Forgot my PIN. Now what?

In my haste to head to the Honolulu airport on my way to take a river cruise that started in Yakutsk, the capital of the Turkic Republic of Sakha in far-eastern Russia, in July 2014, I forgot to take extra cash. I had maybe $700 and some travelers’ checks from a previous trip. I did have two credit cards and some old American Express (AmEx) travelers’ checks with me.

I flew first to Seoul, South Korea, one of the few places from which you can fly into Siberia without going through Moscow. The Moscow journey is a long way and expensive, as I found out the previous year. On this 18-day trip, I saved two days of actual travel time going via Khabarovsk, my first point of entry into Russia. I had left on the 19th but lost a day crossing the International Date Line, so I arrived on the 21st.

I figured I would get currency in Russia rather than in Seoul in order to get a better rate for my travelers’ checks. However, at the Khabarovsk airport there were no manned banks in either terminal, only cash machines. Travelers’ checks can be replaced if lost, but, except at banks in St. Petersburg or Moscow, they are rarely accepted in Russia.

I knew I would need rubles to travel in Russia.

At an ATM, I swiped my AmEx credit card to get a cash advance, but it required a PIN, which I couldn’t remember. In a panic, I called my wife, Sandy, at home in Honolulu, Hawaii, where it was nearly 2 a.m., and asked, “What’s my PIN number?” She didn’t know.

I asked her to call American Express. She called but was told they would not give the PIN to anyone other than me, so I called them. (The cell phone calls were very, very pricey: $16 a minute.)

I told the AmEx representative that I had been an AmEx member since 1990, I had a Platinum card, I couldn’t remember my PIN and I needed money, $500. She was very curt with me. She said I should look on a computer to find my PIN. There was no computer in the terminal and, even if there had been one, the words would be in Russian, which I do not speak.

Finally, she said she would ask me questions to determine my identity. Among them, she named a bunch of street names. One or two I recognized as being in Santa Barbara, California, where I used to live, but she never asked about the street that we live on in Hawaii.

“You flunked the test,” she said.

“How could I?” I asked. “I gave you my mother’s maiden name that you asked for and my social security number. What more do you want?” 

“I can’t help you” was her reply. Her rude manner was uncalled for.

Meanwhile, Sandy had spoken to “a nice lady at American Express” who might have given her my PIN, or a temporary PIN, but wanted one piece of information that Sandy didn’t have. When Sandy called back, she was given the pass/fail test, too, did not recognize street names and was told she failed.

I got on the plane to Yakutsk, Siberia, without rubles. Luckily, my transfer was prepaid.

At that point, when I was high over Siberia, Sandy was hoping I would call her back. She had spoken to “the nice lady” again, who told her she would text her a temporary PIN for me to use. (Texting could verify the recipient.)

I arrived in Yakutsk at 12:02 a.m. and headed to my hotel to check in. When I gave the desk clerk my AmEx card, however, he told me, “There is a hold on your account and the charge will not go through.” 

I called AmEx again and spoke to a supervisor, who said they had not put a hold on my account. 

I also had a Visa card from Citibank. I used it at the desk and it worked.

At this time, I still had my cell phone on “airplane” mode, as roaming costs are high, so I hadn’t gotten the message that Sandy had been given a PIN for me. Since AmEx had shut me down, I didn’t turn my cell phone back on for several days.

The hotel manager spoke some English, so I paid her $20 to escort me to a bank. We went to four or five banks until, finally, we found one that accepted dollars and travelers’ checks. I managed to get about $1,150 worth of rubles. (I own a house in St. Petersburg, Russia, and could always use the rubles.)

Looking back, what’s funny is I had booked the trip through American Express Platinum Travel Service. 

That travel service had referred me to the agent Joni Gitlin of ALTOUR (Los Angeles, CA; 800/425-8687 or 310/571-6182, www.altour.com). She was efficient, clever and very nice. 

The cruise, July 20-Aug. 5, 2014, was on the riverboat M.V. Mikhail Svetlov. Russia likes to charge Americans much more than locals; locals paid $2,800-$3,350 each for the cruise. 

 Excluding international airfare, which I booked with OneTravel.com online, in the end (my daughter was booked to go with me but had to pull out, so there was a cruise fare credit, an air ticket cancel fee, etc.) I believe I paid about $4,600-plus for the cruise-tour; this included an $800 suite upgrade.

I had booked nearly six months in advance, but when I embarked the ship and saw how small the cabins were (my cabin was wall-to-wall bed), I asked about an upgrade. No one had reserved the two suites on the ship, numbers 200 and 201, so I paid an extra $800 in cash for suite 201 (they wanted a lot more). 

Suite 201 (the port side is where you want to be), with two rooms, big windows and a TV, was big, very nice and well worth the money. It was a delightful cruise.

The Russian people on board were nice. Except for some German and Swedish passengers with whom I could speak some English, I was the only English-speaking person on board. The crew also provided a daily program printed in English for me. The meals were buffets of Russian food.

The cruise on the Lena River was everything I wanted except when we had 3½ days of smoke from a massive Siberian forest fire. 

We made only four stops, mostly small villages. What made eight years of waiting for this cruise worthwhile was Lena Pillars Nature Park. Excellent! Beautiful! This park, with its huge stone monoliths soaring more than 600 feet into the sky along the riverbank, was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012.

It took the ship four days just to reach the pillars, but what a thrill! The Siberians have put a trail into a canyon plus stairs that go to points overlooking the pillars. It took me four hours, round trip, to do the hike. A Russian lady on crutches actually made her way up the trail. What gusto and will to see life! God bless her.

JIM DELMONTE

Honolulu, HI

ITN emailed a copy of the above account to American Express Company (200 Vesey St., New York, NY 10285) and, once Mr. Delmonte gave written permission for AmEx to share with ITN info about his experience, the company provided the following in a response.

Mr. Delmonte was traveling and wanted to use the Express Cash feature on his American Express charge card, which allows a card member to withdraw money from an ATM and which requires a PIN.

Mr. Delmonte had his wife call American Express to request the PIN for his account. We are not able to provide a PIN to anyone but the primary card member, and we requested to speak with Mr. Delmonte directly.

Once we were able to reach him directly, we attempted to verify his identity by asking him questions to authenticate the account. Out of protection for our card members, we ask several questions to authenticate any account and prevent fraud. Mr. Delmonte was not able to correctly answer his identification questions, so we weren’t able to provide his PIN.

At American Express, we do everything we can to protect our card members from fraud.

KIMBERLY LITT, Manager, Public Affairs, American Express Company