Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Just too sneaky

Fodor's Travel Talk Forums (https://www.fodors.com/community/)

- Air Travel (https://www.fodors.com/community/air-travel/)

- - Just too sneaky (https://www.fodors.com/community/air-travel/just-too-sneaky-196921/)

I was chatting to a friend about buying tickets on the net and he mentioned that he buys tickets for friends who don't have cc's and they give him cash. When he gets his cc statement he calls and disallows the sale. The website has to eat the cost. Sounds illegal but he says it works.

I would say that is outright fraud and hope he get caught with the shorat end of the stick!!!!!

Regardless of whether what he is doing is fraudulent (it is), it's really foolish to pursue in this current climate. Not to mention very suspect.

...don't the friends reservations get cancelled? He'll get caught, for sure.

I thought the website agencies required the credit card to belong to one of the people travelling?

I don't think so.I know you can't buy today and travel tomorrow on some sites. There may be a time limit involved and some rules may be different. I know Air Tran wants you to show your credit card if you purchase X amount of days in..don't know about the others.

This will stop eventually when they lose enough money on that type of purchasing. I have read already where they are considering that with Paypal (mastercard). The websites are freaking because of the possibility of it stalling sales. Signed UCC's are the only way a business can protect themselves from this sort of practice. It's tough to protect yourself when you're doing web business.

I must admit I'm gald some of the web based ticket sellers are getting stung. I recently tried buying tickets from "Hotwire". They issued me the wrong tickets and they refused to correct the "mistake" ( if thats what it was ) I feel ripped off, I can't use the tickets they are forceing me to buy.

I wouldn't trust this person as a friend. In fact, let's examine how this person treats his friends. Is he stealing from the credit card company - of course. More imporantly, HE IS STEALING FROM HIS "FRIENDS." These people gave him money with the expectation of getting his help and a ticket. Instead, he STEALS their money and puts them in potentially serious legal trouble as it is THEIR NAME ON THE TICKET. Here they are trying to use a ticket that was essentially cancelled by "their friend." With the increase in security, they could become subject to greater scrutiny about the source of their ticket - GIVEN ITS BEEN CANCELLED by the cardholder. If a credit card company catches on or the FAA with an increased emphasis on security - who do you think gets stopped at the airport. That's right, the guy holding the ticket. If he is caught, I'm betting your friend would claim his number was stolen. Guess who gets in trouble. Those "FRIENDS" he was helping. Yeah, he is someone I'd trust.

This is a troll, folks. You can't just "disallow" a sale, especially of a travel item. Credit card companies have special provisions for this! If the passenger has already flown, he can't challenge the charge. Remember, identification was positively established at the airport. If the passenger hasn't flown, the ticket is cancelled and its worthless.

Jim is incorrect. I noticed, about one month after it happened, two United Airline tickets purchased on my Citibank account. I never fly United so I immeidately called Citibank to dispute the charges. They sent me an affidavit to sign saying I did not authorize or make the charges myself and I was immediately credited with some $300. I later learned that my number had been stolen off the Internet. They could also easily verify that my name was not on either one of the tickets...the travel had already been completed by the time I noticed the charges. Citibank simply issued me a new account number. As a former employee of a credit card company, I can also attest that sometimes the companies (such as the airlines) will simply eat the cost as each time a dispute comes, companies are fined by the credit card. Perhaps this practice is becoming more rare these days. My experience took place two years ago, well before 9/11, so new securuity procedures may make something like my situation close to impossible. In either event, I have a hard time understanding that your friend does this a lot as each time a charge is disputed as fraudulent, ie disallowing a charge, new account numbers are issued. If this were to happen often, I'm sure the credit card companies would get leary. Ryan

Jim, I certainly wish you were correct, but I have had clients dispute a charge on a flown ticket and had it removed. I actually did it myself on one where the airline said I had cancelled the reservation (the airline agent did it).I paid for a new ticket, then disputed the charge (since the client had paid me, the ticket was reported to the airline, and the airline had already been paid one).