Booking error. Don’t you just hate that phrase?
I’ve actually had the worst luck trying to use my credit card to buy bus tickets in Mexico. Not a one transaction goes through with any modicum of success. Occasionally, this will be an issue with some air carriers, too. If you have U.S.-issued credit cards, phrases such as “Verified by Visa,” and “3D Secure” (for Mastercard) might haunt you. You call the cc company, whose representative then transfers you to some Verified by Visa rep., who stuns you every time by saying that there must be a problem with the merchant (wrong).
This is all while you’re thinking to yourself– I’ve just used my card to pay for a meal, expense the hotel room, call a rideshare, but for whatever reason, can’t complete that seemingly innocuous purchase on a bus ticket. In Mexico.
O.K., fine, a bus ticket isn’t such a big deal. It’s easy enough to stroll up to any bus terminal in Mexico City, and take care of it then and there.
But what about flights? Not all airlines accept foreign credit cards at the airport. Thus, while you’re queuing up to have a chat, you try the airline’s website again.
You just filled out everything, got past the upsell screens, made it to the payment page, and BLAM, internet cuts out. Or your credit card was rejected again. Or that particular price just sold out.
Or … this:
“Unable to subscribe to saudia newsletter.”
I’ve done a lot of air travel with countless airlines, but in all of my years of making an online reservation, this was a new one. Saudi Arabia’s national carrier Saudia must really be proud of its copywriters, otherwise why remind me about the newsletter?
To be fair, I find Saudia one of the better (and most underrated) airlines out there. This puzzling booking error now adds a humorous feather to Saudia’s cap.
Have you ever seen such a bizarre booking error?
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