AC.com credit card problems
 

Well I won't go so far to call this a rant but it was a real waste of time.

I had booked a flight leaving next week to SNA and returning via LAX. I wanted to change some flight times and went to the "my booking" section, loaded the booking and made the requisite changes. So far so good.

As a tango plus fare I had $60 plus GST in change fees to cover. Now the problems start.

My first credit card won't work (for some reason, the booking change screen won't default to the card in your profile). My second card (another Visa), also won't work. Tried my third and last card (MBNA Starwood MC), and the same, kaput.

I placed a call to tech. support. What a joy. :rolleyes:

To quote:
Did you enter the card right? Try it again with no spaces (I didn't put any spaces in it in the first place!). Try your name in all lower cases with no spaces etc.etc. I humour her and try it another 3 times. Nothing.

The lady on the phone then says, I'll have to take your information and transfer you to an AC agent to book it over the phone (after which she cut's me off). :mad:

I call back AC reservations directly and after being on hold for 5 minutes (yep, Parnel, you're right, the average hold time is 5 minutes :D ), I get an agent who, while understandable about my predicament, proceeds to tell me that she has to charge me $10 for doing a booking change over the phone!

I was defeated and gave in. After another 5 minutes it was done. However, that was 90 minutes of my life I won't have again :( :)

Anyone else ever had a problem with AC.com taking their credit card?

I booked a flight to pit a week or two ago on ac.com.

There was some sort of error on the final confirmation screen. Kept telling me that the CC info was wrong. I called the website support line and was told to select an alternate CC option, which opened up a bunch of fields (like name, card type, card number, expiry, etc). I filled in the info and the booking worked.

Just now I logged onto my AC.com account and checked the CC info. It's exactly as is should be. Type, number, expiry, etc. So I don't know why the info that's on-file doesn't work but manually entering the same info did work.

I've been having exactly the same problem with my "default" credit card information. Any time I try to use it, I get kicked out. When I enter the info as an alternate card, it goes throgu no problem (and yes I have verified my credit card info on file and it is correct).

I've never had a card acceptance problem on aircanada.com, but then again, I don't maintain credit card profiles online if I don't have to, and AC's website is no exception. I have no default credit card filed with them.

I memorize all my credit card and bank card information so that it's not much of a chore to re-enter the information manually each time I need to use it. You could say that the digital age has been good exercise for my memory!

I tried three times to buy a flight wallet about 7-10 days ago and experienced similar problems to those described above. I gave up. First flight isn't for another 10 days. I'll try again tomorrow.
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13F

I have not had a CC problem, but in another case the flights displayed would not book and the 'No-Help' desk transferred me to Res. The Res agent even found out what the problem was with the website that would not alow me to book the flights, but still charged me for the telephone call. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I can't pay with my default credit card info and the Help Desk was no help. Changed the card and bookings were done. Default card problem: Kept telling me the address was wrong!!! Since I have lived at the same address for 20+ years I was sure I was right :D

I think there is a programming error that needs fixing here so I hope our lurkers are doing something about it on Monday.

SUE THEM!! SUE THEM!! You could have signed a mutlimillions dollars deal in those 90 minutes!! :D :D ;)

I wish our lurkers would do something about that woman on the "help" desk. I've had her several times and she has the same ridiculous suggestion each time: enter my name in all lower case with no spaces. As if that could possibly work! Sometimes she also wants me to redo my billing address, phone number and so on with the same "no spaces" treatment. I go along with her, it doesn't work, and I tell her she is to transfer me to res but ensure the fee is waived. Of course I could earn the 5 (now 10) dollars in the time it takes to make her arrange for it to be waived; my plan is that a bean counter will notice the "freebie" phone reservations as a result of web site and tech support problems, and apply pressure to make it better.

I get mad every time I use a web site that won't let me put spaces in my credit card. It is ONE LINE OF CODE to remove the spaces that were entered before continuing to process . All the ecommerce work I do lets people enter spaces. It helps them be confident they entered the number correctly. This "computers before people" attitude permeates the entire AC web site and won't change unless the vendor changes, imo. But I had better not get started on that...

Can passport # be part of AC on-line profile?
 

Yes, I was told exactly the same thing about all capitol letters in the name (which I didn't have anyways).

I bet you anything that this problem with the CC mechanism on the web site has to do with the new(er) US rules on supplying passenger info in advance of pending flights. Maybe the level of information coordination and tranfer isin't working.

By the way, when I did the ticket booking thing on-line, there was at some point an option where I could enter my passport number. I passed on that because I didn't know what it was at the time. Later, when looking at my AC online profile, there seems to be no place to enter the Passport number (CDN passport I'm talking about).

Can AC keep your passport number as part of your profile?

I'm expecting that when I do the kiosk checkin that it will ask me to type it in. I'd rather it would just already be part of my booking and stay with my profile.

[QUOTE=Joe Airman]
Yes when you book an international flt and it asks for you passport info it will automatically store it for you IIRC. At least every time I book now its there;you still have to open up the box but its always there.

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Yes it will unless the info has already been given on line.

Will the Passport number stay in your file after expiration?Do you personally need to update the file?

Yup, the old number stays in and no one notices. I completed two transborder trips before I noticed on the third one that the number was for my expired passport.

I had the same problem with a cc about a month ago. Same ridiculous suggestions - lower case, etc. Total waste of time. In the end I got transferred to reservations and I had to pay the fee as well.

Maybe AC could take a page from Starwood's book and give you bonus points when their website isn't able to process an online reservation.