Originally Posted by bstreeter
Delta apparently never issued a ticket (for reasons I still don't understand since I never received any notice) and thus never charged my cc. One of the Delta agents suggested that the problem might have been with the security code on the back of the card
Sounds like a load of fertilizer. During the purchase process, your credit card is verified and checked for funds available. If that passes, the PNR is created and the record is sent to a queue for ticketing. At ticketing the funds are taken so the only issue could be if something changed on the card between the PNR and ticketing. I've had tickets get stuck and required a few calls to get them manually ticketed. As noted by Rob, I've also had PNR's ticket as late as a few days before a flight.