ursine1

This makes no sense.

I have used my Southwest credit card to buy Upgraded Boarding for people traveling with me, booked on their own reservations.

Chase doesn't "address check" anything. When the charge for Upgraded Boarding hits the account it's automatically reversed (through a statement credit), generally within one day.

I'm still confused as to the OP's issue. They are trying to buy Upgraded Boarding with the appropriate card, but the transaction is denied? If so, what does Chase card services say when they immediately call? Is the card working for other purchases?

Justjax90

Your wife’s card isn’t eligible (benefit is for Priority card), but yours should be if it’s the Performance Business card. Make sure you use your card only to purchase it at the gate. You get refunded 4x a year. Makes no sense why it would not work for you.

NoStressHere

Assuming the error code was exactly "Do not honor", I did some googling.

Seems to be a generic response from bank processing that sometimes is insufficient funds but could also be some other reasons.

Please share if you have some other issues - foreign address maybe? Have you run into any other problems with Chase cards? Your AA card is NOT with Chase, so I think there is an issue at Chase.

And of course, as another poster pointed out, not all cards are eligible for reimbursement. Still - the charge itself should go through.

Lomic

Which card you're using shouldn't even come into play from the WN agent's perspective. This is what the process should look like:

1) Tell check-in agent at the airport that you'd like to buy upgraded boarding
2) Agent asks to see your tickets and identification
3) If upgraded boarding is available (because there are A1-15 positions not yet taken), agent will tell you the cost per ticket and which positions you'd be buying
4) You choose whether or not to buy the upgraded boarding based on that information
5) If you decide to buy it, you hand the agent any credit card
6) If you hand the agent a qualified Southwest Chase card with upgrade reimbursement, the agent processes the card like any other card, and Chase reimburses you on the back end

Given this, it seems strange that the issue here is specifically buying upgraded bookings with their Southwest Chase card, since that's the last step in the process and the agent doesn't even known whether or not the upgrades will be comp'ed by Chase.

dmzumwalt

Thanks for all the replies; Flyertalk limited my ability to respond promptly due to a 5 posts-a-day limit. For all who are interested, we followed WN's process PRECISELY. We attempted to buy upgraded boarding (A1-A15, available) at MCO at check-in, and at the gate, not merely flashing the cards but RUNNING them (a WN-branded Chase Performance Business account in my case, and a separate WN-branded Chase Premiere account in my wife's case). Different flights, different accounts, different days, same result. We are the primarily cardholders on our accounts. Cards are relatively new but there are no problems with credit limits, credit ratings ("excellent"), or sufficient funds. Zero problems with other charges, including WN tix as well as WN in-flight services after the failures. The only failures we've ever experienced involved upgraded boardings (A1-A15). BTW, I also have Companion Pass, which WAS NOT a factor in these reservations. My Performance Business card had a PO Box billing address which was different from my WN RR account address (not a big surprise for business cards, eh?), but I changed the address to my WN RR account address after getting advice to do so from a WN rep AND IT STILL DID NOT WORK to purchase available A1-A15 upgraded boarding on my return trip from DEN to MCO. "DO NOT HONOR" was the error, again. To dispense with other possible questions, I've got Clear, TSA Pre Check (my wife, too), and there are no issues with creditworthiness or payment performance, we're not on any no-fly lists, and we've been with RR forever. We have other Chase accounts, too. I find it bemusing that once we were denied by WN/Chase, we had no problem paying for upgraded boarding using our AA Citi Exec and Plt cards, which of course provide no refundability. In my case, when I contacted Chase they didn't even see evidence of attempted charges at MCO or DEN. When this BS also happened to my wife on a different card and on a different date at MCO, I did not waste my time trying to navigate the WN/Chase morass again. I was ready to toss both cards, but I am encouraged by your responses. This appears to be a colossal WN/Chase brain fart and not a stunt.

ursine1

As stated earlier, Upgraded Boarding purchases on your wife's Premier card won't be refunded, as that's not a feature of that particular card.

All of that detailed info is great, but doesn't really factor in to the situation, as it's pretty clear-cut here. As I understand it, you've tried to purchase Upgraded Boarding twice and both times your Southwest RR Visa cards were declined. Since Chase says they saw no attempted or denied charges, I suspect agent and/or processing systems error. If I were you I'd try again on your next flight, using your card (not your wife's). Denials once or twice may be an anomalous coincidence.

This isn't being reported by others, so I doubt it's a larger issue than your specific agent(s) and/or card account. Which unfortunately makes it difficult to diagnose. I feel strongly that you have a good chance of not encountering the problem again. If, however, you do, I'd recommend you document everything. If denied, ask the agent to print out a record for you. Then reach out to Chase.

Good luck.

Boraxo

Sounds like a processing error. I have this occur occasionally on my gas cards at certain pumps and on others at random locations like restaurants. Every time I call the issuer I am told they have no record of the attempted transaction or any rejection and that the card is active.

These are difficult to fix as I think it’s a problem with the card reader or the processor. if they can’t resolve you may have to cancel the card if the benefit is important (it would be to me). There is no way for Chase to even manually credit if there is no charge.

sdsearch

Unless they're very old, I presume your AA Citi Exec and Plat cards are MCs. While the WN card is a Visa.

So maybe Visa having the problem at that time at that location, and that's why it was denied and Chase didn't see it. You didn't try a different Visa card at that time, did you? So if you didn't, you can't be sure that it wasn't Visa vs MC that was the issue at that moment at that location.

I was once in the past year in a USPS location where I was waiting in line and a USPS agent off to the side announce that the kiosk was temporarily working for one card type only and not another (I can't remember whether it worked for Visa and not for MC or vice versa). And again a similar announced for kiosk at my local DMV another time. So kiosks / terminals / etc temporarily having problems with one card processing network but not another is not all that unusual. But often you can't tell unless you try two or more cards from different banks but on the same network before you try a card on a different network.

And the thing would really proved it is the Southwest Visa didn't work but a Freedom Flex or IHG MC from Chase did work. That would show that it's not Chase, but the card processing network (or its interface to that particular terminal).

NextTrip

Are you trying to get upgrade reimbursement from your SWA credit card or flat out buy upgraded boarding from one ticket category to another? If you are trying to get a credit card reimbursement, could it be there is a limit on the number of upgrades/reimbursements you buy per year?

NoStressHere

The poster was unable to purchase it. Since he could not purchase it, there was no reimbursement issue.

NextTrip

Just wondered if he had used up his "free" upgrades.

dmbolp

That's not how it works

johnjagg

This has nothing to do with Southwest. Even a card terminal error should cause enough problems that the desk attendant would take it out of service (unless you were the unlucky first). Did you google "do not honor"? Every site says it is a response from the card issuer, in this case, Chase. Your Citi AA cards have a different issuer. Call Chase, tell them you don't know why it shows no transaction, but you tried to make one. Have you tried to buy anything with them since to verify there is not some physical damage to the cards (chip/tap/stripe)? Have them send you new cards.

NoStressHere

Does not matter if he used them up or not. He is unable to buy them with his SWA card at the counter. See first post.

danhouston

OP, tell chase that card is misplaced; when receiving a new card, see if that will work for next purch... won't hurt