Airfare from Celebrity Air charged again AFTER the flight and was put on my cruise fare days after i boarded

[fstuff1]

I'm on my Antarctica cruise.

booked airfare to buenos aires on celebrity air back in july 2022 and paid back then.

flew down to buenos aires last week.

(yes, i paid. how else was i able to fly down here?)

 

yesterday while on the cruise, got a charge to my cabin for the airfare ($800). 

Good thing i checked my expenses on celebrity app.

Guest relations is looking into it.

 

Anyone else experience this? getting charged again AFTER the flight?

 

Edited February 21, 2023 by fstuff1

[blackshirt]

A charge to your onboard account for airfare? Never heard of such a thing. As you already noted, you can’t fly if not ticketed and you aren’t ticketed until paid for. Are you sure the charge is for airfare?

[fstuff1]

1 hour ago, blackshirt said:

A charge to your onboard account for airfare? Never heard of such a thing.

As you already noted, you can’t fly if not ticketed and you aren’t ticketed until paid for. Are you sure the charge is for airfare?

 

yup, the charge to my cabin is the exact same as the price of my airfare.

and guest services confirmed it's from the plane ticket from celebrity air.

they say Finance has no record of me paying thus charging to my acct.

 

yeah, defies logic since i flew here. 

and if i had an outstanding balance, why was i allowed onboard the ship? 

[1Virgo]

sorry you are having to deal with this on your holiday.   Do hope Celebrity makes it. up to you

[jelayne]

Do you have a copy of your booking accessible that show your balance with airfare before final payment and can you pull up your credit card statement to show that total was paid on x date?  That may give the on board staff the info Finance needs.

[soniam]

Or look at your credit card statement to ensure that payment went through the first time. Good luck!

[fstuff1]

4 hours ago, jelayne said:

Do you have a copy of your booking accessible that show your balance with airfare before final payment and can you pull up your credit card statement to show that total was paid on x date?  That may give the on board staff the info Finance needs.

yup, i showed them my booking that includes a line for celebrity air and the $ i paid for it. it also shows the final amount owed as $0.00.

 

and guest relations says Finance still says they have no record of me paying.

 

Edited February 21, 2023 by fstuff1

[fstuff1]

3 hours ago, soniam said:

Or look at your credit card statement to ensure that payment went through the first time. Good luck!

i paid months ago.

 

if payment didn't go through, how did i get on the plane last week to fly here? the airline wouldn't let me fly if i didnt pay.

and how was i allowed on board the ship if i owed $ on my booking?

Edited February 21, 2023 by fstuff1

[Arizona Wildcat]

5 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

yup, i showed them my booking that includes a line for celebrity air and the $ i paid for it. it also shows the final amount owed as $0.00.

 

and guest relations says Finance still says they have no record of me paying.

 

Doesn't make sense as FBC is not charged when you make your booking.  You would be charged at final payment.

 

Should be really simple to get a copy of your credit card statement for July of 2022 and show them the FBC charge last July.

 

Then get the last few statements to show where you paid for your cruise.  It is easy to get cruise fare and airline confused.

[Iamthesea]

I am grabbing at possible explanations for your charge.  You do not say where you flew from, or what type of seat you had on your flight, but $800 sounds too little for a flight to Buenos Aires from the U.S.  Could it be that you were not charged enough?  Or could this charge be for a return flight, where the original charge was just for one way?

Edited February 21, 2023 by Iamthesea

[Arizona Wildcat]

6 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

i paid months ago.

 

if payment didn't go through, how did i get on the plane to fly here? the airline wouldn't let me fly if i didnt pay.

and how was i allowed on board the ship if i owed $?

FBC makes mistakes and has ticketed passengers BEFORE payment was made.

 

Your solution is easy - get on the internet and show them the payment last July AND any months with payments for your cruise.

 

Arguing with the staff on board will make them less likely to help.  Just give them the facts.

 

Personally I would provide them with copies of all statements from July to January.  They should be able to print them out for you if asked politely.  Know you are frustrated.   Keep it to just the facts.  

