Have you ever bought two flights for the same trip?


It seems I’ve made quite the mistake, or at least that quite a mistake was made. I’m on my way to Tampa for FTU this weekend, leaving tomorrow morning and I just got quite the surprise as an email showed up in my inbox reminding me to check-in for my flight from JFK to Tampa. This was a surprise in many ways. Among them, it came in ~90 minutes earlier than I expected and it was from JFK, not Newark. Oh, and it was from an airline other than the one I had booked a flight on. Ruh-roh.

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I quickly recalled that I had some troubles back in early August when I tried to buy the tickets initially. Verified by Visa – my arch nemesis – botched the transaction on the JetBlue website leaving me in a very confused state. I tried to buy a second time but the seat I had chosen the first time was occupied so I assumed that the transaction was pending somewhere. I called in to JetBlue and the agent I spoke with reviewed their systems for the flight in question and for my credit card number. She said that there was nothing purchased or pending and that the transaction really had failed. And then I mostly forgot about it.

And with that transaction failure I ended up buying another ticket on United a few days later. I found some expiring credits and figured that I’d use them, even though the fare was more expensive than the JetBlue option, as the total price to me was lower and I was annoyed by the Visa thing. My confirmation from United showed up as expected and I was all set for my trip.

This morning I got the email from JetBlue letting me know that it was time to check in for my flight. The one which I didn’t actually buy. Except that the transaction really was pending when I called in that day and the ticket eventually did issue. My Visa was charged (I see it on the bill now; I didn’t bother to check when I got the bill a few weeks back) and the ticket was issued. But I never received the confirmation and I don’t really log in to my JetBlue account all that often so I never saw the pending reservation, certainly not within the 24 hour free cancel window. And now it is 7 weeks later.

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Fortunately, JetBlue came through for me. I sent a DM to their Twitter team and in less than an hour they reviewed the situation and agreed to refund my Even More Space purchase and also waive the change fees on the ticket; I now have the ~$95 as a credit in my Travel Bank account there. That’s not a full refund, I know, but I’m not too worried about it as I fly JetBlue enough that this $95 will eventually be used up anyways.

I suppose I probably should’ve noticed when the charge hit my CC. Or when I paid that bill. Or when I logged in to my TrueBlue account to see if my points and badges posted from a recent trip. I’m not sure noticing at any of those points would’ve helped or led to a different end result. But I probably should be paying more attention.

Anywho, I’ll see some of y’all in Florida this weekend. It turns out I was very well prepared in that regard.

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Seth Miller

I'm Seth, also known as the Wandering Aramean. I was bit by the travel bug 30 years ago and there's no sign of a cure. I fly ~200,000 miles annually; these are my stories. You can connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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