked. No idea why.

[whodidntante]

You may be overthinking this.

[A. L. Breguet]

Thanks for the informative posts. I do have four credit cards in addition to my credit union ATM/Visa. This has always been sufficient for our travels. We have had very few problems with them in fact, even in Russia, China, Italy, etc. As I said above, I am looking for a new credit card--a card that will work well overseas, good rewards (cash back preferred), no annual fee. I/we have excellent credit score and I never carry a balance. Any suggestions welcome.

AirBNB has been fine with our cards, of course, but we will have to reserve some trains through RNFE, and likely a flight on Veuling from Granada to Barcelona, Alhambra tickets, etc. Hopefully this will all not be a huge PITA.

[Chuckles960]

Thanks for the informative posts. I do have four credit cards in addition to my credit union ATM/Visa. This has always been sufficient for our travels. We have had very few problems with them in fact, even in Russia, China, Italy, etc. As I said above, I am looking for a new credit card--a card that will work well overseas, good rewards (cash back preferred), no annual fee. I/we have excellent credit score and I never carry a balance. Any suggestions welcome.

AirBNB has been fine with our cards, of course, but we will have to reserve some trains through RNFE, and likely a flight on Veuling from Granada to Barcelona, Alhambra tickets, etc. Hopefully this will all not be a huge PITA.

Just to re-emphasize, what happened in the past is not relevant, the 2FA stuff is new. Further, the issue is not whether a card will "work well overseas", the issue is whether it will work well over the internet when the payee is "overseas". In person, with the physical card, you will not have a problem in Spain or elsewhere.

[cheesepep]

The problem may lie in the company if it is a foreign based company. For example, if the company is based in Spain, it may only accept credit cards issued in Spain (or even just certain credit cards by certain banks within the country) despite it still being a Mastercard or Visa. Happens to me a lot when I'm overseas. The company lacks the ability to do foreign exchange or something else.

For example, I went on one website to hire a cleaning company to clean my place for 2-3 hours when I was overseas. I submitted my credit card (Visa) information online but it was always declined. I called Chase as to the reason but Chase said that they received nothing on their end.

[Watty]

I guess the MastersOfTheUniverse at MasterCard do not talk to mere mortals...

My understanding is that credit card companies and other financial institutions will say say next to nothing about the details of their security.

The reason is that if they did that would give the "bad guys" more information to try to figure out how to compromise their systems.

[VictorStarr]

As other people commented, the most probable cause is 3D Secure (3DS):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-D_Secure
https://thepointsguy.com/credit-cards/3 ... -security/

In EU 3DS is mandatory for all online transactions. You said that you have four credit cards, you need to find CC that supports 3DS. I empirically discovered that
- Apple Card
- Chase Sapphire Reserve
- Fidelity Visa
- US Bank Altitude Go
support 3DS.

BTW, Citi Double Cash CC is a suboptimal choice for international payments, it has 3% foreign transaction fee.

[mkalman]

I would just buy the tickets on the same flight from a different carrier, for example British Airways or American will codeshare and give the flight a BA or AA flight number but it is still operated by IB.

[ScubaHogg]

Just out of curiosity, if you want to resolve the issue, and Mastercard is declining the transactions why don't you call Mastercard?

Or maybe you did and I didn't understand?

[typical.investor]

Just out of curiosity, if you want to resolve the issue, and Mastercard is declining the transactions why don't you call Mastercard?

Or maybe you did and I didn't understand?

In my case it was Visa and I did call. The OP reports they called too. We were told there was no indication of a declined transaction. That's what it said on the website though 'transaction declined' when making the purchase. I too was told it was the website's error and I called the airline and tried by phone - no luck. I called the bank back, had them approve the transaction before trying it, then tried again and it went through.

What happens is that it gets declined in the fraud department and the regular customer service people who can see your account can't see that info and don't have the transaction declined yet. That's what we were told when we called a few days later after it finally worked to complain.

[seajay]

Here in the UK banks are increasingly being put under pressures to flag, without alerting individuals, suspected fraud/money laundering cases, under penalty of being associated to such fraud/money-laundering. In the past you might have seen anything under $5000 transactions simply being waved through, but that has dramatically changed in more recent times. As I understand it banks should flag suspicious cases and if no contact is established by the 'anti fraud' agent within a certain time-frame then assume its OK and permit the transaction. In some cases individuals are asked to phone the anti-fraud agent and progress through a interrogation to convince the agent that the transaction is 'proper' or otherwise having it declined. In yet other cases the Police have been called into banks to take individuals in for questioning, that can also involve deep background checks and be at risk of having their assets frozen/confiscated on the assumption of being the proceeds of illicit activities.

