Paid reservation but no ticket received!

[CupCrusher40]

maybe if usps mailed tickets could be proof for both sides

[Irelandsmommy]

To the original poster:  regardless of what ANY of the frequent contributors/experts etc are saying to you, I know exactly what you say happened because it  JUST happened to me on February 8, 2022.  I tried to pay with Apple Pay inside the Southwest app.  When I would hit the “Purchase “

Reservation” button within the app, Apple Pay prompted me to approve transaction and then the little plane circled as it processed and then a pop up that said “UNKNOWN ERROR” And some alphanumeric code that meant nothing to me.  Ok, I think, it happens, I try again, same thing.  So now I call and the agent tells me that as I pressed the button to pay, the seats were sold and I just didn’t make it in time.  I get off the phone and do all of the above and it all happened again.  Finally I called an agent and had him do it for me with no issues whatsoever.  However after all that, I had 3 pending charges on my debit card totaling $387.  No tickets.  No agent at Southwest can see any of these transactions on their “side” of the payment processor.  My bank even sent over record of the transactions.  Still no word from Southwest or a call from a Supervisor like the agent told me.
 
So, to the contributors that consistently tell posters that their situation involving Southwest not releasing funds for unticketed reservations did not happen or that the poster is not telling you everything that happened, YOU ARE WRONG.  This does happen and Southwest agents can be hit or miss on both knowledge and manners when it comes to this situation.  Either they do not have any idea what is going on or they will just not believe you and be very very rude.  Oh and I actually used just my card and now Apple Pay on the last transaction I tried in the App.  Maybe it has something to do with the app.  Whatever it is, Southwest does not know why it happens  and can not see anything on their payment processor or making it so that the glitch somehow is kept out of what the phone agents can see. The $387 is still pending on my debit card and I am waiting for resolution.  And if any contributor wants to make a comment about not paying with a debit card for reservations, I have this to say to that.  I or any customer should be able to pay with ANY PAYMENT TYPE Southwest accepts without worrying if unauthorized pending charges will hold my money for days with no end in sight.  This happens and for anyone reading this in the future, contact me via this forum and hopefully I can give you insight on how it was resolved if at all.

[Francesca1]

Hey how did you ended up? It happen to me now and I am panicking 

[SwcanSUCKIT]

This just happened to me. 
first tried paypal credit. Did not go thru. Error msg
then tried apply pay. Same. No ticket and error mg

so i decided to call and stop trying. 
checked my paypal and my bank. Now i have 2 authorizations for 1200$ and NO TICKETS

so yes 2400$ epent and zero tickets. 
at this rate if the charges do go through my trip is cancelled. I saved for 6 months for these tickets. 
SW reps did nothing. 

[January702]

Hi. Can you please tell me how this resolved for you. Were you officially charged or did the money get returned after pending? I have $1763 “pending” from this same issue. 

[SwcanSUCKIT]

Hi

the 1300$ authorization was on my bank acct for 2 weeks until my bank finally released the funds, after much begging from me. 
I had to buy tickets using the Uplift financing SW offers at check out. The entire process was a nightmare. SW gave me a measly 300$ travel credit. Which i likely wont even use. 
my advice would be DO NOT EVER USE APPLE PAY TO BUY TICKETS W SW! The system has been broken for years and they have no plans to fix it. 

[dfwskier]

Pending charges are not charged to you. They are a temporary hold on your assets - not a charge.

So if you have a 10,000 bank account and a $3456 pending charge, then $3456 is placed on temporary hold to prevent being overdrawn _(that is unless you have overdraft protection).

So in the example above if you were trying to withdraw $8000 from your account, the transaction would be declined because the account does not have $8000 AVAILABLE for withdrawal it only has 10000-3456=6544 available. 

The $3456 temporary hold would be released when the merchant does not follow thru with the actual charge.

[January702]

I am aware of what pending means. However as others have shared, these Apple Pay purchased with SWA stay in a pending status for longer than the normal 48 hours. Some people have said 6+ weeks before the bank finally reversed it. 

[Dalysss26]

Hi did you get this resolved? This just happened to me 😭

[January702]

Hi. I called southwest and the initial rep told me they couldnt help. After asking for a supervisor they put me on hold but also escalated to a different department where they gave me a case #. Next day (6 days/4 business days) I called me bank (BofA) who said they give the merchant 5 business days to drop the pending before they consider it fraud. So technically today was day 5. They said if it wasn’t returned today, to call back. Well I woke up this morning to the funds being returned. I was able to purchase new ticket, not using Apple Pay.