Just curious. Today I purchased one full domestic ticket, it was $xxx.40 total (including tax & fees), listed in email receipt, and in my itn. I booked thru Continental.com, but put in my DL number.

On my credit card it lists 3 entries for Continental, one is $xxx.00, then 2 other entries each $1. Anyone knows what these charges are?
(Need to expense this ticket out, that's why).

For some reason, they do a charge for $1 to make sure the account is valid. Usually only 1, $1 charge, but I have had 2 like you had here a couple of times. Those charges will not process, and will usually disappear in a couple of weeks.

I've seen them show up when I have just looked at fares but not actually bought--sort of Big Brother-like, but they've never gone through.

Continental will authorize a card for 1 dollar to ensure its valid when you add it to your profile. It is suppose to "release" after a few days. If not call them. It's only a dollar but its the principal of the thing...

-Vincent

A charge authorization is different from an actual charge. The charge is what will post, the authorization is just a check on the card (e.g., when you hold the ticket).

Merchants are very lax in releasing authorizations -- hotels, car rentals, etc. all put larger authorizations on your card than they need, and when they figure out how much to actually charge you (when you check out, return the car, etc.), they seldom release the excess authorization, and it falls off the card after several days. Not a big deal if you have a huge credit line, but it could be if you don't, or are close to maxing it (or if you use a debit card with a low balance, though if you use a debit card you deserve whatever happens to you, IMO ).

There's some fighting here in CA between the state and gas stations, who typically put authorizations on for about $70 for a fill-up, though the average tank is about half that these days, and they don't release the auth when you're done. So we may start seeing a little more accountability for authorizations in the future...

Most gas places that I�ve used usually put a $1 authorization only. Some rental car companies are bad, they put a big authorization ($350 for a 2 day Thrifty rental in MHT a couple of weeks ago), and then charge the actual rental on top of that. I think it took 10-14 days for the $350 to get released.

This can be a real hassle if you have a card that is close. For example I�ve had Priceline hotels put $100-$150 hold on a credit card for incidentals. My MHT trip, after the hold by Thrifty, I only had $150 limit left (I had spent a bunch on 3 tickets to EZE this summer), so told them not to put a hold on anything. No problem, they said.

Most holds expire at the 14 day mark.

Thats just nasty. I has a problem one time with a Jewlery Store (Chain based) who put a HUGE (well into 5 digits) authorization on -cause cause I bought something, but then the next day later rerturned it. The charge had not come through and all that was still there was an authoriztion. They refused to call citi bank and ask it removed. - a week later it was still on hold. A call to customer service of citi bank and they took care of it .. granted it is still the principal of the thing...

-Vincent

Thanks for the explanation.

Once I bought a transcon F on United. They authorized a block on my AE that's twice the tix price. I ended up maxing out my AE. And they won't release the authorization until a month later! Despite calling them multiple times.

Yeah, I don't think it's deliberately trying to be nasty, I think it's just them trying to protect themselves, and lack of auth releases is just sloppy (usually nobody cares, I mean if you have a $20K credit line, who cares if they hold an extra $30?). Once this works itself out, I'm sure there will be more accountability down the line...

With most banks those pre-authorizations fall off your account in three or four business days if the charge has not been finalized. I regularly see this happen when checking in for five night stays with my Chase card. About the day I check out the pre-auth has automatically fallen off and then a couple of days later the actual charge appears.

I've been lucky I guess. Never have had a hotel authorize for more than about $20 over the room rate and tax and never have had a car rental company (I stick to just Avis and National) do more than the rate for the car and tax times the number of days on the contract.

St. Regis is horrible took an extra 500, in mexico the time share we own at take 1000.

-Vincent