The natural tendency is that banks will be inclined to eventually flag all transactions in order to remain compliant, which in a era of Big-Data is perhaps the desired objective i.e. the state gets to see all transactions that might be paired with street cameras and phone tracking etc. general monitoring. The conversion over to digital currencies will complete such Open Prison monitoring.

It's a grave concern IMO. If you do have the police called in, and investigations show that you were a "tax evader", perhaps via a genuine mistake when filing your tax return, that results in all of your wealth/assets being frozen/confiscated, then sooner or later genuine innocent individuals will live through such experiences, even though the mistake might have been just pennies.

All being instated via gradual progression, more often under the pretence of anti-laundering/fraud reasons, until we'll look around and wonder how the hell did we get here. More using cash more often is a means to slow that transition, however sooner or later that is the direction the world is headed. General awareness of that direction/intent is also a possible means to potentially slow/halt such declines in freedoms. In the meantime you might expect that more of your transactions will tend to be 'queried'.

[Rex66]

As other people commented, the most probable cause is 3D Secure (3DS):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-D_Secure
https://thepointsguy.com/credit-cards/3 ... -security/

In EU 3DS is mandatory for all online transactions. You said that you have four credit cards, you need to find CC that supports 3DS. I empirically discovered that
- Apple Card
- Chase Sapphire Reserve
- Fidelity Visa
- US Bank Altitude Go
support 3DS.

BTW, Citi Double Cash CC is a suboptimal choice for international payments, it has 3% foreign transaction fee.

Good post

[ScubaHogg]

Just out of curiosity, if you want to resolve the issue, and Mastercard is declining the transactions why don't you call Mastercard?

Or maybe you did and I didn't understand?

In my case it was Visa and I did call. The OP reports they called too. We were told there was no indication of a declined transaction. That's what it said on the website though 'transaction declined' when making the purchase. I too was told it was the website's error and I called the airline and tried by phone - no luck. I called the bank back, had them approve the transaction before trying it, then tried again and it went through.

What happens is that it gets declined in the fraud department and the regular customer service people who can see your account can't see that info and don't have the transaction declined yet. That's what we were told when we called a few days later after it finally worked to complain.

It reads that the OP called the issuing bank (chase, Citibank), not Mastercard

Long story short, I called Big Bank yesterday to inquire about another big, dumb, time-wasting problem, and was connected to a supervisor. I asked him about these charges for Iberia being declined, and he told me it had nothing to do with Big Bank, that Big Bank was happy to approve them, but that MasterCard was declining these charges because they suspect fraud. (I can see why they suspect fraud given the fact that I have used this card to charge many trips on foreign carriers in the past. Makes perfect sense!) I asked him whether Big Bank could contact MasterCard and advise them that these charges are legitimate and that we will be in Spain making (trying to make) charges over there. He said there was nothing they could do (a lie perhaps??) but that I was welcome to call MasterCard myself--but that it would probably not do anything. I guess the MastersOfTheUniverse at MasterCard do not talk to mere mortals...

[txgolfer_19]

The only similar issue I’ve also had is with Mastercard (a Citi credit card). Home Depot will not accept my Citi Mastercard. No fraud warning, no attempt at charging. Works fine with any of my Visa cards. I let it really tick me off for about 10 minutes before I decided to let it go and use a different card.

[tonyclifton]

In person, with the physical card, you will not have a problem in Spain or elsewhere.

The only clarification I would add is that sometimes the physical tap/swipe machines ask for pin numbers for credit cards. You might need to contact your credit card company to set a pin or ask them if you should skip the pin or enter 0000.

[Gardener]

I travel a lot.

Same thing happened to me.

I informed my bank that I would be traveling to another country and PLEASE allow purchases to go through. Kept getting denied and my bank informed me it was Visa not them. Multiple reps confirmed this and so I am certain now that that is the truth.

Anyway, I had to use a master card to get it to go through.

[howard71]

Same thing with my Fidelity Visa when booking a trip to an all-inclusive resort in Cancun last September. First, the booking through booking.com was declined so had to use my Mastercard. Then the same thing with the plane tickets. On the Fidelity Visa end of things they said they didn't even see the transactions so apparently Visa itself declined.

