The rule generally is that the holder of an internet-purchased ticket must show photo i.d. or passport as well as the card to which the ticket was charged at the airport counter, or, as in your experience, the card holder be a member of the party.

Before 9.11, this rule was often disregarded. Since then, airlines say they are enforcing it, &I suspect they are doing so at least 70% of the time.

Sometimes a paper ticket, as opposed to an eticket, is exempt from the rule. Have you used paper tickets in the past &still had to show your credit card? Or were they etickets?

Gail In Eugene but never for long