When Does Reservations Claim Seats
 

(Just a question out of curiosity)

When does the on line reservation system "claim" the seats?

When I book by phone, the agent often says s/he will "claim" the seats and then get my credit card number etc.

Has anyone had any experience of selecting one of the nine or so priced itineraries showing on the screen, entering theri credit card number, and then the confirmation pops up with a higher price because the on line system did not claim the seats and during that short time somebody else got the last cheap seats?

Travel tips:
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There have been a number of complaints about the non-airline sites. There appears to be a 30 min or so lag between inventory/price adjustments at the airline site, and one of the Orbitz/Itn/etc sites. I think somewhere in the caviets, they request a significient time delay(30 min or so) between actual booking payment, and the right to deny ticketing.

There may be a delay between the major airline sites also ( Galileo & Amadus & whatever) They do not talk to each other very well, to listen to the people at the airlines.

The disclamer on Orbitz denies everything, and is so long, I could not find anything in it where they actually take any responsibility.

It depends on what system is being used and what airline you are dealing with. For instance, any Apollo/Galileo agency or booking engine will be seeing live UA availability just as any UA res agent would. The confirmation is automatic. Some systems have a direct link availability, but I would almost guarantee that the web-based engines don't use this. Some airlines will "guarantee" the seat if booked through the direct link and it shows availability , even if there isn't. Otherwise, it can take from seconds to hours for an airline to "bounce" the reservation booked from a 3rd party source.

Also "claiming" the seats is different than storing the fare. You may reserve a "Q" seat and it may be yours, but if new fares are loaded before the fare is stored... you know the conclusion.

How does the delay between completing your reservation and actual ticketing affect things?

When I reserve with UA, ticket is issued very quickly, at least domestically, but when I ticket with an agency, it takes an hour or sometimes longer.