Victor's Blog about the Web, Security and Life

Yesterday, I booked my first ticket online with Malev Hungarian Airlines. My trip is from Beirut to Gotenburg on July 2010.

The total fare to be charged "as per the website" was 567 USD for the roundtrip. The confirmation email (and yes I still have it and is attached below) confirms that the total charges should 567 USD. Yet, my credit card was charged 609 USD.

Being pretty familiar with Credit Card charges, I decided that this should be some sort of conversion between USD / Euro while processing the payment through their payment gateway. Thus, I gently sent them an email asking them to refund the difference.

Today, I received a reply back from them asking me to contact client service on a Hungarian phone number. I did. The woman on the other side simply checked, confirmed the price (567 USD) and said that everything is OK lol

I told her that the card was charged 609 USD. She was surprised first but, then, she remembered (surprisingly she did) that there is something that they call a "Service Fee" that is worth 30 Euros for the Lebanon region and that changes from region to region. What a joke!

She couldn't even confirm that the service fee is 30 Euros. She said that it should be around 30 Euros but there is no way for her to know the exact figure.

The worse part is that she is admitting that they have hidden fees.

The worst part is that she cannot now what the exact fee should be.

No comment from me on this. I know that this will be my last time to book with them online unless some magic occurs and someone points how something so unprofessional can happen with an airline reservation system.

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I am experienced in Internet technologies, Web Services and Online Interactive solutions. I am very interested in challenges related to web services engineering especially complex and hybrid online solutions (Intranet, Extranet, e-Commerce, etc.) and algorithms (search engines, security, etc.)

I am experienced in security as well. My expertise is mainly in network and Internet security. I am also experienced in the fields of cryptography, security assessment techniques, security design (policies, profiles, architectures, etc.) as well as security auditing and ethical hacking.

I am a Linux fan (by nature :). Period.

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