flew for free!!
 

It's true! So, I traveled on [XXXX :p] airline several months ago. Due to a glitch with the system as I was making my payment it errored out on the website with "payment pending". However I still got a confirmed code. Unsure if my flight was reserved I went personally to the airlines office and asked them if I could make a cash payment instead because obviously my card is not being accepted. He said he cannot take my money because it shows on his screen that it is fully paid which was bizzare because the screen clearly said "Payment status: PENDING" but at the same time "Amt due: 0.00" which seems contradictory!! Then he says if there is an issue I can pay it at the airport.

Well, at the airport they say that no further charges are due, it's all paid up!

To date (it's been 6 months!) no charges have been applied on my CC nor have I paid it any other way, in effect the flight has been absolutely FREE! ^

I wish all my transactions were this way :D

A wise old man once told me "There's nothing free in life, if you get something for free, you get to pay back with interest"..I certainly hope that this isn't the situation for you.

If I were you i'd have taken a screen shot of the website when it erred and also got the name of the ticketing agent that you spoke with should any questions arise at all.

I know you didn't ask for my $0.02, but still just sayin... :)

@chadsna, I actually begged them to take my money but they refused..you see I didn't want to show up at the airport and discover that my flight had been cancelled for non-payment.

I offered the money, they refused...it isn't my f-ing problem you know ;) And I'd love to see what kind of argument they make about not charging me for 6 months despite having my CC details? Do you think anyone is going to think they are making a rational argument....geez!

Depending on where you live, they can indeed take payment much later on. I've had things show up months after I initially handed over my credit card (slips from manual cc machines going astray then turning up again) and whilst the norm is that the charge happens around the same day, I don't believe they are obliged to take it within a short time frame, depending on local laws around such things. I'd say it was pretty easy for the airline to prove you took the flight, and therefore owe the money.

Back in 1976, I charged a tankful of gas ($5) on my BankAmericard. I was a poor student, then, watching every penny.

That charge never showed up on my bill. I stopped looking for it about three years later.

I flew on a British Midland (now bmi baby) in 1992 on a United Airlines issued ticket. The UA agent was a scatterbrain and very confused. It was issued as a separate ticket from the UA ticket, which I didn't like because of a possible mis-connect might lead to an excuse "it's on a separate ticket so tough luck".

Anyway, it never got charged.

I stayed at a hotel once and never got billed. I didn't notice because I was probably in hotels 15 nights/month that year. Exactly one year later, I received a charge on my credit card for the hotel. You never know when the computers will catch up with you!

Things like that turn up when a depatment does their internal audits. I find things like fairly often. Then we just bill customer later. It may never show but don't be surprised if at some point it does.

I tried to pull out over $1000 from an overseas ATM once but there was some sort of error and no money came out. The money was removed from my account however.

The bank that owned the ATM sent the amount back into my account and my own back also re-credited it. Despite several phone calls, they never sorted it out so I ended up $1K+ ahead. That was nearly a decade ago.

well, I have no problem paying the amount...I took the flight so I have no problem paying it! Although I think the airline needs to get their act together if they are issuing confirmed tickets without receiving full payment.

I took an Alaska cruise ~ 11 years ago and when it came time to pay my (hefty :o) drinks bill I duly handed over my CC (in fact I think they already had my CC number, I probably just authorised the bill). No immediate debit to my CC account and looked out for it for awhile and eventually forgot about it. Around 9 to 12 months later I got a bill with a dirty letter suggesting that I was a bad person for not paying it. Turns out they (not me) had my CC number wrong. I paid, but certainly let them know who I thought was responsible (and it wasn't me).

I once ordered an expensive KitchenAid mixer online for in store pickup at Linens n Things for a gift for my mom. Put in my credit card number, everything was authorized, got an email within the hour telling me to come in and pick it up, so I did. They hand over the mixer and the receipt. But, my card was never charged for it.

My guess is an employee didn't know the online pick up process (something I see very frequently at retail stores) and never actually put that I picked it up into the system, so my card was never charged. But just a wild guess. Now they've gone out of business. I wonder if they were giving away too much free stuff accidentally.

To OP and DesertNomad.. Lucky to be good.. good to be lucky..

Sometimes fortunate things happen.. its good to balance it with unfortunate situations..

nice! ;) ^

The statute of limitations is pretty long on cc transactions..sometimes payment process vendors can have a glitch, but when the airline reconciles their transactions against their cc revenue, and sees a chargeback from the credit card company, and sees you took the flight, they will dispute it and your credit card will most likely bill you. I have seen it take months and months sometimes.