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A payment method is a real card on file (held securely by Stripe). It is used for exactly one thing: paying for flight bookings. A flight never mints a virtual card — the fare (plus the service fee) is charged to your saved payment method when the booking is placed. Payment methods do not fund virtual cards or your wallet. Virtual cards draw on your wallet balance, and the wallet is topped up with Apple Pay or Google Pay via fund_wallet (CLI: agent-cards wallet fund) — see the Quickstart.

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How flight payment works

When you book a flight, AgentCard places a hold on your default payment method for the fare + service fee, books the ticket, then captures the hold. If you have no saved payment method, the booking is refused with payment_method_required before any money moves.

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Manage your methods

agent-cards payment-method setup        # save a method via Stripe
agent-cards payment-method list         # list methods, marks the default
agent-cards payment-method default <id> # set the default
agent-cards payment-method remove --id <id>
The default payment method is the one charged when you book a flight. See the CLI details in Payment Methods (CLI).

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Common error

If a flight booking returns payment_method_required, you have no saved method yet — run setup_payment_method (or agent-cards payment-method setup) first. Card creation never needs a payment method — if create_card reports a shortfall, fund your wallet instead (fund_wallet).