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Expedia.com Complaint - Risks of Booking Air Tickets with Expedia - Airline Tickets
Airline Tickets - Complaint
Last month I booked tickets for me and my wife on Expedia for air travel later this week as follows: Continental First Class (refundable) EWR-DEN/ Frontier Coach (non-refundable) DEN-LAS / Continental First Class (refundable) LAS-EWR for later this week. My wife injured her back so I called Expedia today to cancel the reservation. They told me that I would have a credit of $3,063.78 on Frontier Airlines, since they are the “validating carrier” (carrier who issued the tickets) and that my refundable first class tickets had become non-refundable.
I would have assumed that Continental would have issued my tickets since they were the originating carrier and made up the majority of the cost and the travel – and since I live on the East Coast, a Frontier credit doesn’t really do me any good. A supervisor stated that the choice of validating carrier is “up to the airlines” and not something that Expedia had anything to do with. She said that there was no way to know ahead of time (before tickets were issued) which carrier would be the one who issues the ticket. And that hidden in their rules and regulations it states that when you book through Expedia, the entire itinerary is subject to the most restrictive ticket’s restrictions, so since my coach Frontier tickets were non-refundable, so was the whole itinerary.
I then called Expedia Corporate HQ and they gave me the number of the Corporate (as opposed to outsourced) Customer Service Department (800 615 1053). I ended up speaking with a friendly rep who explained that Expedia chooses the validating carrier based on the carrier’s commission structure and that Frontier’s commissions to travel agents are higher than Continental’s, so that’s why Frontier issued the tickets. So apparently Expedia not only knows who the validating carrier will be but chooses the validating carrier. When I pointed out that they should inform consumers that this was going on when booking their itineraries, the rep agreed and made vague promises to explore the issue, but couldn’t (wouldn’t) give me a refund or provide any other satisfactory solution. One footnote: Expedia said I could book travel through Frontier on Continental or another airline that has an electronic ticketing agreement with Frontier but the itinerary would have to have a Frontier leg.
Consumers should consider this when booking with Expedia. I don’t know if the other online travel sites do the same thing, but be careful.
I would have assumed that Continental would have issued my tickets since they were the originating carrier and made up the majority of the cost and the travel – and since I live on the East Coast, a Frontier credit doesn’t really do me any good. A supervisor stated that the choice of validating carrier is “up to the airlines” and not something that Expedia had anything to do with. She said that there was no way to know ahead of time (before tickets were issued) which carrier would be the one who issues the ticket. And that hidden in their rules and regulations it states that when you book through Expedia, the entire itinerary is subject to the most restrictive ticket’s restrictions, so since my coach Frontier tickets were non-refundable, so was the whole itinerary.
I then called Expedia Corporate HQ and they gave me the number of the Corporate (as opposed to outsourced) Customer Service Department (800 615 1053). I ended up speaking with a friendly rep who explained that Expedia chooses the validating carrier based on the carrier’s commission structure and that Frontier’s commissions to travel agents are higher than Continental’s, so that’s why Frontier issued the tickets. So apparently Expedia not only knows who the validating carrier will be but chooses the validating carrier. When I pointed out that they should inform consumers that this was going on when booking their itineraries, the rep agreed and made vague promises to explore the issue, but couldn’t (wouldn’t) give me a refund or provide any other satisfactory solution. One footnote: Expedia said I could book travel through Frontier on Continental or another airline that has an electronic ticketing agreement with Frontier but the itinerary would have to have a Frontier leg.
Consumers should consider this when booking with Expedia. I don’t know if the other online travel sites do the same thing, but be careful.
Comments:
Posted by superbowl on 2007-08-20:
Whenever you dump that much cash on travel it's a great idea to spend another $100.00 and buy travel insurance.
Posted by jrt88 on 2007-08-21:
With the exception of the Frontier portion (about $150), they were refundable tickets - so I had no need for travel insurance, or so I thought. Because Expedia chose to use Frontier as the validating carrier and Frontier's tickets were non-refundable, Expedia is now saying that the whole itinerary was non-refundable.
Posted by be on 2007-08-29:
the agent should have called frontier for you to refund the tickets. though the continental part is non refundable the frontier is the validating carrier, it is their ticket and besides you have to cancel the tkt due to medical issues. there is a 80-90% possibility to refund the tickets. it is how would the agent address the issue to frontier or manage the call. I also work for a travel agency. if i receive this type of call, yes the reservation is a non refundable but it is how we are to insist to frontier that it is a refundable ticket.
Posted by E.piphany on 2007-09-05:
i agree with you, expedia does need to inform customers who the validating carrier is before they book a ticket. and i'll tell you, honestly, a regular agent can't see who the validating carrier is until after it's booked. the people who put things on the website can see that...but they don't offer to list that on the website. however..the agent should have called frontier for you...they're not required to do that...but they should have done it out of curtosy. it wouldn't have guaranteed that you would've gotten it..but they should've exhausted all options. and it does state in all flight rules that the most restrictive rules apply..unfortunately, most people don't take time to read the fine print in terms and conditions (before i worked for a travel agency i never did) but next time...no matter who you book with...if you spend a decent amount of money on anything...well if you spend any amount of money that you'll be pissed if you don't get it back...read the fine print.
Posted by mOnIcA83 on 2007-09-22:
Frontier Airlines Medical Policy:
Frontier will issue a refund upon receipt of supporting documentation.
Medical extenuating circumstance is defined as hospitalization, cancer, terminal illness etc.
Unacceptable medical situations include but not limited to cold, flu, broken bones, knee surgery etc.
---------------------------------------------------
In short, no refund. But the airlines could waive the change fee for rebooking.As the agent had said, it is the airlines discretion.
LEt me ask you jrt88, did you read the FLIGHT RULES in your itinerary? Because if you did, you would CLEARLY see if it is refundable or not (regardless of whether one airline is refundable and one is not). If you had READ THE RULES after booking and are not okay with it being non-refundable, you still have 24hours to VOID the itinerary.
SO READ. PLEASE. IT WOULD REALLY HELP
Frontier will issue a refund upon receipt of supporting documentation.
Medical extenuating circumstance is defined as hospitalization, cancer, terminal illness etc.
Unacceptable medical situations include but not limited to cold, flu, broken bones, knee surgery etc.
---------------------------------------------------
In short, no refund. But the airlines could waive the change fee for rebooking.As the agent had said, it is the airlines discretion.
LEt me ask you jrt88, did you read the FLIGHT RULES in your itinerary? Because if you did, you would CLEARLY see if it is refundable or not (regardless of whether one airline is refundable and one is not). If you had READ THE RULES after booking and are not okay with it being non-refundable, you still have 24hours to VOID the itinerary.
SO READ. PLEASE. IT WOULD REALLY HELP
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