There seems to be a new process in place when paying for a ticket on amtrak.com. After you give them your credit card info (including the 3-digit security code on the back of the card) it asks for verification information. I'm not sure whether this is being done by the bank issuing the card, Mastercard/Visa, or Amtrak. You're supposed to re-enter the security code, expiration date, and your PIN (which for my debit card appears to be my ATM PIN), then you're prompted to enter a password. Another blankety-blank web password, that's all I need! After this point, if all is done correctly, and you don't accidentally mistype anything, your purchase gets processed. Apparently, the next time you use the cars, all you need to do is re-enter the password, and everything will go more quickly. I wouldn't know, because I don't buy tickets enough to remember the password, so I have to generate a new one every time I buy a ticket. I guess I could write it down, along with the three notebook pages I have with all the other web passwords I have.
Frankly, I'm not sure what benefit this is to Amtrak. Anything that makes it harder to close a sale has the potential to reduce revenue. And it seems like there's a fairly low risk of fraudulent use of the card because the user has to enter the security code, which is physically only on the card. Thus, fraudulent use is limited to physically stolen cards, and if the victim reports the theft, the card can be deactiviated.
I remember the old days of credits cards, back in the 1970s and early 80s before they had network access at the point of sale. The sales clerk had to go through a book with bad credit card numbers, but not every establishment bothered to do it, as I guess the risk of accepting a bad card was so low that they could afford to just eat the loss. Is there something inherent in modern credit cards thatmakes the losses so much greater that they have to hassle their customers with this extra step?
Frankly, I'm not sure what benefit this is to Amtrak. Anything that makes it harder to close a sale has the potential to reduce revenue. And it seems like there's a fairly low risk of fraudulent use of the card because the user has to enter the security code, which is physically only on the card. Thus, fraudulent use is limited to physically stolen cards, and if the victim reports the theft, the card can be deactiviated.
I remember the old days of credits cards, back in the 1970s and early 80s before they had network access at the point of sale. The sales clerk had to go through a book with bad credit card numbers, but not every establishment bothered to do it, as I guess the risk of accepting a bad card was so low that they could afford to just eat the loss. Is there something inherent in modern credit cards thatmakes the losses so much greater that they have to hassle their customers with this extra step?
