Air Seychelles review: Available premium seats were not booked even though I paid twice

I have documentation of all messages between the Call Center staff and myself. I am retired on a disability which means I have a fixed income. Money expenditures are important to me. On August 15, 2023, I contacted the Air Seychelles Call Center to ask if I could book 4C, a middle seat between 4F and 4D which I'd booked for my husband and me (ref: 130RDC Harris). I was told at that time that neither of my seats were booked. I had previously changed the departure date of my flight and afterwards was sent a confirmation that my flight date had been changed. At that time, it still showed I had 4F and 4D booked. I agreed to pay $50 each to book the seats. On August 17, the call center sent me an email notice that $100 would be debited from my account for 4F and 4D. No payment link was provided. Several attempts to pay online through the Air Seychelles booking portal (other services) were unsuccessful because there was no place on the payment form for my "state." I am in the US and my credit card company requires the city and state for payment to be authorized. I called the call center twice, incurring long distance charges, but could reach no one. The time difference between us is 11 hours. On August 18, I contacted the call center again by phone, incurring yet another international call fee, and was able to reach emergency service. I was sent an invoice with a link. The link was dead; I could not pull up any payment device. I notified the agent and ended up calling to provide my credit card number. She asked me to complete an authorization form and send a separate email with my credit card info. I did this. Then I discovered the agent had booked me in 4D and 4C. I have severe medical problems and require a window seat. My husband requires an aisle seat because he is claustrophobic. I sent an email back asking that my seat be changed to 4F from 4C. The agent said it would cost another $50 to do this. I told her that I'd pay it. I sent the agent a copy of the email from August 17 to show her that I had originally asked for 4D and 4F. The agent finally changed my seat. I checked online and my booking through the Air Seychelles portal showed I had the correct seats. Then today, August 20, I received a notice from Air Seychelles that I owed $100. Neither 4D nor 4F were booked. This time, the link provided by the agent worked and I paid $100 online to book the seats. I checked again and the seats were not booked.

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