Dear SWISS Lurker: Temporarily doubling the bill when paying with credit card

Old Nov 15, 2016, 6:58 am
  #1  
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Thumbs down Dear SWISS Lurker: Temporarily doubling the bill when paying with credit card

I noticed anomalies when booking on www.swiss.com and paying with a Swiss issued credit card in EUR currency in the past. The correct amount of the tickets purchased was immediately reserved and deduced from my credit limit. After the amount was booked, the reserved amount still showed, diminishing my credit limit the double it should.

This time I wanted to know exactly: Booked tickets with my favorite airline on Saturday 12 November and the amount matching the tickets issued showed immediately as reserved. Today 15 November the same amount was booked with the reserved amount still showing on my online statement.

As a result of this (as the amounts are high) I am over my credit limit .

I will keep you posted on how long this status will last. In all cases it is unacceptable that LX after booking the correct amount did not duly cancel the reserved one. I guess they are just counting on it that it drops out by itself. No drama in my case as I am aware of the problem, but still unacceptable. SQ manages to process bookings correctly in comparison.
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Old Nov 22, 2016, 1:49 am
  #2  
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Thumbs down Dear SWISS lurker, questionable business practice when handling credit cards

Originally Posted by behuman
I will keep you posted on how long this status will last.
Today, 10 days after ticket purchase, the "reserved" amount removed possibly itself from my credit card account.

This means, because LX not canceling the reservation after cashing the fare, I have been out of pocket by nearly EUR 9000 for seven days.

The credit card company clearly stated that they can do nothing as the fare has been charged with a separate authorization and that they can not cancel the previous funds reservation unless permitted by LX.

@:-) It would be really nice if ticket purchases on the LX website could be paid with bank transfer even if this would mean a small delay in issuing them. @:-) This would also eliminate the usage of credit cards, as unlikely in the US and other countries, credit card companies charge outrageous fees on foreign currency exchange and handling fees. Possibly nothing worse than Swiss (country) credit cards.

You can be the best airline (really mean it) and have appalling procedures when handling payments .
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Old Nov 22, 2016, 2:53 am
  #3  
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Dear behuman,

Please accept my sincere apologies for the inconveniences you encountered - and thank you for your kind words. I am glad to hear you enjoy flying with us :-)

I was in touch regarding this topic with the respective departments and there are indeed a few cases where this problem can occur. It is mostly triggered by minor currency fluctuations that cause the respective amounts (authorized and charged) to deviate slightly. If this happens, the authorization is not waived automatically.

We are trying our best to find a solution to the problem. I would recommend contacting one of our service centers and take up the issue with one of our agents should this occur again. They can take up the case and expedite waiving the blocked amount.

Best regards from ZRH,
Nick
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Old Nov 22, 2016, 3:17 am
  #4  
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Originally Posted by SwissInternationalAirLines
Dear behuman,

Please accept my sincere apologies for the inconveniences you encountered - and thank you for your kind words. I am glad to hear you enjoy flying with us :-)

I was in touch regarding this topic with the respective departments and there are indeed a few cases where this problem can occur. It is mostly triggered by minor currency fluctuations that cause the respective amounts (authorized and charged) to deviate slightly. If this happens, the authorization is not waived automatically.

We are trying our best to find a solution to the problem. I would recommend contacting one of our service centers and take up the issue with one of our agents should this occur again. They can take up the case and expedite waiving the blocked amount.

Best regards from ZRH,
Nick
As always, thank you Nick! The explanation with the "currency fluctuations" is plausible - it was a very good fare in THB converted to a EUR credit card. (As Nick knows my name he could easily check that). Happy that those things happen only in such cases and not with LX guests buying their tickets at their home base in their home currency.

Incident explained and closed. At least one knows to have to be rich (or have a solid credit limit like me) booking with LX . Also other FTalkers might wish to be aware of that.
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Old Nov 25, 2016, 7:32 am
  #5  
mbr
 
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Unfortunately I had similar experiences, not only with reservations but even with real charges on the CC. Once last year when LX in HKG did issue a ticket for me wrongly they cancelled it and made a new one. That lead to another charge of the same amount and the credit came back only about 10 days later. I even called the service center asking to credit back the amount but that did not speed it up at all.
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Old Nov 25, 2016, 6:21 pm
  #6  
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Lightbulb other payment channels when booking online

Originally Posted by mbr
That lead to another charge of the same amount and the credit came back only about 10 days later. I even called the service center asking to credit back the amount but that did not speed it up at all.
It's not LX, but the clearing process within the credit card companies. This said, Swiss (the country) credit cards are a pain as soon as foreign currency and "reservations" of amounts are involved.

Why LX does not offer other payment channels for booking online. For Swiss (the country) based customers the set up of a LSV (direct debit) profile would be a solution. This is in general very quick and cost efficient.

