f*cking orbitz and airlines

[nostatic]

to make a long story short, just because you check the box that says, "show refundable tickets only" on the orbitz site, don't expect that the flight you get is refundable.

Oh, and you can't upgrade economy to biz class (at least on orbitz for malaysia air). And if you cancel a ticket and try to then buy a biz class ticket with the credit from the economy ticket, you can't do that either becuase it is an upgrade. How do you upgrade something that doesn't exist?!?!?

[HardDrive]

Call them. Drop the term "State's attorney general office" about 10 times.

[artplumber]

Ahh, the wonderfulness of the airline-run ticket agency!

Bummer dude

[SLO-BOB]

I used them for numerous biz flights once upon a time. It turned into such a fiasco that I discontinued use. On top of that, there was absolutely no cost advantage in buying from them vs the airline itself. The best (and last) one (of many)-

Bought a ticket to Buffalo-$750. It was a "last minute", expensive flight. I cancelled within the alotted time (24 hrs) and was credited the ticket price less the $100 airline fee plus the $30 Orbitz fee. (already $30 more than just going through the airline). I have a $620 credit at this point. Later try to schedule another, much cheaper flight-$125 as advertised and available through Orbitz. Same airline, same place, same time even. I call to buy the ticket and have it deducted from my existing credit. No one seems to speak/understand english. My guess-India. I hear a lot of "I understand, but...." and "I'm sorry but..." Bottom line, they want to charge me $1150 for the $125 ticket if I use my credit!! WTF!? Naturally I try to reason with them-why on earth would I give up my credit....AND pay them another $530 when I could simply click "purchase tickets" on my computer and get it for $125?? "I understand sir, but....." CLICK!

That was my final experience with Orbitz. I called the carrier, United. They sold me a ticket for $125 and subtracted it from my credit which they had record of- took about 7 minutes.

Lesson learned. Never again! Look up cheap flights on Orbitz, buy from the carrier.

[john70t]

Had a similar price "misunderstanding" with the Ticketmaster monopoly.

On the automated system there were two selections: #1 "for tickets starting at $59, and #2"for tickets starting at $89".
I pushed #1, but the final price was over a hundred dollars. Huh? The breakdown menu showed the tickets to be $89.

Wrote a quick email to the attorney general (who just happened to up for reelection).
Ticketmaster responded with first a friendly call to say they had some great seats at a special price just for me, then two strongly worded emails alluding that I misunderstood the phone menu, and the incident was not their fault, and any furthur action on my part in the incident would be responded to.
I never even gave them my contact info.

[Sonic dB]

for the future, you may want to consider using Orbitz for the
search of the flights that you want, write down the flight numbers
and then go to the airlines directly to purchase.

Also, www.site59.com is a great place to purchase last minute
flights...they put packages up there at really good prices...
however these will be non-refundable, but great in a pinch and
much cheaper than purchasing direct from the airlines at the
last minute

[nostatic]

Resolution. Called Malaysia Airlines and bought the biz class ticket direct from them. Called Orbitz back again and said I wanted a full refund since they misled me about the the nature of my ticket and that they were unable to help with the "upgrade." I said if they did not process a refund I would dispute the charge with Amex and contact the state attorney general's office as well as all the major travel sites online. After sitting on hold for 20 mintues, I was told to mail back the paper ticket and that a full refund would show up on the next billing statement.

Squeaky wheel...