Really PO'd me because the Fidelity Visa is 2% cashback and the Mastercard was only 1%. So the SNAFU cost me about $50.

[robphoto]

Might not be the issue here, but when I have this kind of problem I try a different web browser, and sometimes that works (switch to Chrome from Safari, for example).

[UpperNwGuy]

OP,
Welcome to the frustrations of booking travel to, from, and within Spain! This kind of problem (credit card being rejected) occurs frequently with both Iberia airlines and Renfe (the Spanish rail company). Your bank is not at fault. The fault is with the terrible websites of Iberia and Renfe.

[toast0]

I've had similar issues with a different vendor (Aliexpress). When I called my issuer (a credit union), they first said they didn't see the charges, but when I mentioned it was an overseas vendor, they said it was likely a fraud check so early that it doesn't even get recorded, and they were able to turn off all the fraud checks for my card for an hour, and I was able to make the purchase. When I wanted to make another purchase a couple weeks later, I had to call in again.

I had 3dsecure enabled on the card, but it doesn't even prompt.

[SmileyFace]

When I read your first post I was going to guess it was citibank. I had a horrible time with them blocking stuff as fraudelent (I would switch to Chase or CapOne or BAC with each incident without issue). The final straw was when they blocked something and then it landed on my credit card anyway - - they didn't pay the vendor but charged me - after months of calls with people that had English language challenges and subsequent "investigations" I gave up trying to get that $100 back but vowed I would never do business with them again. It was an airline upgrade charge with United. They always seemed to block anything online airline related (even US based airlines - Delta, United, American). Also other online purchases.
For 2% cashback - I now use Fidelity.

[A. L. Breguet]

Update: Went back to Iberia's website to reserve seats. The process is a bit confusing! Nevertheless, my Chase Visa worked fine! I called them to advise them of the upcoming charges and was connected to a rep much faster than with Citi (which has endless menus to wade through). I told her about the issues with the Citi MC, and she told me that there would be absolutely no problems using my Chase for anything airline related or abroad. I told her about MC declining charges, and she said "Never!" would that happen with my Chase Visa.

THEN, on the Iberia website, I tried to enter my "missing information", including passport number, DOB, etc. All was fine until I tried to fill in "Address at Destination" which I assume is our address in Spain(??) I entered the address of our first AirBNB (in Madrid, Spain). Next to this was a yank-down menu to select "State". Because I always gird myself for the stupidest, most time-wasting thing, I expected the big red box informing me that I must select a state. So, I"m stuck here. I guess my "destination" is my home address?? May call my travel agent. God help you if you make the slightest mistake (or fail to read their minds) at this stage of entering information.

[boglegirl]

OP,
Welcome to the frustrations of booking travel to, from, and within Spain! This kind of problem (credit card being rejected) occurs frequently with both Iberia airlines and Renfe (the Spanish rail company). Your bank is not at fault. The fault is with the terrible websites of Iberia and Renfe.

+1.
It's not "Big Bank's" fault. It's Iberia. I've had the worst problems booking with Iberia & Renfe. I think the workaround for Renfe was using Paypal? I don't remember how I finally got my Iberia flights ticketed.

[Beensabu]

I don't suppose you've recently filed a chargeback for an online purchase with that card that wasn't working with the site? That can get you flagged with a particular fraud prevention service, and all the other merchants that use them.

[typical.investor]

Update: Went back to Iberia's website to reserve seats. The process is a bit confusing! Nevertheless, my Chase Visa worked fine! I called them to advise them of the upcoming charges and was connected to a rep much faster than with Citi (which has endless menus to wade through). I told her about the issues with the Citi MC, and she told me that there would be absolutely no problems using my Chase for anything airline related or abroad. I told her about MC declining charges, and she said "Never!" would that happen with my Chase Visa.

THEN, on the Iberia website, I tried to enter my "missing information", including passport number, DOB, etc. All was fine until I tried to fill in "Address at Destination" which I assume is our address in Spain(??) I entered the address of our first AirBNB (in Madrid, Spain). Next to this was a yank-down menu to select "State". Because I always gird myself for the stupidest, most time-wasting thing, I expected the big red box informing me that I must select a state. So, I"m stuck here. I guess my "destination" is my home address?? May call my travel agent. God help you if you make the slightest mistake (or fail to read their minds) at this stage of entering information.

