Booked Flights with KLM - Funds now locked

The Bishop Basher

Hi All,

I hope i'm posting this in the right place.

MOD's feel free to move it if deemed neccessary.

I booked flights with KLM last Thursday over the phone. I paid with a Visa Debit card and all seemed fine till last night when I noticed that my account was in overdraft when there should have been plenty there to cover mortgage, bills etc.

Long story short, KLM took the money but put a hold on the same amount which now shows up under pending transactions. The flights were just shy of 2k so my account is down just under 4k.

AIB tell me it's up to KLM to free up the funds. KLM tell me the opposite. I'm stuck in the middle.

Surely I should have been told about this at the time of booking ?

Anyway, I don't understand why this has happened and who actually can free up the locked funds so that I can meet all my other payments for the month.

Has this happened to anyone else ? How quickly was it resolved ?

Needless to say I will in future pay the extra and fly with BA or AL, neither of whom have ever locked funds from my account in the past when booking flights.

Paulw

Normally it goes like this -

Booking
reservation of fee
deduction of actual fee
release of reservation

The deduction and release of reservation should happen the same day, so you're not down a massive amount. Sometimes, due to international banking transactions it doesn't happen so smoothly.

I'm sure it will release, eventually, but that doesn't help your current situation.

Chase both your bank and KLM, and ask KLM to chase their bank to ensure the funds are released.

The Bishop Basher

Thanks Paulw.

Unfortunately, talking to both KLM and AIB is like talking to a brick wall.

They don't care about the customer and just blame eachother.

Luckily I have the funds to transfer into the C/A to cover the direct debits but they didn't know that.

I don't mind waiting if I know for sure it will resolve itself but i'm not convinced it will. They took the funds from my account in 4 separate transactions (1 per ticket) but the pending transaction is for one single amount. I read somewhere online that this can confuse the automated systems and stops the funds from being unfrozen.

Anyway, I've mailed all of the senior execs at KLM having exhausted their "customer care" hotline.

I suppose I just need to keeo escalating till I find someone that actually wants to help.

Cheers.

keithclancy

Try them on Facebook, they usually respond really quickly.

The Bishop Basher

keithclancy wrote: »

Try them on Facebook, they usually respond really quickly.

Yeah cheers. I was speaking to one of their reps on the FB page last night. Got the same story. Speak to your bank it's nothing to do with us !!

I have an AIB loan payment due out at the end of the month. Maybe a lack of funds in the account to meet it might spur AIB into action. I've never missed a payment on anything though and don't want to start now !!

Problem is I really don't know who's actually to blame here.

Got a read reciept for my mail to the KLM customer services director this evening so maybe I'll see some progress in the morning.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

schemingbohemia

I would never use Visa Debit for a flight, much prefer the added security (plus delayed payment) of the credit card.

The Bishop Basher

schemingbohemia wrote: »

I would never use Visa Debit for a flight, much prefer the added security (plus delayed payment) of the credit card.

Agreed. I would always use a credit card as well, especially for online purchases. I had my reasons this time but will never use it again for anything of this nature.

Yakuza

I tend to use Visa Debit with Ryanair as they give you a small discount (or, to be more correct, they don't lump on an extra charge) for doing so. For any other airline, where the cost is the same I'd always go for the CC route (protection against the airline going bust (not unknown), delayed payment of the cost and it avoids locks being put against your own funds.

Thoie

Not precisely this situation, but what's worked for me in the past when I'm caught between two companies, each blaming the other, is to conference them in to each other. Otherwise you can spend days relaying messages between the two.

Try phoning the one with the longest hold time first, then conferencing in the second company, and insist that they sort it out between them while you're on the phone.

It may not work, but depending on the companies, it can be amusing listening to each of them trying to read a script at each other

You can sit in the middle saying "So, Mary, you're telling me this is the bank's problem. Fred, you believe that Mary needs to release the funds. I need you to come to an agreement as to what action each of you are taking today to resolve this problem for me."

Personally, I think it's KLM's fault. There are too many untrained agents out there who don't know how to process a sale from a reserved fund. When an authorisation lock is put in place on a card, there is a specific process to turn that "hold" into a sale (called completion). Due to poor training, a lot of people end up leaving the hold in situ, and putting through a second sale transaction. (If you're interested in how it works on an actual machine in a shop, see sections 5.8 and the important one, 5.9 How to process a completion here: http://www.westpac.com.au/docs/pdf/bb/360571/EFTPOS_Professional_M4230_Mobile.pdf Airline reservation systems often use a web-based payment gateway, which would have similar functionality, if they bloody well knew how to use it properly.)

However, even though this is KLM's mistake, generally the card issuer is the only one able to release the funds before the time period expires. The card issuer can't release the funds on your say so alone (as otherwise it would defeat the purpose), so KLM need to authorise the card issuer to release. That's why you need to get the two of them talking to each other.

Thoie

Paulw wrote: »

Normally it goes like this -

Booking
reservation of fee
deduction of actual fee
release of reservation

The deduction and release of reservation should happen the same day, so you're not down a massive amount.

Paul, the correct process (as I explained in waaay too much detail above) is

• Booking
• Reservation of fee (pre-authorisation)
• Completion of pre-authorisation (converting the pre-auth into an actual sale)

If the pre-authorisation is not being converted into a sale, then the release will happen after a set period of time.

There should never be two of the same amount "blocked off" (one pre-auth, one sale), even if it's just for a few seconds.

The Bishop Basher

Sorted, by a lady in my branch who took the initiative to fix the problem and did.

Thoie - You're on the ball. I had tried to figure out how to get them talking but the wait times for KLM are 10 mins plus. Agreed though that it's the quickest way to resove an issue.

Thanks for the input guys.

Credit Card only from here on in.

Cheers.

frances123

Hi I wonder could you please help me?? I've had the exact same thing happen to me, I booked my flights on line last Wednesday and checked my account only to see the same thing that happened to you happened to me. It's now Wednesday and the funds still locked. I'm getting really panicky now, like you I've been onto both and both blaming each other ( I'm also in AIB ). I'm also in debt because of this and I've got bills to pay. Nobody wants to know and I'm left with no money, I'm so stressed now with the whole thing. Can I ask what branch you went to? Mine is in Crumlin and I'm getting no joy. Please, I really need some help on this:( Thank You