Expedia Flight Bookings Consumer Reviews - Page 3

We booked a trip to Lisbon Portugal using the flight/hotel package option. After reading almost 100 glowing reports about one of the hotel options, we chose it. We also selected and paid for the airport/hotel and hotel/airport transportation. Because another travel website had shown that particular hotel as being fully booked, I was very concerned that perhaps Expedia had booked us in by mistake. I emailed them 3 TIMES asking them to confirm that we did have a room. I NEVER received any response from them. I finally had to call the hotel itself to confirm the room. I then called the transportation service in Lisbon and confirmed with them.

On the flight from Newark to Lisbon we were given the seats at the rear of the plane next to the bathrooms. This has happened before when we've used either a site like Expedia or "free" mileage tickets. This is retaliatory on the part of the airlines and Expedia should not allow it. We arrived in Lisbon to find NO car service waiting for us. We waited for an hour and finally had a representative at the Tourist Info booth call them. They arrived very flustered saying that they had no booking for us but would take us to the hotel anyway. We made absolutely sure, in the car, to make them reconfirm for the trip back to the airport because they said they did not have us down for that, either.

At the hotel we expected the best based on the reviews - a terrace to relax on, a decanter of Port in the room on arrival, a coffee/tea service. We saved almost no money by booking through them but decided it was worth the price (nearly $300/night) anyway. We were given a "cheap" room - no terrace, no Port, no coffee/tea service. Again, I believe it was in retaliation for booking with Expedia and not directly with them or a local Lisbon company. I have already submitted a review to TripAdvisor about that. Expedia also had us pay for the option of having breakfast at the hotel. After checking in it was quite obvious that breakfast was FREE and for ALL guests.

I will not use Expedia ever again based on their total lack of response to questions, and the apparent policy of other companies to offer the basest of services to Expedia's clients.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- Just a warning out there to anyone considering using Expedia for flight booking - DON'T!!! NEVER, I REPEAT, NEVER, USE THIS SERVICE. I am learning that they really are an unnecessary and hindering intermediary. The night before my flight from New York JFK to San Jose, Costa Rica, I logged on to Expedia to check the flight status. There was a message posted asking me to contact them at the 1-800 number as the status of my flight had been changed. I called and spoke to Agent #**, by the name of **, who proceeded to tell me that my return flight to New York had been changed.

I spent approximately 1.5 hours on the phone with ** and his manager, **, trying to change the return flight to another time, as the change was unacceptable. After 1.5 hours, they were not able to accommodate me and told me I would have to take it up directly with the airline when I arrived at the airport ticketing counter. This confused me as I thought that the role of Expedia is to act as an agent on my behalf with the airline. If this is not the case, what value/service do they provide?

I repeatedly asked ** to verify that this was the only change to my itinerary. He confirmed this. I asked him a second time to confirm all flight details on my itinerary, he did this, and it matched up with my printed tickets with the exception to the change in the return flight time. I then arrived at the airport the following morning two hours before my departure only to find that the departure out of NY had been changed also, to an earlier time, causing me to miss my flight.

My boyfriend and I then spent just short of 2.5 hours on the phone with Expedia trying to get on another flight, not including the two times they dropped our call completely and we had to call back and start over again with a new agent. Finally, we gave up and contacted American Express travel services and booked another flight at my expense. I am eating $600 and a lost day of vacation, thanks to the incompetence of this service.

They have a standard call center check sheet that they used to check off the procedure with each call, i.e., did they inform the customer of an itinerary change. Problem is, it doesn't delineate which itinerary changes have been relayed to the customer, so something could be missed. So we are now trying to get a transcript of the call to prove their error and get reimbursement for the ticket.

NEVER, I REPEAT, NEVER, USE THIS SERVICE. Use it to find available airlines/flights, and then contact the airline directly to purchase the ticket. They are powerless, unhelpful, incompetent, and restrictive.

NAPERVILLE, ILLINOIS -- Booked 2 return overseas tickets online with Expedia. They added a package insurance of $88.00. I called next day to cancel the insurance, the answer was no way to cancel, it is the policy. Tried to explain to everyone I talked to that the insurance is optional and it has nothing to do with the ticket fare or the booking but the answer was one - sorry, bad luck. No way to opt out. Either you cancel your flight or live with the charge.

One of the supervisors tested the idea to cancel flight and do new booking without insurance. The fare came back even higher. I am very disappointed from the insurance scam and the stupidity in dealing with frequent fliers. One more thing you need to know about customer service at Expedia if you need to contact them, you will talk first to someone probably from India, then move you to another supervisor also in India, then if you are lucky you speak to Nicole in Expedia corporate in the US and none of all was helpful and of course you need to do that in a weekend to have enough time for the call. Bad experience overall.

Expedia sold me a flight protection plan in case my plans changed "I wouldn't have to pay any cancellation or change penalties." Expedia also said, "If you need to make a change just call us and we will take care of it." After arriving at my destination my meeting schedule changed. I call Expedia for rebooking my flight. They say.... "Oh I'm sorry. You have already used part of your ticket, we can't help you... you have to call the airline." I ask: "What if the airline charges me for changing my ticket?" Expedia: "Then call the insurance carrier not us. By the way, why are you changing your flights? The insurance company will decide if your reason for changing is covered."

In other words.... no insurance, tough luck. This is not what was told to me by Expedia. Just another rip off scheme by an insurance company!!!!! I expected much better from Expedia... guess I'm just another sucker to the Expedia management!

