Does this credit card process leave us open to fraud

brianhigley

I recently booked flights for myself and wife with qantas. I used my Santander credit card for the full amount of both tickets.I  have had confirmation from qantas that both tickets are confirmed. Two days later I was informed that I was close to my credit limit and could no longer use my card. This did not seem right so I checked my balance and found that qantas had taken full payment but in 2 halves. However the original full payment that I had approved was still on my credit card as a pending payment. I have contacted both Santander and qantas and both say they cannot alter the pending payment but it will naturally drop off. In the meantime I cannot use my credit cars and I assume if they felt like it Qantas could take the fee again. This cannot be right. Surely it is not legal

MorningcoffeeIV

It's surely legal, surely right and surely not fraud.

They cannot take the fee again.

Ebe_Scrooge

I'm not sure why there's a pending payment on there in addition, or why they took it in two payments.  But you've been told correctly - the pending payment will drop off (usually in a few days) and you'll be able to use your card again.

brianhigley said:

I assume if they felt like it Qantas could take the fee again.

They could - and I can well imagine that a tin-pot tiny little start-up company like Qantas might well attempt to do so.  If they did they you simply report it to your card company as an unauthorised transaction.

It probably won't happen, though

born_again

Standard practise by airlines.
They give you the full price on invoice etc, but bill your card for each flight separately. Makes for easy refunds if something goes wrong with one of the flights.

Santander could remove the auth for the full amount with a warning that it could still debit, not that it will given there are 2 payments matching the total auth. We do it all the time.