Questions and Answers

I booked an award ticket on the United website a few weeks ago. While booking, the quoted price was US$50.90 in taxes plus US$75.00 in close-in booking fees which I accepted. I have the screen shot of this price quote.

However, despite an initial authorisation of US$125.90 on my credit card (two separate authorisations of $50.90 and $75.00 each), the final amount charged was only US$50.90. I have been waiting for United to charge the remaining US$75.00 due to them, but it now appears that they have overlooked it for whatever reason.

Any ideas on the best / quickest way to get United to complete this additional charge quickly? I would ideally like it to be charged before the current statement closes as I am planning on cancelling the credit card after that and having this $75 charge hanging over my head could cause problems in the future.

You could call them. Personally I’d just cancel the card and if they ask for the money at the airport, pay with a different card. UA doesn’t seem to have an automatic method to collect the close in fee so I think your chances of having to pay it are low (as you’re probably aware there is an easy way to avoid it for award tickets too).

I’ve had this problem with them before and calling/email didn’t get anywhere. Eventually I just gave up and the fee was never actually charged.

The passenger has already traveled, so no possibility of being charged at the airport.

Didn’t realize that part. I would just close the card and deal with UA if they want to charge you after the fact (I’d be willing to bet you never hear about it).

Alternatively, I could raise a credit card dispute I guess if I get no response from United soon. I have the records showing that I was supposed to be charged $125.90, so the charge for $50.90 is not a correct one and can be disputed for the higher charge instead.

[USER=28]@Sean M.[/USER] I think you might confuse the credit card rep by disputing towards a higher charge. Kudos for the honest approach. I’m not sure I’d be willing to spend that much time and mental energy to give UA more money :).

As an update on this, I am getting nowhere with United. They alternately insist either that the fee was charged (it was not), or that it wasn’t due in the first place (it was). Chase is not willing to open a dispute for the higher charge either.

Any further ideas?

Close the card 🙂