On Line booking charges
 

A colleague of mine today tried to book a flight with United Airlines via their website.

For some reason (maybe because the card was issued by a Chinese bank) the request was denied, with the reason being that the card identity number (the one on the back of the card) hadn’t been inserted, though in fact, in had been, but each time he reverted back to the offending section, the display was blank. He tried four times and then gave up.

My query is that his credit card has been debited one US$ for each attempt, even though the request didn’t go through. Does anyone know if this is normal procedure for UA? Has anyone else had the same experience? Is it legal?

Do you mean he has actually been billed USD1 per attempt or that his available credit has been reduced by USD1 per attempt?

Credit card reduced $1 per attempt!

Well, the reduction in available credit will only last a little while (maximum 1 month but usually much less).

Why? I find that more difficult to explain. It's probably something to do with a floor limit. Every credit card merchant has a floor limit. Any sales above that limit must be referred to the credit card company for authorisation. Most airlines have their floor limit set very low - USD 1 is not unusual (I would go so far as to say it is usual).

There is a function to simply verify that the card numbered offered is not on a hot list (stolen, used fraudulently etc). My guess is that cards issued by Chinese banks are considered at greater risk (though that sounds terribly negative) than others so a pre check is made. Quite why that causes a USD1 reduction in available credit I'm not sure.

Are you sure you are not looking at "Pending Transactions" as opposed to "Posted Transactions?" You can see lots of strange stuff listed as pending, but it usually all goes away or gets straightened out before getting posted.