Originally Posted by
gohima
They are doing two separate transactions? I always thought restaurants and the like simply pre-authorized and then modified the amount so as to fit the tip. One fee, one transaction.
Either way, it makes no sense to pre-authorize something that is being purchased and can either not be given or taken back. If they cant charge, they just dont give you the merchandise (in this case a ticket). It would be like a cashier checking to make sure your card works before you pay for the groceries...
In the case of a restaurant, they should do an authorization for the amount of the meal, and then then should do a settlement against that authorization for the amount of the sale + the tip. It is still only 1 transaction. This is a special case that the card networks support specifically for restaurants or other businesses that have a legitimate need to construct transactions in this way.
In the case of UA, when they are processing a charge to purchase a ticket, they should just authorize and settle against the cost of the ticket. Doing a $1 authorization first makes no business sense. With all the money they're throwing away on authorization fees, maybe they could do a few less TOD's and then give me an upgrade once in a while.