# Cheapo Air: Legitimate Company? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 25, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheapo-air-legitimate-company/377873 "2006-10-25T18:52:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheapo-air-legitimate-company/377873/1 "2006-10-25T18:52:17Z")
My wife just ordered some airplane tickets for her mother a couple of days ago, through [cheapoair.com](http://cheapoair.com). It appeared to my wife to be a site much like priceline, cheaptickets, and so on. Online, my wife provided the website with her mother’s credit card information, in order to make the purchase. Cheapo Air, however, has now (this morning) called my wife’s mother telling her she must fax them a copy of her driver’s license and credit card, front and back, or else they will cancel her tickets and charge her one hundred dollars. I have never had to do this before when ordering airline tickets online, through any other website. Wife’s mother is by nature suspicious of online transactions, and is afraid we have managed to land her in some identity-theft scheme or other. While I am not usually paranoid about this kind of thing, I have to admit this does sound a little strange. Is this legitimate? Or is there some kind of scam being enacted here? -Kris ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheapo-air-legitimate-company/377873/2 "2006-10-25T19:02:36Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] Cheapo Air, however, has now (this morning) called my wife’s mother telling her she must fax them a copy of her driver’s license and credit card, front and back, or else they will cancel her tickets and charge her one hundred dollars. [/QUOTE] Sounds very suspicious. I would notify the credit card company to refuse any charges to Cheapo Air, then cancel the reservation. If any charges show up, request a chargeback from the credit card company for unauthorized charges. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheapo-air-legitimate-company/377873/3 "2006-10-25T19:28:52Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] Sounds very suspicious. I would notify the credit card company to refuse any charges to Cheapo Air, then cancel the reservation. If any charges show up, request a chargeback from the credit card company for unauthorized charges. [/QUOTE] Wife’s mother just called us again and says she talked to them on the phone and she is now satisfied that they’re okay. And for some reason, they ended up not requiring her to fax them copies after all. I don’t know what happened, but anyway, whatever they said soothed her suspicious soul so it’s probably okay. 🙂 If there are further developments, I’ll post them here for others’ information about that site. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheapo-air-legitimate-company/377873/4 "2006-10-25T20:27:51Z")
> [@](#): > > egistrant: > Domains by Proxy, Inc. > [DomainsByProxy.com](http://DomainsByProxy.com) > 15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353 > Scottsdale, Arizona 85260 > United States > > Registered through: [GoDaddy.com](http://GoDaddy.com), Inc. ([http://www.godaddy.com](http://www.godaddy.com)) > Domain Name: [CHEAPOAIR.COM](http://CHEAPOAIR.COM) > Created on: 13-Jun-05 > Expires on: 13-Jun-15 > Last Updated on: 13-Jun-05 > > Administrative Contact: > Private, Registration [CHEAPOAIR.COM@domainsbyproxy.com](mailto:CHEAPOAIR.COM@domainsbyproxy.com) > Domains by Proxy, Inc. > [DomainsByProxy.com](http://DomainsByProxy.com) > 15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353 > Scottsdale, Arizona 85260 > United States > (480) 624-2599 Fax – (480) 624-2599 > > Technical Contact: > Private, Registration [CHEAPOAIR.COM@domainsbyproxy.com](mailto:CHEAPOAIR.COM@domainsbyproxy.com) > Domains by Proxy, Inc. > [DomainsByProxy.com](http://DomainsByProxy.com) > 15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353 > Scottsdale, Arizona 85260 > United States > (480) 624-2599 Fax – (480) 624-2599 > > Domain servers in listed order: > [PARK11.SECURESERVER.NET](http://PARK11.SECURESERVER.NET) > [PARK12.SECURESERVER.NET](http://PARK12.SECURESERVER.NET) > The previous information has been obtained either directly from the registrant or a registrar of the domain name other than Network Solutions. Network Solutions, therefore, does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness. > > ``` > Show underlying registry data for this record > > ``` > > Current Registrar: GO DADDY SOFTWARE, INC. > IP Address: 209.208.171.243 (ARIN & RIPE IP search) > IP Location: US(UNITED STATES)-NEW YORK-NEW YORK > Record Type: Domain Name > Server Type: IIS 6 > Lock Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK > Web Site Status: Active > DMOZ 1 listings > Y! Directory: see listings > Meta Description: Discount airfares, Cheap Plane Fares, Cheap Air Tickets, Cheap Hotels and Car Rentals with Cheap Flights Europe, Asia, USA > Secure: Yes > E-commerce: Yes > Traffic Ranking: 1 > Data as of: 25-Jul-2006 Whois database lookup. They have contactable numbers and are a year old. I suppose that makes them look somewhat legit. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheapo-air-legitimate-company/377873/5 "2006-10-25T20:30:16Z")
[http://enewschannels.com/2006/09/18/enc194\_212224](http://enewschannels.com/2006/09/18/enc194_212224) news article containing [cheapoair.com](http://cheapoair.com). Somehow I don’t think a flybynight(heh) company would be featured in any news article. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheapo-air-legitimate-company/377873/6 "2006-10-25T20:38:29Z")
_cough_Enron_cough_ 😉 I know what you mean. But mention in a newspaper doesn’t necessarily mean the company is not shady. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheapo-air-legitimate-company/377873/7 "2006-10-25T21:09:10Z")
[QUOTE=Harmonix] Whois database lookup. They have contactable numbers and are a year old. I suppose that makes them look somewhat legit. [/QUOTE] If you look up any of my domain names, you’ll get those identical addresses and phone numbers. Domains By Proxy is a GoDaddy domain-contact-information-hiding company, i.e., “private registration.” (One of my websites would result in broken kneecaps otherwise, plus I used to get the same AmEx advertisements on the same day sent to my house with all of my different domain names as various businesses! Yikes!) ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheapo-air-legitimate-company/377873/8 "2006-10-25T21:20:46Z")
I was once required to do this when booking with [go-today.com](http://go-today.com), and had no problems.