I was booking flight online through Expedia when I noticed a warning that only two tickets remained for my chosen flights. I also noticed a number for Expedia, so I called it to ask if my wife and I would be able to sit together on our flights. Instead of answering my question (btw, they referred me to Delta to get the answer), the Expedia representative spent about 20 minutes with me taking down all of my information so she could set me up with an Expedia account. I assume she must get compensated based on how many accounts she sets up and how many flights she books.

When she got done, she quoted me a rate that was $72 higher than the one I found online. Her delay in answering my question resulted in a rate increase. I wasn't very happy about that, but to make matters worse she grilled me about changing my flights, changing my travel dates, etc. to the point where I got concerned that she would proceed to screw up my itinerary altogether.

Finally, after nearly having to hang up on her, I ended the call and booked online myself. Based on my experience with the Expedia rep, I was concerned about Expedia's ability to get my trip booked correctly, and I opted to select the travel insurance for another $45. But, after thinking about it for about an hour, I got progressively ticked off about paying $117 extra between the increased airfare and travel insurance. That was roughly 12% of the total online package price. So I called back to attempt to at least cancel the $45 insurance plan. I got the door closed on me at every turn. What a tacky approach to doing business. Never again.

Expedia failed to provide us with necessary information, let us believe that we were OK and then told us it was our fault we didn't read the airline policies and there was nothing they would do. We purchased a round trip airline ticket for our daughter. It cost $190, going from Chicago to Kansas City. At the last minute our daughter had a class time change and could not make the flight to KC. We called Expedia. They said to change the flight would cost $150. We said we would find another way and ended up purchasing an Amtrak ticket for $100.

Today, when we attempted to get a boarding pass for her trip back to Chicago, we were told the reservation was cancelled and no refund. Why? She had not used the ticket to KC. We pointed out that Expedia didn't tell us anything about this. They said that was our fault.

So, we paid for a ticket that was not used at all, and the airline got the money. Then the airline wanted to charge us another fee for getting the flight back to Chicago. They wanted $400 for the ticket and penalties. We finally got them to sell us a new ticket; that cost $200, twice what we originally paid. This trip cost me $500. That's about $100 per mile. Expedia has no concern for customers. They just said it was too bad. I'll never, ever use Expedia again.

FORT WAYNE, INDIANA -- I found a price of $1,282.00 to England and went through the process of buying the ticket. When I completed the transaction the price was $1,326.00. I called twice to find out the problem and both times they explained that the final price is real time and that they cannot help me. Both my phone calls were cut off before I could get any satisfaction. I have never had this kind of problem with other online reservation sites. I will not use Expedia again and I would advise that you stay away from this bait and switch kind of business practice.

I booked a flight for my boyfriend (a fisherman from Alaska), and we just found out today that he would be able to come home 1 day sooner than we originally booked the flight for. I called Expedia and spoke with a customer service representative and he told me that we were eligible for a complimentary flight change at no cost (normally around $100.00) and he gave me a reference number to use when I call back with a new flight time. I tried calling Expedia twice but after being on hold for 10 min. both times and never getting through to anyone, I had to have my boyfriend call from the airport (I was at work and was too busy).

He called me back a bit later and said that we in fact did have to pay to change the flight plan and even though we had a reference number and the name of the customer service person who originally told us about the one time complimentary flight change, Expedia wouldn't honor that stating that we were given the wrong information. He ended up changing his flight plan directly through the airlines and paying for the change. I will never use Expedia again.

I booked two airline tickets from Expedia and received a "Travel Confirmation" that confirmed my booking. The next day I was called up by a service representative who told me that they wouldn't honor the booking at the price quoted, because they had made a mistake and the airline would not accept the price. I ended up having to be re-routed and pay 10% more for the trip.

Here's the problem: at no point in the process did Expedia explain that the booking was not a booking, and there was absolutely no mention of that in the travel confirmation email either. I believe I should be entitled to relay on the written communication from Expedia.

A rude service representative was arguing and bantering, and I finally got hold of his supervisor, who admitted that Expedia had not informed me of this, but they would not pay the difference. I believe Expedia clearly overstepped any normal business practice boundary and will not be using that company in the future.

I purchased flight insurance for a trip booked over the winter holidays, December 2009. During my stay I developed severe pain in my groin and was advised by my doctor to return home and be seen. (We agreed this was muscular-skeletal issue.) Meanwhile it was recommended I upgrade to First Class so that my medical condition would not be exacerbated in coach seating. When I arrived at the airport, my first flight was cancelled and nothing was available to connect to my second flight until the following day... and I would be responsible for hotel, etc.

Meanwhile, working with the agent, we were able to book a flight out of Newark, NJ early next morning, together with my adult son, who was helping with luggage. We rented a car to get to the airport since no flights were available for the connecting flight. Berkely Care denied the car rental to the connecting flight, denied the upgrade to First Class, and wished me well in my recovery. None of the restrictions are printed on the Expedia site notifying customers of the EXTREME LIMITATIONS OF THE BERKELY CARE FLIGHT INSURANCE.

Please note that I complied with all requests to prove this incident including supplying a note from my attending physician. I believe there is NO oversight and this company can deny without due diligence, without due process and once again, we consumers are the victim. Hopefully, this will be pursued as I believe Berkely Care did not fulfill its consumer obligation.