thomascook.com cancelled my flights!!

xueta

I booked flights through thomascook.com, the transaction was processed ok and I got a confirmation e-mail. I was told to expect written confirmation with a booking reference number in the post...

Today, however, I got a second e-mail saying that the order was cancelled because the card could not be verified and had not passed security checks. The e-mail also said words to the effect of "Don't bother replying to this e-mail because we can't look into it!"

... yet the transaction went through fine and the full amount has already been reserved against funds on my account. What's going on???!

I rang Thomas Cook, who simply repeated what was in the e-mail i.e. they couldn't give any more info. I asked if I could book over the phone and was told "yes, but not at the online price"!

So where do I stand? I've now placed the same order again, as thomascook.com were at least 10% less than the nearest competitor, but what if the order gets rejected again? Have they rejected the order because they don't have actual availability at that price? Can I claim for cancellation on my travel insurance (what if i had booked accommodation, etc only to find that my 'confirmed' flights had fallen through?)?

Anyone else had this problem?

Any help gratefully received!

hjb123

Have you checked with your credit card to check that they never refused it or summat? Did you type in all the digits correctly? I was doing an online payment the other week that got refused, I knew I had enough money - didnt often use the card - turned out I had put the start date in as the expiry date. I redid it and it all went through okay again.

Maybe you could try putting it through again?

Have you tried through the actual flight carrier? Depending on which airway it is? When I was booking my parents some flights last year I found some on lastminute.com then looked which airline they were with and went onto the ryanair website and found them even cheaper that way!

xueta

Thanks for your advice.

I have put the transaction through again and am waiting until Monday to see if this will be accepted. I can't understand it being rejected the first time though; it was a debit card and the funds have clearly been reserved in my account!

It is more expensive booking through the carrier directly, which makes me wonder if thomascook.com have actual availability!

Fingers crossed for Monday...

CIS

Some card systems automtically reserve the funds before a full verification has taken place on the card account.