So I'm a Diamond and I know my way around both ticket purchases and most complex ticketing concepts. I avoid OTA's like the plague.

But this week while trying to book a reservation for 9 family members back from an upcoming cruise MCO-LGA-BUF, I found a fare showing on FlightHub for $110. Delta.com was showing $144. I'm assuming FlightHub was not looking at msl or something but the cost savings x 9 tickets was intriguing and as a simple domestic ticket, I thought I could handle FlightHub's issues, esp since the travel is next month and schedule changes are unlikely at this point. So I enter the names and credit card info and it thinks for a while and errors out saying the price has increased to $489 per person. It asks if I want to accept the new price and return to the checkout screen. I roll my eyes and close the browser tab.

I then go over to delta.com to buy the tickets. I tried several times at delta.com but upon payment it fails with a generic error. I call into the Diamond desk and even the agent has a hard time issueing the tickets. She eventually forces the tickets through and I think I'm done.

4 hours pass and I get a strange email from FlightHub saying my tickets have now been issued and it gives me a receipt and a Delta PNR. I look at the receipt and see that they have charged my AMEX $4401!!! I have a slight heart attack because 1) I did not proceed to buy these tickets and 2) I know dealing with FlightHub will be a disaster.

So I call FlightHub up and sure enough they claim that I clicked to approve the increase in price. They say they have a screenshot of my browser with me clicking. (I'm in IT...of course I know this is complete garbage...a website cannot "see" my computer screen). The antics continue as follows:
1) They state that they do not honor Delta's 24-hour risk free cancellation unless I opted in at time of purchase and pay $19 per ticket for this "benefit"
2) They do offer 4 hour grace period to cancel tickets for free. I am apparently 4 hours and 12 minutes past the ticketing time. There is no exception or consideration.
3) I can pay a penalty fee of $75 per ticket (remember I have 9 tickets) to cancel within 24 hours. After 24 hours I am stuck with the tickets.
4) There is no supervisor or manager. They can fill out a form to have a manager contact me in 48-72 hours. The agent states that it is useless to wait for them as it will be beyond the 24 hours and they will do nothing.
5) I ask for them to mail me proof (his alleged "screenshot of my browser") of my purchase of the increased tickets. He says he cannot do this. He can only offer this info to AMEX if I choose to dispute the charge.
6) In a last ditch effort to think of a way out, I ask him if I paid FlightHub or Delta. He states I paid FlightHub and FlightHub paid Delta. Since its domestic I question this. I then ask him a bit of a trick question..."Did the payment to though the GDS or your own payment system?" He seems suprised I know what a GDS is and he sort of stumbles out that "the payment went through the GDS". I pray that is true and hang up on him.

I log into AMEX and see the pending charge. Also...to my relief, the payment vendor in AMEX shows as "Delta Air Lines Inc."

I call the Delta Diamond line and they immediately agree to transfer me to Ticketing Support. Shockingly it was only a 10 minute hold. A guy with a thick southern drawl answers. I first read him BOTH DL pnrs and explain the situation and ask if there is any way he can take control of the PNR from FlightHub and cancel it. He totally agrees without any hesitation. The only caveat he explains is that if it was a DL RFC, the credit card charge would be cancelled and it would never post to my AMEX. In this case, he took control of the FH record and just issued a refund, so the $$ did post to my Amex and the next day showed as a full refund.

I fully understand the lunacy of FlightHubs cancellation policies and as much as they are fleecing people, I was aware of them. What really got me with this situation is that I NEVER approved the new price. I also think it was crazy that FB only issued the tickets 4 hours later after I closed the browser. It makes me scared to death to ever go to their website and enter a credit card number there again.

Anyhoo...yeah I know better, please raz me for even giving FH a second thought to begin with! But in all honestly, hopefully this can be a tale for others in the future that Delta can be helpful with issues with some of these unethical OTA's fraudulent practices. I'm so glad I didn't have to fight this with AMEX.