Well, it is official.  We will be booking our third trip to Ireland on Friday  Should have had it booked today, but ran into a computer/credit card/airline snafoo (sp?)  To make a long story short, .... we were trying to book flights for another couple, long time friends who are planning to travel there with us.   I had tried to book their flights on my computer in the state of Washington using his credit card (they are snowbirds with an Arizona credit card address but live in Washington in the summer).  It had sent up a red flag, and due to fraud on international flights it was rejected.  While I was trying to redo it on his significant other's card, which also failed, and then on my card, which also failed, he received a telephone call FROM Visa.  They were worried about fraud, and asked him if he knew what was going on.  He let them know it was legit.  They suggested we should now  go ahead and  try his again, since they had ruled out fraud.    This time his transaction went thru and successfully booked.  However mine wouldn't go thru, I tried 2 more times.  I then called Visa, and they said that I had 2 "pending transactions" with Delta, due to 2 attempts, and my card now only had $1002.00 credit limit left to do a $1600 transaction  this all  because of these 2 pending transactions!!!....There SHOULD have been  $4500 credit limit left.  We had secured  fares of $752/person (plus $49 trip cancel) for the March 26-April 10 2011 trip.  Needless to say, I couldn't get our booking to go thru....Visa couldn't and wouldn't do anything about it, and suggested I call Delta to get the 2 pending transaction released.  I called Delta, and Delta wanted a confirmation number....but it had never let me get that far, due to rejecting my credit card twice.  The best they could do for me was to have me  wait 24 hours for the "pending transactions" to expire, and then try again.  So I will on Friday morning.  This time I will call Visa ahead of time, and let them know that it is a legit charge! Luckily the planes aren't very full 8 months out, and I am optomistic the $752 fare will still be available after 24 hours has passed, since it has been there for over a week.  It had been over $800 prior to that.   It looks like "Murphy's Law" has kicked in once again!  Hopefully no broken bones this trip!!! 

Thought this info might save someone else some headaches in the booking process, especially if time is important in getting a good rate nailed down.  Delta wouldn't hold the flights or rates for me for 24 hours, unless I was using frequent flyer miles.   I highly reccommend calling your credit card company prior to attempting a booking on an international flight due to security measures that are being taken by the credit card companys due to credit card fraud....which is good..... I guess.  I could have probably booked on my World MasterCard, but I was greedy and wanted the 1600 points on my Visa, as I am close to getting a free flight (for trip number 4 to Ireland, no less!!)

Will keep you posted how it all turns out....now for the looooong 8 month wait Dan