AA reservation cancelled due to "failed payment"
 

I put an AA ticket on hold using AA.com. The next day, I paid for my ticket using a combination of gift card+credit card.

Two weeks later, I go to check on my reservation. It's marked as "Cancelled." I contact AA. They say my reservation was cancelled because my payment failed, that they emailed me about this, and I need to buy a new ticket (now $200 more).

I never received such an email. The balance of my gift card is $0.

This seems insane to me. First, since when can regular users "buy" a ticket where payment isn't verified at purchase? IME, the system kicks you back immediately if payment fails. Second, if payment failed, why is my gift card at $0? Where'd the $$$ go? Third, impossible to prove, but they never emailed me about this like they claim.

I'm at a loss. Any ideas from those experience with AA on what to do here? Any specific phone line or trigger words I can use talking to an agent to get this escalated?

Did the charge go through your credit card? If not, why not? Did AA attempt to get an authorization (for the right amount, on the day you purchased the ticket)?

Upon searching, it did not. No clue why not. I bought another ticket (award, paid the fees on card) from AA 2 days later, which posted fine. This was two weeks ago, so if there was an authorization attempt, it seems to have fallen off.

Call your credit card company and ASK. They should be able to tell you whether there was an authorization attempt and what was the outcome (and why).

When paying for a ticket online, AA does not immediately authorize the credit card.
In fact, in the past month or 2 (??) someone posted here about getting into trouble with AA for multiple violations of using this delay as an extra time to hold a fare by using a credit card without available credit.
Then, they would correct the payment for the tickets they actually decided they wanted, and not correct the payment for tickets they decided they did not want (My opinion of that thread, not exactly matching what the OP had said, so I could be totally wrong. I only had a failed card issue many years ago, because I used a debit card where a deposit to my checking account had taken longer to clear. AA contacted me the next day and I immediately resolved the issue. Since that time, I have always verified transactions to be sure the payment was successfully authorized.

AA’s payment system is definitely an odd one and I’ve had payments not go through as well. But this is kind of on you, too. You didn’t receive an e-mail with your E-ticket and when checking your reservation it didn’t show “ticketed” either. I’m not comfortable with any of my bookings till I have a ticket number in hand. If after 48-72 hours, it still hasn’t been sent, I contact the airline. (Regardless of airline, not just AA.)

The gift card thing is definitely a screw up on their end, though and I hope that manages to get sorted. (Knowing AA, you’ll undoubtedly get the runaround.)

Usually AA will notify the pax that the credit card/debit card/gift card was declined and allow for 24 hours to provide an alternative form of payment. I'm not sure in this case why the OP wasn't notified. If the OP pulls up his credit card account he should see a charge from AA for $0, if in fact AA initially attempted to charge his credit card. Unlike all other airlines that immediately send through the charge which is accepted or rejected and thus the ticket would be issued immediately, AA first verifies the card then sends the charge through anytime within minutes to hours.

Maybe you can get them to give you a $100 voucher to split the difference with the higher fare now, given that both parties share responsibility.

This issue arises in other contexts as well. Specifically where a CC on file has expired. AA does not immediately cancel the ticket or the reservation.

Most see this as a customer benefit as there is an opportunity to correct it.

But, AA has no obligation to OP at all, so long as the facts it asserts are correct.

1. If AA attempted the authorization and was denied by the issuer (bank), that is the end of AA's responsibility.
2. If AA attempted the authorization and was improperly denied by the issuer (bank), that is the issuer's responsibility (but most card agreements expressly exclude liability for consequential losses such as price increases).
3. If the card was authorized, but AA got it wrong and did not issue the ticket, then AA should (and can) reissue the ticket at the price originally sold.

The card issuer is easily able to advise OP as to whether AA processed the item and what the issuer did.

As a general proposition, if the ticket does not show up on the card fairly quickly, it makes all the sense in the world to call AA.

Are you sure the gift card(s) was good? It’s hard to know if they’re good until you try to use them. I would follow up with the gift card bank and find out if the payment to AA cleared and if so, I’d definitely pursue this with AA for a refund.

I never put tickets on hold but my experience with credit card transactions on AA.com on same day reservations has been that the payment processes in 24 hours and logging onto my account online account I see the pending transaction immediately. Also, if it’s a straight AA itinerary, it tickets when the payment is processed.

Thank you for all the info on how AA's systems works. It certainly explains things more. Especially since, after a lengthy phone call with AA, I got some more data: Apparently, the CC was valid -- it was the gift card that didn't have sufficient funds.

I disputed this and asked how the gift card was spent (because I checked right before using, and swear it said full value), but they said they couldn't tell -- I'd have to email customer service (which, according to the agent, "could take a while"). I also asked for more info on the emails they supposedly sent, and they couldn't help with that either (not even, "what address did they come from"). Only option: buy a new ticket. Very annoying.

So...to wrap up: yes, I could've avoided this by checking the reservation earlier -- that was a huge mistake on my part. But to everyone ITT saying it's not AA's problem: sure, legally it's not, but almost NO other consumer-facing payment system works like this. Amazon/Wal-Mart/Delta/food truck with Square/your local pizza place using a Visa machine from 1960 ... they all charge you on the spot. They don't wait until the next day to sort out your payment and then (supposedly) email you if there's a problem. So I don't think it's unreasonable for me (an average customer who isn't an AA IT systems expert) to be frustrated at this outcome and expect a little more flexibility on their part resolving it.

That is a bummer. I had this same issue happen earlier this month. I applied a voucher to a ticket I had on hold and then put the difference on my credit card. I then received an email from AA that said, "AA Reservation Immediate Action Required". The email said:

We were unable to process your payment for your recent flight reservation purchase. To ensure that your travel plans are not interrupted, please contact us at 800-433-7300 to make alternate payment arrangements. If we haven't heard from you within 24 hours of this notice, your flight reservations will be automatically canceled. Please refer to the above record locator when speaking to our Reservations Representative.

Thank you,

American Airlines

I immediately called AA and they said it didn't go thru because I had already used my voucher of $300 even though the website accepted it when I paid online. I had indeed used the voucher for a previous ticket and forgot to discard it after I had redeemed it a few months ago. There is obviously some sort of glitch on the website though where it can't immediately detect if a voucher or gift card is still valid. My credit card was fine though so I am not sure why they didn't just automatically put the balance due back onto the valid card. After a few minutes on the phone with the EXP desk, all was sorted and I was able to salvage my original ticket at the same fare.

This has happened to me before. In my case I attempted to use a partially-redeemed gift card. When inputting the gift card numbers and amounts, the website does not validate them, and it expects that you know and enter the gift card’s current balance. I put the original amount and it failed because that amount didn’t exist on the gift card. AA either called or emailed me about it before it got cancelled. Are you sure your gift card had a balance?

The other useful trick here is to have alerts set up on your CC so you get an SMS or e-mail when a "card not present" transaction is processed. I find this to be very useful when booking with AA (or anyone else where there's not instant gratification) as I get an SMS when payment is taken from the card and know to be on the lookout for the "Ticketed" e-mail shortly afterwards. The reverse is equally true of course that no SMS or e-mail means no payment has been taken and hence perhaps a reminder to follow-up in due course.

This is not only useful, but for cyber security reasons as well, these sorts of alerts are really important. Presuming that your card issuer provides the flexibility, I set mine at $0 for "card not present" and $100 for the rest (just because I don't really need to know about every cup of coffee).