Double-charged by VA

[CPMaverick]

Hi all-

Recently I booked a round-trip ticket AU-NZ. As usual the AMEX 1.3% fee came as a separate charge to the ticket cost, but on the same day. Both posted with the same line "VIRGIN AUSTRALIA 994030 BIRDSVILLE."

The next day I received another charge in the same amount as the AMEX fee, but with a different line, "VIRGIN AUSTRALIA 992025 GAYNDAH".

All I could think is I was double-charged the AMEX fee. It's too random an amount to be anything else. And looking closer, the AMEX charge references the same PNR for both charges. I called VA, but they said the office in charge was closed, so I just disputed the charge online with AMEX. The next day they reported back that VA didn't respond to them and they are reversing the charge.

Pretty odd, but watch your statements! Some credit cards automatically let you know when you get double-charged, but since these statement lines had a different subject, it might not happen.

 

[oz_mark]

Sometimes I've had two Pending charges for the one flight, but only one ever gets to the confirmed charges.

I've never really understood how airlines do all these charges. My last Qantas ticket was billed by Qantas Catering...

 

[ozstamps]

VIRGIN BIRDSVILLE - that sounds pretty insane!

 

[RooFlyer]

Was recently reported on another thread that Virgin respond pretty nastily to cc charge backs - as in written threats to close the person's Velocity account, not withstanding that's not in their T& Cs ....

 

[CPMaverick]

Was recently reported on another thread that Virgin respond pretty nastily to cc charge backs - as in written threats to close the person's Velocity account, not withstanding that's not in their T& Cs ....

Was it in regards to fees or something else? I'd hope they wouldn't be that drastic over less than $5...

Looking at my online ticket summary, the total price charged IS equal to what I was charged. Ticket+fee+fee. However, each fee was 1.3%. So, I'm still unsure what is going on.

 

[Bagpuss]

Sometimes I've had two Pending charges for the one flight, but only one ever gets to the confirmed charges.

I've never really understood how airlines do all these charges. My last Qantas ticket was billed by Qantas Catering...

Yup I noticed when transactions are pending its not quite right, so have to wait until the charges are confirmed.

I too had "Qantas Catering" on a Qantas pending transaction, but changed when it was confirmed.

I'm unsure if it's to the way (apparently) with airlines payments go into a Trust Account on credit card transactions and the airline gets the money once you actually fly. (This may actually be due to an airline's credit rating thinking about it as I type.)

 

[theblank]

Was recently reported on another thread that Virgin respond pretty nastily to cc charge backs - as in written threats to close the person's Velocity account, not withstanding that's not in their T& Cs ....

No, Virgin did not make written threats to close an account.

 

[Andyc]

While transactions are pending, it's not uncommon to see two line items for the same charge. This is usually because the business is doing an "auth" and then a "charge".
For example, one purchase path can be:

1) $100 auth - checking that customer has $100 in their account for a transaciton. If approved, on to step 2.
2) Company enters sale into their system. If sucessful (ie. not sold out, no technical issues), on to step 3:
3) Charge card for $100

That $100 auth should disappear very quickly - it's not a real charge and the merchant doesn't hold the money - however some banks are quicker than others. From my experience as a merchant, I find that NZ banks seem to be particularly slow and NAB is very slow in Australia.
This can be a real pain for debit card holders.

Some businesses do that process with just a $1 auth - that is, they're checking your card works but not checking if you have sufficient funds.

 

[CPMaverick]

I'm not talking about pending charges.

 

[CPMaverick]

Just to follow-up, I flew this complete itinerary without any problems. Never heard from VA regarding the charge-back for the double CC fee.

Keep an eye on your statements everyone.