Booking an airline ticket online for the holidays? Read this first

Here’s a cautionary tale for anyone buying an airline ticket for the holidays, and a little advice: Pay attention your bank account balance. And be patient.

Kelly Lukanen, can I hear an “amen”?

Lukanen recently tried to book a ticket from Minneapolis to Stockholm on Orbitz. Not only did the initial purchase fail, but she found $835 of her hard-earned money tied up in a mysterious transaction.

When I clicked the purchase button, my purchase did not go all the way through and I received a note to contact the airline directly.

I had never had this happen before. In any event, I proceeded and went to NWA.com and found a similar airfare and booked through them directly. Shortly after, I went to look at my bank account statement, and much to my surprise both transactions were listed as pending.

The Orbitz.com charge put me into the negative and I am currently at a negative balance.

Because I certainly cannot wait one to three days to have money in my possession, I called the bank to resolve this as soon as possible. I was told that they cannot help me and that the charge should drop off in one to three business days, but until then I do not have any funds available to me.

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