Costa Rica Expat Forum

shermanwc
Joined 2012
Posts: 896

9 years ago

Credit Card and Luggage Tips - back to the USA

9 years ago

Tip #1: Make sure you notify your credit card company when traveling back to the USA. I always did that when traveling out of the country from the USA, but I did not think it as an issue when flying back to the USA.

Here is my story: I just got back from a trip to Kansas City from CR. I went to a convention but went a day early so that I could shop for items needed in CR.

After making purchases at a few different stores, on two different Visa credit cards I had the companies started denying charges. I called each and explained that I lived in CR but was visiting KC for a week, and I was doing some shopping, and they said "ok". On my 4th or 5th purchase, one card company called me and said that my credit card was being put on fraud alert and had been cancelled - they were sending me a new card! I could not undo that. For the second credit card, they put my card on suspense until they could talk to my wife who was the primary cardholder - and she was in Costa Rica. My cell phone battery was about dead, so I said that she would call them later.

I paid cash at stores after that and then went to check into my hotel. Neither of my credit cards were valid, so they refused to give me a key without a valid credit card! They were going to put me out on the street! My wife had another card with a different number that was still valid, so I called her and she gave them her credit card number to get me into my room. Then she called the second company to get the card re-activated so I would have a usable card the rest of the week.

Tip #2: If your flight has two flight segments and you stay somewhere overnight, the airlines "might" charge you a second baggage fee when checking in for the ongoing flight.

My story: I flew to Houston and stayed overnight, then took a morning flight to KC. I paid a baggage fee when leaving CR, but they charged me another baggage fee when flying out of Houston. They said it was considered to be a layover since there was a later flight to KC the night before that I could have taken. I wanted to break up my trip and stop early for the night, but I ended up having to pay extra for that.

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