I for myself am increasingly using real time bank transfers (unfortunately not possible with LX) where I get better currency exchange rates and where there is just a small charge instead of 1.75 to 2.5 % handling fee charged when paying in foreign currency in addition to the already bad exchange rate.

Credit cards as we know them in Switzerland are a huge scam and better used only for small amounts and in the currency associated to them.
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Old Nov 25, 2016, 7:36 pm
  #7  
 
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Originally Posted by behuman
..Booked tickets with my favorite airline on Saturday 12 November and the amount matching the tickets issued showed immediately as reserved...
So what is your favourite airline as opposed to LX?
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Old Nov 25, 2016, 11:01 pm
  #8  
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Originally Posted by weero
So what is your favourite airline as opposed to LX?
The one quoted above, LX, of course .
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Old Nov 26, 2016, 10:40 pm
  #9  
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The same just happened to me. Unfortunately, it were 6 tickets for summer California vacation, so my card is a bit overdrawn.
Waiting now for the 15th day since the authorizations have been made to see whether CC hold is going to be released.
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Old Nov 28, 2016, 5:54 am
  #10  
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Originally Posted by PeS
Waiting now for the 15th day since the authorizations have been made to see whether CC hold is going to be released.
It's "only" 10 days since the INITIAL reservation of the amount and yes, it will be released for sure.
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Old Nov 28, 2016, 10:05 am
  #11  
 
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Refund Issue

Dear Swiss Lurker

I have a similar problem which seems to be related to your online payment processing provider.

Your refunds team in Basel has e-mailed confirmation that they have issued a refund. However the money never arrived in my postal-account.

After waiting several week I had a discussion with your team in Basel it turns out that they instructed they payment - however your "bank" or "payment processor" has an issue processing refunds for yellow-net payments before a certain date.

Your team in Basel says it is not "their fault" and the guys from Postfinance it is not "their fault" either.

I tried to get in touch with your accounting department by e-mail. Needless to say that only answer I got is "file number".

I should be grateful if you could provide any guidance on next steps...

(And just to rember: there companies who can get this right: Last time an Amazon refund went wrong the e-mail was answered within one hour and the money in my account two days later...
With Swiss I have filed my claim 3 months ago and my money seems to be lost in translation...)
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Old Dec 4, 2016, 11:47 am
  #12  
Moderator: Hilton Honors, Practical Travel Safety Issues & San Francisco
 
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I hope this is not happening to me - slightly different issue?

I paid for two C tix through Amex travel - part points and part cash - 5 days ago and the charge does not yet show on my amex account as even pending. I called Amex and they said the charge shows on their end as approved , the money has been sent to LX, they have acknowledged receipt, but have not yet "processed" the payment. I have ticket numbers and the flights with seat assignments show on the LX site. Is there anything I should do or worry about?
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Old Dec 4, 2016, 11:58 am
  #13  
 
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Originally Posted by squeakr
I paid for two C tix through Amex travel - part points and part cash - 5 days ago and the charge does not yet show on my amex account as even pending. I called Amex and they said the charge shows on their end as approved , the money has been sent to LX, they have acknowledged receipt, but have not yet "processed" the payment. I have ticket numbers and the flights with seat assignments show on the LX site. Is there anything I should do or worry about?
No.
I once did book on a Tuesday, took my flight on Friday. Payment was visible on my CC account only on Monday.
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Old Dec 4, 2016, 12:01 pm
  #14  
 
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At time of booking Swiss.com makes an authorization on the credit card and after 24h the settlement is sent. When the system can't match the authorization with the settlement due to small differences in transaction amount (in CHF) a new authorizations is made and the transaction is immediately posted. You either need to wait 10 days until the first authorization is cleared from the system or asking swiss to void the authorization based on the authorization code. Second option sometimes do not work either. Usually credit card company policies do not allow to delete authorization by them self as in this case, there are taking the risk.

It is a bit tricky if you have just an available balance for one transaction and not both, this leads to the issue that the transaction after 24h is rejected. This behavior is generally a topic of your cc issues an not swiss.com specific, I had it a couple of times with SQ as well.
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Old Dec 4, 2016, 12:16 pm
  #15  
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Originally Posted by drivechip
At time of booking Swiss.com makes an authorization on the credit card and after 24h the settlement is sent. When the system can't match the authorization with the settlement due to small differences in transaction amount (in CHF) a new authorizations is made and the transaction is immediately posted. You either need to wait 10 days until the first authorization is cleared from the system or asking swiss to void the authorization based on the authorization code. Second option sometimes do not work either. Usually credit card company policies do not allow to delete authorization by them self as in this case, there are taking the risk.

It is a bit tricky if you have just an available balance for one transaction and not both, this leads to the issue that the transaction after 24h is rejected. This behavior is generally a topic of your cc issues an not swiss.com specific, I had it a couple of times with SQ as well.
I am not sure what you are saying.
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