Invalid CC info Ticket Payment Loophole on AA.com closed

 
Old May 23, 2007, 3:19 pm
  #1  
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Invalid CC info Ticket Payment Loophole on AA.com closed

Like most other FTers, I charge everything I can in my program's (AA, MR, SPG) credit cards. I pay off my Citibank AA card about 4 or 5 times a month, so it spends a good amount of time at 2x its limit, however, I make sure to use it for my AA.com purchases to get bonus miles.

What to do if you *have* to buy tickets today but that AA Citi card won't have space until tomorrow?

Up until very recently there was a loophole on AA.com that would allow you to put a ticket on hold, essentially, until the day of departure. I flew every single time I did this, but it was also a good way to hedge on change fees if you were buying non-refundable tickets (Agent: "Oh, this isn't even ticketed!!! Let me make you a new one."). I never posted because (1) I thought AA would close the loophole and (2) I thought people would abuse it, using it as a sort of perma-hold if they didn't know if they were traveling or not.

Here is how it works:

1.) Pick a flight
2.) Place flight on hold
3.) (+24hrs) Purchase the flight
4.) When inputting your card, use the wrong expiration or CVV2 (CVV2 was only collected after a revision maybe 1 year ago or so).

AA runs credit cars a few hours after submission on the website. You can see that the status changes to "Purchased" after you submit and a few hours later to "Ticketed". During this time, your card is actually charged. If it declines, AA will try to reach you by telephone. If you ignore these calls, at least for EXPs (I got this to work for 2 other people), they will leave the reservation "Purchased" until you either call in or check in. At that time, you must pay.

Last weekend I bought about $4k worth of Flights for June. That killed the Citi card. I tried the wrong expiration date/Cvv2 trick, but AA rejected the card right away. I thought, oh well, I'll just wait until it maxes out and then make up the rest later by calling in.

I made a payment on Monday. Tuesday at 4am, AA charged my card (I was actually going to make good on the tickets after I hawked any reimburseable expenses to be picked up early this week for more miles for me. ). It appears that AA is both preauthorizing cars for $1 now *AND* continuing to charge the card until they get payment.

I don't know how many people knew about this loophole, but I sure as heck would imagine nobody was talking about it. Regardless, it is gone now.
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Old May 23, 2007, 3:30 pm
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An option...

I don't know anything about the loophole discussed.

However, at least with respect to your credit card, you could ask for a credit line increase and/or prepay money on your credit card so that the transaction will go through when processed.

In addition, I have spoken with AA CS and requested an additional day on hold for a flight and have been given it. If you have an international flight on hold for a longer period, AA CS will see if the ticket can be rebooked at the same rate and will rebook the ticket for you to provide you with additional time to purchase.

ZakkW
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Old May 23, 2007, 3:30 pm
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I was not aware of this loophole. By the way, since you spend so much money on your card, have you considered asking citibank for a credit limit increase? This would also help you credit score because it would show low utilization.
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Old May 23, 2007, 3:35 pm
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Originally Posted by DillMan
I don't know how many people knew about this loophole, but I sure as heck would imagine nobody was talking about it. Regardless, it is gone now.
I had no idea about this "loophole," but I can't imagine going to this much trouble over a credit card. I agree with the other posters, why not get your credit limit increased to 50 or 100k and forget about this elaborate dog show and just pay it all off once at the end of each month?
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Old May 23, 2007, 3:36 pm
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I knew this loophole existed, though never really used it to my benefit since I didn't want to abuse it and end up on some blacklist and I couldn't predict which of my reservations would have to be changed later. Also my fear of forgetting about it, then arriving at the airport without a ticket also stopped me from using it.
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Old May 23, 2007, 3:44 pm
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I don't think it's something Citi did just for me..... I thought that ALL Citibank Aadvantage cards now have the "no pre-set spending limit" feature; feel free to go over your limit, just pay it back to under your limit when the next bill comes due. Or am I maybe exposing a different loophole?
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Old May 23, 2007, 3:57 pm
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Originally Posted by justind
I don't think it's something Citi did just for me..... I thought that ALL Citibank Aadvantage cards now have the "no pre-set spending limit" feature; feel free to go over your limit, just pay it back to under your limit when the next bill comes due. Or am I maybe exposing a different loophole?
The 'loophole' the OP is describing is something totally different. In the past, if AA couldn't process your credit card (e.g. incorrect info or over the limit), then your ticket would remain in 'purchased' status until you either correct the info or tell them to retry the method of payment. They would not cancel the reservation unless you told them to do so. However, since no money had changed hands yet, you could still make changes as if it was a reservation on hold.

It just so happens that the OP was using an AA City credit card, but it would work for any credit card.
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Old May 23, 2007, 6:01 pm
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Chiseling has reached an all time low here. Good for AA.
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Old May 23, 2007, 6:07 pm
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Originally Posted by DillMan

4.) When inputting your card, use the wrong expiration or CVV2 (CVV2 was only collected after a revision maybe 1 year ago or so).
Hmm, what some might call a loophole could also be called fraud - which may well explain why no one has posted this "loophole" before.
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Old May 23, 2007, 7:00 pm
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And its the same result as you put it on hold, call AA you pay a part with a compensation voucher and the status changes to "Purchased" !

When you have backed up your CC, call again and tell them you dont use the voucher this time and they should charge everything to your CC ^
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Old May 23, 2007, 7:13 pm
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I always thought that if you charge more than your credit limit in a month, you would get dinged with the OTL fee

eg.. 5000 limit, make a payment of 7000, hence a 2000 credit... however you do not have a 7000 credit limit for this particular month.. you still can only charge 5000 this month without going over the limit even though you would only owe 3000 on your statement.. is that a correct statement
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Old May 23, 2007, 8:06 pm
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with both my AA Citi Platinum & AA Citi business there is not preset limit, but there is credit limit. I regularly go over the credit limit during the month, but pay off in full before the due date. No charges have ever been posted. The first time I was going to go over the limit, I called to increase the credit limit, but the rep told me there is no preset limit, and since I pay the balance in full always there is no need to increase the limit.
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Old May 23, 2007, 8:26 pm
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Originally Posted by TrojanHorse
I always thought that if you charge more than your credit limit in a month, you would get dinged with the OTL fee
My experience has been that card companies have limits as it relates to the maximum you can owe them, not the maximum you can charge. Put another way, if payments are made they are happy for you to charge more.
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Old May 23, 2007, 9:57 pm
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Originally Posted by TheDudeAbides
I had no idea about this "loophole," but I can't imagine going to this much trouble over a credit card. I agree with the other posters, why not get your credit limit increased to 50 or 100k and forget about this elaborate dog show and just pay it all off once at the end of each month?
Me thinks if the credit score/history was there to get that kind of limit, one wouldn't have to play these games in the first place. Someone tyring to game the system in this way is proably not a good credit risk and Citi is smart enough to figure this out.

Somone charging 4K a month in airfare but worrying about credit limit is never a good sign.

Last edited by grahampros; May 23, 2007 at 10:58 pm
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Old May 23, 2007, 10:00 pm
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Yes. This happened to me about a year ago. I thought I had purchased a ticket on AA.com. When I called to cancel and reschedule the Agent informed me it had never actually been purchased and so I avoided the 100$ change fee.

But it was a legitimate error on my part. It was not intentional.

In this case, I think it is unfair to intentionally enter erroneous cc information into the AA system.

Too bad people have to game the system and force AA's hand on this issue.
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