[Georgia_Peaches]

What a frustrating scenario!  Does Celebrity concede that you would not have been able to get on the flight if it was showing as unpaid?  You can present facts and evidence seven ways to Sunday but it sounds like you're dealing with people (finance department) who are trained to read only what's on the screen in front of them without doing any research to get to the bottom of your situation.  It stinks to have to deal with this while on vacation but stick to your guns because it will be next to impossible to dispute after you leave.  Please keep us posted.

[Lastdance]

Stowaways are very uncommon nowadays, but not mistakes on a Celebrity Cruise.  Please let us know what really transpired...I am sure it will be corrected!

[Jim_Iain]

12 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

 

yup, the charge to my cabin is the exact same as the price of my airfare.

and guest services confirmed it's from the plane ticket from celebrity air.

they say Finance has no record of me paying thus charging to my acct.

 

yeah, defies logic since i flew here. 

and if i had an outstanding balance, why was i allowed onboard the ship? 

Personally I would dispute with Credit Card if they don't fix by end of your cruise.   They have to prove to you CC and you have a CC receipt so is a duplicate payment.

[Ipeeinthepools]

Please let us know you resolve the situation.

[Mark_T]

21 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

(yes, i paid. how else was i able to fly down here?)

All that really proves is that Celebrity paid for the flight, not that you paid Celebrity...

 

I would suggest going back to your original cruise invoice and check that the total you were invoiced for the cruise + the airfare matches the total you have paid, as I've seen errors in the 'balance to be paid' figure a few times and those errors do tend to get corrected at the last minute.

[fstuff1]

On 2/21/2023 at 3:17 PM, Arizona Wildcat said:

FBC makes mistakes and has ticketed passengers BEFORE payment was made.

 

On 2/22/2023 at 4:58 AM, Mark_T said:

All that really proves is that Celebrity paid for the flight, not that you paid Celebrity...

 

 

did not know that could happen. 😮

 

it's the 2nd decade in the 21st century.

did not know travel companies could make mistakes like that now.

 

i would have figured at a minimum the computer would give a warning like "He hasn't paid. Why are you issuing the ticket?"

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by fstuff1

[fstuff1]

On 2/22/2023 at 4:58 AM, Mark_T said:

I would suggest going back to your original cruise invoice and check that the total you were invoiced for the cruise + the airfare matches the total you have paid, as I've seen errors in the 'balance to be paid' figure a few times and those errors do tend to get corrected at the last minute.

 

This is the 2nd time airfare booked through Celebrity Air showed a balance due in my booking after i paid for the flight in the exact amount of my flight.

Both times i called up Celebrity Air and they corrected the problem.

Both bookings then showed $0.00 owed.

 

Went through the flight and cruise last year from the 1st booking no problem.

this cruise the problem popped up in the middle of my cruise.

and yes, it caused worry/stress and time taken away from my vacation to deal with this.

 

no more Celebrity Air for me. Don't care if it's refundable till final payment.

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by fstuff1

[fstuff1]

On 2/21/2023 at 11:21 PM, Jim_Iain said:

Personally I would dispute with Credit Card if they don't fix by end of your cruise.   They have to prove to you CC and you have a CC receipt so is a duplicate payment.

the problem with this is the possible  hassle of booking future Celebrity cruises 😞

[fstuff1]

Resolution:

So i found out the ship's Finance dept is just following what Shoreside is giving them, which is that i owe $800 for my flight.

 

That same Shoreside is that one that sent me my cruise booking confirmation with a line specifically for Celebrity Air, listing how much was charged ($800) and how much i paid ($800).

That confirmation showed EVERYTHING was paid and I owed $0.00.

 

Guest services escalated to Shoreside mgmt.

The $800 charge was removed from my acct.

 

Guest services was great!

 

Glad this was a 2 week cruise.

The charge appeared on Day 8 and i found out 4days later it was resolved.

Don't know what would have happened if this was a 7day cruise and the charge appeared on day 5? 😮

 

 

edit:

Just checked with my airline.

My flight back to the USA is still there and hasn't been canceled.

yeah, i'm checking again tomorrow too.

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by fstuff1

[dazey]

So glad to hear your issue was resolved.  And thanks for letting us know that it was taken care of and how.  I can only imagine how much time mentally it took from your cruise.