So you are flying to Spain using the US Iberia website?

I've seen this many times trying to use a foreign card at a US site, and they try to force a state selection for the billing address (even though a foreign country was selected and no state should be shown). American Airlines did it. It's just wrong coding.

They are asking for immigration purposed correct? Personally, I would try putting in the AirBNB in Madrid and choose my home State. The zip code will trip you up but maybe put your billing address down. And if there was any trouble, I would just explain the facts. OR use the Spain Iberia site (though you shouldn't have to) or call the airline.

Your worried about the flight you want being sold out ...and you just want it done ... and one thing after another that doesn't make any sense!

Enjoy Spain!

[A. L. Breguet]

Thanks, I believe it is for immigration purposes. Usually, in going through immigration at the destination, they ask for my local address.

Anyway, this address request was in the same section as my passport number, DOB etc. We do already have our tickets reserved on the flights we wanted, and a PNR number (or whatever they're calling it now).

The dumb thing (another dumb thing) is that they ask for Postal Code along with State (gotta pick one of the fifty!!)

My travel agent thought it was stupid on their part as well, but she advised me to just put in my home address. I should call them though, you're right, although they will probably try to reach into my wallet for another 25$ per passenger because their website sucks. Paying the price (in money, time, aggravation) for other people's stupidity and incompetence seems to be a recurring theme in my life in the last several years...

[Prokofiev]

Thanks, I believe it is for immigration purposes. Usually, in going through immigration at the destination, they ask for my local address.

Anyway, this address request was in the same section as my passport number, DOB etc. We do already have our tickets reserved on the flights we wanted, and a PNR number (or whatever they're calling it now).

The dumb thing (another dumb thing) is that they ask for Postal Code along with State (gotta pick one of the fifty!!)

My travel agent thought it was stupid on their part as well, but she advised me to just put in my home address. I should call them though, you're right, although they will probably try to reach into my wallet for another 25$ per passenger because their website sucks. Paying the price (in money, time, aggravation) for other people's stupidity and incompetence seems to be a recurring theme in my life in the last several years...

They are asking this for entry into the USA. They assume you are a Spanish national and you need to enter your US address, state and zip.
Read that section carefully and you will see they are referring to US immigration policy.

[typical.investor]

Thanks, I believe it is for immigration purposes. Usually, in going through immigration at the destination, they ask for my local address.

Anyway, this address request was in the same section as my passport number, DOB etc. We do already have our tickets reserved on the flights we wanted, and a PNR number (or whatever they're calling it now).

The dumb thing (another dumb thing) is that they ask for Postal Code along with State (gotta pick one of the fifty!!)

My travel agent thought it was stupid on their part as well, but she advised me to just put in my home address. I should call them though, you're right, although they will probably try to reach into my wallet for another 25$ per passenger because their website sucks. Paying the price (in money, time, aggravation) for other people's stupidity and incompetence seems to be a recurring theme in my life in the last several years...

They are asking this for entry into the USA. They assume you are a Spanish national and you need to enter your US address, state and zip.
Read that section carefully and you will see they are referring to US immigration policy.

Yeah, that makes no sense.

I tried to buy tickets on Iberia (from the U.S to Spain)
...
All was fine until I tried to fill in "Address at Destination" which I assume is our address in Spain(??)

How is the U.S. the destination when flying to Spain? If by 'destination' they mean your origination point, um...

If they assumed you are a Spanish national, they will also ask for your US Visa information - ESTA or whatever. Did they?

[TravelGeek]

The problem may lie in the company if it is a foreign based company. For example, if the company is based in Spain, it may only accept credit cards issued in Spain (or even just certain credit cards by certain banks within the country) despite it still being a Mastercard or Visa. Happens to me a lot when I'm overseas. The company lacks the ability to do foreign exchange or something else.

Iberia is a global airline flying from and to many countries (and a major part of IAG, which also owns British Airways). They have an English-language website for a reason -- they are more than willing to sell tickets to customers in the US and other countries. It would make no sense for them to only accept credit cards issued in Spain.

But apparently AmEx is not accepted by Iberia according to the original post, that is why it says invalid number.

User error or website bug, but I had no problems getting the Iberia website to accept my Amex Plat card when I just did a mock booking (I am working on a trip to Spain).

Iberia is a partner in Amex' IAP program, and a transfer partner for membership rewards. It would be very surprising if Iberia didn't accept Amex cards for ticket purchases.