24left

According to AC, the problem started June 5 and from various reports, people who bought tickets on AC.com from the 5th to at the very least the 8th, were affected. In some cases, the purchases never even appeared in "pending".

I'll assume that AC will sort this out eventually. However, it will not be pretty if any of those who had actual tickets which showed payment and the cc#, as well as screen shots of their flights and PNR in Manage Bookings, end up with a ticket cancelled by AC and no notification.

Stranger

Interesting. I bought two tickets (single file) during that period. Guess what, they don't show up in my CC account...

1Newflyer

I just changed a return leg of my ticket. Initially, the change fee could not be processed via CIBC card. Later I was informed the card's system rejected the transaction as possibly fraudulent. Received an alert from the issuer. I understood CIBC is a partner of Aeroplan and the agent was using the secured connection I was told. Luckily I had another card to use to get me on the inbound leg as outbound has been completed. I particularly wanted the CIBC AP Visa to be used for insurance purposes as the original ticked was charged to. Anyone knows if the insurance still holds even when a part of e-ticket goes through a different card?

In my case the charges were shown on the card before the ticket was issued.

Another question is the recalculation of taxes. An agent said that they need to charge the new taxes and a refund of taxes under the original ticket issued will be processed separately and refunded accordingly. I see no refund on the card yet but it might be at the same time as new charges actually go through the account. What I see now is the authorizations still. Any idea when the refund should show up?

Comparing segments on new changed ticket and the original, I expected a reduction, yet it costs me an additional $30 or so. Oh well, at least I have a way to come back . It took me 2 days with agents to accomplish this taks not counting my own time before that to find the availability. First attempt, the agent took my routing, confirmed availability and after 2 hours came back saying that the system would not issue the tickets on segments operated by LX and OS. Was told to call back later on and the following day a different agent did not see my routing in their notes nor could confirm the flap the previous day with the system nor help me with the return. On the third attempt with new simpler routing worked out by myself, successfully have a ticket to come home with. ....... positive thinking until I land at the origin. lol.

Oxnardjan

Question? I bought 4 tickets for AC round trip from LAX to YVR two weeks ago. I did buy through a 3rd party (kayak) if that makes a difference. I put the charge on our Visa card and it is still pending after 2 weeks. I called Visa and said they cleared the charge they say that it is Air Canada has not pushed the charge through. I called AC and the Customer Service person "Franco" stated that the reservation is there, that the seat fee paid is there too. He doesn't know why AC hasn't processed the fare through Visa, possibly computer issues with AC. Is this unusual to have a pending charge for 2 weeks? I don't want AC to "lose" our reservation because we got great fares. Thank for any insight.

SparseFlyer

Did you change the routing with AE or AC?

1Newflyer

If you are asking me, its an Award ticket and changes are made by AE.

24left

So it seems that there are THREE possibly related ongoing problems (that we are aware of), that are affecting purchases:
1. the fraud prevention side where some cards are being rejected prior to purchase - based on 1Newflyer's experience
2. already purchased tickets being cancelled by Air Canada - and customers not being notified
3. Tickets purchased on AC.com but not billed to the purchaser's credit cards (this one may have a defined time window of dates)

In this case above, why would a card that was used for a prior ticket purchase now be rejected by the bank and thus AC etc could not issue the ticket with that cc?

As for your insurance question, I would check the T&C on your card. Some like AMEX don't cover Aeorplan tickets at all. Others like some Visa cards etc do, but with specific limits etc.


I am curious why when agents say they will put notes on a booking and one calls back to try and finish or change flights, the second agent claims there is no record of the notes for the first call.

I would assume all calls are recorded. If not, then the notes become very important in fixing or changing a ticket/booking.

If yes, then a supervisor should get that recording and play it back to get the missing information.

As for the availability, phantom maybe? Or perhaps they were available, then later on, not available.

I am not sure how tax refunds work when a ticket is changed.

imverge

Here's my situation:

June 7:

- Called AP to change a booking which resulted in an additional $300 in taxes and fees. For the change fee, I entered my credit card info. (different credit card than what I used to pay taxes and fees) However, the agent said they had my original card number that I used to pay the original taxes and fees and that the additional $300 would be applied to that card.

June 9

- AP change fee posted
- $13 refund from AC posted to the original CC used

June 16

- Received schedule change notice from AP and one of the flights I changed to was cancelled. I called AP and they re-routed me with no additional fees collected.

As of today... I still have not been charged the additional $300. I'm hoping since the booking was changed due to a schedule change the system will not charge me the original $300.

Other thing to note: When I look up my rewards on AP website. My booking is confirmed and the new ticket number is attached however, the details of taxes and fees are still showing the original ticket.

Oxnardjan

I posted elsewhere in the thread. I did book through a 3rd party, AC accepted the charge and my reservation is still showing. The charge has been pending for 2 weeks now.....I don't want to be cancelled.

24left

I sent you a PM before you posted.

Oxnardjan

Yours is the first PM I have received 24left, you are the best, thanks for the advice. AC states all is well, but I am not trusting them too much. I will follow your advice and take screen shots of the reservation. I did email AC last night, hopefully they will respond. I love reading and learning from all of the wise and seasoned fliers here on FT. Thanks again.

seks

Received my $17500 credit limit AMEX SPG card on the 13th. Called in to AC on that same day to make a booking and charged it to the CC. For the few days after I made the booking, the charge was sitting in the Pending column.

I checked today, the charge is not in the Posted or Pending. 1st statement not generated yet. Credit limit left still at $14119 (the booking is the only thing I have charged to this CC, nothing else).

Booking reference # still valid on AC website.

Task Force DL

Hi Folks,

Somewhat new to AC here...

I purchased a J ticket LHR-YYZ on a US AMEX card on Jul 9. Of course, because the trip was ex-LHR, the fare was quoted and charged in GBP. I received a confirmation from AC (and even just last week, received a minor schedule change email).

Here is the thing - The charge has not yet hit my AMEX card. I have never seen an airline ticket charge take more than a couple of days. Is this normal? I tried calling in but the wait time was comically long...

TFD

24left

Welcome to AC FT. (I assume you mean June 9. As such, the purchase date falls into the window mentioned upthread)

Including your thread, 4 different ones have been started on the same issue and related ones, and have been merged into this thread.

Might be worth 5 minutes of your times to read through this thread. You'll understand that AC has an issue. It will get resolved eventually. Follow the usual advice offered here or just screen shot everything, keep your ticket handy, check your cc to see if anything shows up in Pending Transactions or actual ones. Go to Manage Bookings and screen shot there as well - whatever makes you happy. There are a number of AC documents that will show that the booking is confirmed and lists part of your cc number.

My only concern would be for those who have all of the above, yet discover their tickets were cancelled because AC did not receive payment because AC did not bill the cc. But let's worry about that later.

Task Force DL

(Yes I meant Jun 9 - Apologies for the typo). Super helpful - My post was merged into this thread and thanks for the info.

TFD