Travel

So I’m supposed to be telling you how do NYC on the cheap with Air Miles and other methods, but something has come up that I’d like to share, as it may help you.

I recently had to attempt purchasing a last-minute ticket to Portugal via a website, less than 24 hours away from when the flight left Pearson.

I tried and tried and tried. Using three different credit cards. Each time, the website rejected me. Did I have enough money available on these cards? Yes. I’m not maxed out.

I thought the site was down, so I called the airline. They said the website was fine and that I wasn’t registered on any flight and advised me to call my credit card companies to see whether they put a block on my accounts.

The credit card company that I called (the one I had used the most) told me they actually approved the transaction five times. FIVE times.

I then called back the airline and spoke to someone different. This time, she told me that the airline charges a $1-fee each time a credit card is used, and that is what the approval from my credit card was and that it would be refunded.

But why couldn’t I book a ticket? The question still stood. I had tried over and over again and was thoroughly frustrated. Broken technology is my biggest pet peeve, that in end doesn’t really matter, but in the moment makes me want to scream and hurl my mouse against the computer monitor and head to a job baking cookies or walking through parks or eating ice cream or dancing. You get what I’m saying.

End of story, the airline representative told me that the problem was not with any of the credit cards (even though the message on the site was “there is a problem with your payment method” or some such nonsense). The problem was that I was trying to book a flight within 24 hours of its departure, and apparently that can’t be done online or on the phone. The only way to purchase a ticket at that hour was in person at an airline counter.

Well, that information would have been useful before I wasted hours on that airline’s website. I told them they should tell their internet team to advise users of that information, but of course the rep said they have told them already and there is apparently nothing they can do.

I think to change a message that says “blah blah blah your payment” to “you’re too late, we’re losing your business” shouldn’t be that hard, but I digress. What do I know, I only work on the internet five days a week.

Happy travels!