irishguy28

It's probably just a matter of time.

(Or the transactions put through were so small you missed them!!)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ard-fraud.html
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/...pot/102425582/
https://www.businessinsider.nl/kmart...onal=true&r=US
https://www.eater.com/2017/4/26/1543...h-credit-cards
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/holi...hack-1.4079202

The infuriating this is that Amex often lock me out of actual transactions because they deem them suspicious. It was for this reason that I was unable to buy tickets for the KLM MD11 farewell flights! By the time you make contact and assure them of the legitimacy of the tranasaction, the seats were, of course, gone.

AlicorporateUK

Admittedly and as careless as it sounds, I've never really run through statements/transactions, unless I make a big purchase whilst abroad and want to double check the exchange rate applied, so you might be right actually.

G

Ditto

They got better at this, now you get an e-mail and you can immediately approve the "fraudalant" transaction, and then retry on the merchant website.
I never had issues with KLM website, they have the 'safekey' implemented but I always get from Amex that they've checked and there is not even a need to enter my password...

irishguy28

True, or rather you are presented with a challenge/Safekey.

But back in the "old days" (only a few years ago), the transaction would just fail with a request to contact Amex.

My issue with KLM wasn't with the KLM website, per se, but was with an attempted purchase via the (now defunct) https://md11farewellflight.klm.com/ microsite.

Ditto

I remember that , in 2014 I had this problem buying from Apple in the US (one could understand why they would tag a 2000$ purchase in a an online US shop for an NL resident as bogus) , luckily apple website had some sort of a "retry transaction" button I could use after talking to Amex

FWIW, I was never asked to type in anything for this Safekey, on any website whatsoever (unlike Mastercard SecureCode where I had to generate a password many times), all those "3-D Secure" authentications requires the merchant to actually implement it in their website, and many just don't care to do so.

irishguy28

When it first came out, I always had to type a password or interact in someway with the Safekey pop-up box; lately, in the payment process, it pops up, but seems to decide almost immediately that it is satisfied without any input from me, and return me back to the merchant for confirmation of the purchase.

lynxy

I've had to type on a few occasions a one-time password received by email and SMS when Amex SafeKey window appeared, although most of the time it indeed goes straight through

carnarvon

You have a point. I had forgotten this stupid habit some airlines have.

If the traveller shows up at check in, how can he claim the transaction was fraudulent?

The only case where verification can be understood is if the ticket was bought shortly before the flight and the traveller is not the card holder.

They however ask for the CC at check in (or have some procedure for verification), not refuse the transaction.

For what is is worth, neither AF nor KL are generally known to refuse CC payments especially if the traveller is the CC holder!

irishguy28

Which is why there may be more to this story than what we have been told, or what the OP knows.

(Just because the OP was told it was to prevent credit card fraud does not mean that this is the reason they were required to visit an airport ticketing office. We know that this is standard practice for FB redemptions that FB, for whatever reason, deem to be suspect)

brunos

Agreed

TProphet

I have been booking a lot of award travel with Flying Blue lately, for a lot of different folks, and haven't been asked to ticket at the airport.

A typical scenario will be to open a new Flying Blue account, hook it up to a Chase, Amex or Citi account, and transfer in the points. Then I'll try to book the award and it'll fail with a technical error. However, if I call in, I have been successful. Through trial and error, this seems to be the "allowed" criteria for phone booking:

- I always call immediately after transferring in the points, where they show available on the Web site but the Web site fails to book.
- I reference that there is a "technical error" message on the Web site to get the phone booking fee waived.
- The trip is more than 7 days in advance. One agent flat-out told me that it wasn't possible to book a less than 7 day advance purchase over the phone "when there is a technical error." I didn't pursue the matter further because I hadn't done a points transfer first, and booked through Delta instead (even though it cost slightly more points).
- The Flying Blue account holder is traveling on the itinerary (it's OK to book for more than one person, but the Flying Blue account holder has to be one of them).
- The payment card used for taxes/fees is in the name of the Flying Blue account holder. Not OK to use a company card, spouse's card, etc.

So far, so good. Of course, Flying Blue is more art than science, but I'm not afraid of using the program given the above criteria.

irishguy28

Why, typically, do you open a new account each time?

rrgg

Is there still an issue ticketing from a new Flying Blue account? This last post is more than a year old. Should I expect to have to call to ticket or even visit the airport to ticket?

I have a brand new Flying Blue account, because my old one was deleted probably due to inactivity. I would like to transfer Chase UR and ticket a one way for 2 passengers including myself, using my own credit card. It's actually a DL flight, but oddly the DL site doesn't price it right. It shows up on the AF and AZ sites, along with ExpertFlyer. I don't want my miles to get stuck with AF and be unable to ticket anything. Thanks.

glennhaak

Call first, there have been multiple reports of people opening a new flying blue account, and having it closed/frozen when they immediately transfer points into the new account.

rrgg

When you say, "call first," I think you mean to call before transferring my points and they will somehow validate the flying blue account. Or do you mean something else, such as to ticket by phone? Thank you.