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Expedia - Air Travel

• Air travel • Hotels • Vacation packages --- News • Expedia Ordered to Reimburse Extra Tax Charged to Consumers

Katherine of Lomita, CA August 1, 2009

8:00 a.m. I am writing this while on hold, waiting for Mia's supervisor's supervisor...(my call with Ice was dropped after a 15 minute wait, and I try again.)

I booked two one-way flights through Expedia: LAX to JFK on July 18th and DCA to LAX on July 27th. I booked both and used the same credit card on the same day. A week later, while preparing to give my information to those taking me to and from the airports, I observed that my return flight home was a reservation only--why I didn't know.

I sent an email inquiry on July 12th. On July 14th I spoke with an Expedia employee on the phone to 1) make sure my flight got booked and 2) inquire if I was still going to get the 150.20 rate. He informed me that yes, my flight was booked, and yes, I would be charged that rate. On July 27th at 8:00 am I went on line to check in for my 6:00 pm return flight, and what do you know....there was none! My card had not been charged, Expedia still showed reservation only, and Frontier was unable to do anything with a flight confirmation code.

I was on the phone with Expedia, then Frontier, then Expedia, then Frontier and then Expedia again. The third Expedia call was dropped. My 4th call I made while walking to the capitol for an 11 a.m. tour. My family went through security and because I was going to have to hang up before going through security, I went back outside, and waited 30 minutes more (no one ever spoke to me) in order not to loose my "place" on hold and have to start all over again.

I gave up and dialed again in order to speak to someone. I got in line to entire the capitol, called Expedia, and explained that I was only able to talk until I reached security, so I was going to have to hang up shortly and when I called back, I was hopeful that they could help me get on that 6pm flight home.

After the tour, I got back on the phone at 2:00 pm. and walked to the Smithsonian American Indian Museum and went through the whole process again while my family toured the museum. Each new person I spoke to could only repeat the same answer; none was able to offer satisfacotory help. I persisted in speaking to a supervisor and then another before finally speaking to Oscar Alexis in El Salvador. He, too, had no authority to do anything other than book be a different flight home at the day's price, but I did ascertain from him that the notes they had for my July 14th phone conversation where I received a verbal confirmation only says that "an inquiry was made." There was no description of the inquiry or the resolution.

So it was true that Expedia had no record of my flight reservation because whoever I spoke to that day (before I started asking for names) did not document it. Before hanging up with Oscar at 4:30 pm on the 27th, I Informed him I would be pursuing this upon my return. He said he would be, too.

Imagine my complete surprise at home on July 30th when I opened an email from Expedia CONFIRMING MY DCA to LAX Flight, complete with a Flight confirmation code that I would have given to Frontier the morning of the 27th: IPHGLR! Unbelievable.

10:30 a.m. I just hung up with Christy, one level above Gabby (who's above Mia). She first offered me a 100 Expedia flight coupon. I explained that was not satisfactory to me because. After a little more conversation she offered 200 Expedia flight coupon good for one year and credit my card with 60 to cover the extra hotel expense. She cannot refund a flight, but she can credit my card with 60. I don't like the idea of having to go on a trip as a form of reimbursement, and I don't like the idea of having to do it through Expedia.

Christy also said in regards to the July 14th call, "you were told you did not have a reservation," which I found disturbing. I asked her if she had a name for the person I spoke with, and she said no, but that can't be right, either, because in my conversation with Oscar, he gave me the name of someone I had spoken to earlier that day.

When I persisted with Christy that it made no sense for me to book a flight on the 6th, make an email inquiry on the 12th and a phone inquiry on the 14th and STILL leave for a trip without a final confirmed reservation, her answer was that the Expedia home page shows I had no confirmation, even though the subject line from Expedia's email says "Expedia Travel Confirmation," and the email says "Here are the itinerary and confirmation numbers for your trip. For more specific details, see the My Itineraires in your Expedia Account." According to Christy, that is not a true confirmation.

So why did Expedia send an email July 23rd with the Frontier confirmation code that they were not able to refer to on the 27th when I called? I missed being able to return on that 6 pm flight because of the multiple hours on the phone, which required a hotel stay and a return flight home that was 180 more.

Sandra of Douglassville, PA July 29, 2009

We booked a trip to Rome from PHL through Expedia in 1/09 for travel on 7/24/09. Our flight on Air One (operated by United) was canceled in May and rebooked on United. We were denied boarding by United because electronic ticketing numbers were never changed/or reissued although we had received flight confirmation from Expedia and United and had assigned seats on the flight.

We are having difficulty seeking reimbursement of 2,321.60 for the charge for our tickets. We missed a 10-day cruise on Holland America with friends and family.

Laurie of Sacramento, CA July 28, 2009

Several months ago I booked two round trip flights on Expedia from Sacramento, CA to Cabo San Jose on Mexicana Airlines. They were offering a special fare which was too good to pass up. Tonight I received an urgent e-mail from Expedia advising me to call them because the airline had canceled my flight. When I spoke to the customer service rep, she told me that Mexicana had canceled the flight from Sacramento to Cabo due to the swine flu. She went on to say that Mexicana had extended their restrictions on flying through October 2009. I asked her if there was a possibility of my return flight on Nov 7 also being canceled because of the swine flu and she said perhaps. She offered to give me a voucher for the amount of the two round trip tickets that I had paid for. When I looked at Expedia's website for alternative flights on the same dates, there were no longer non stop flights and the prices were almost double what I had paid.

I asked to speak with a supervisor. His name is Brian and he listened to my story, then gave me a reference number and said that he needed to call Mexicana directly to see if they would put me on another flight perhaps the following Saturday. Ironically, the following Saturday is still an Oct. date. He never mentioned anything about the swine flu restriction. He promised to call me back in ten minutes. After an hour and a half, I called Expedia again. I spoke with someone who said her name is Erica. I gave her my reference number and asked to speak with Brian. She said that she could not guarantee that I would speak with the same supervisor and so she placed me on hold. Fifteen minutes later she returned to say that perhaps they could get me on a flight later in the afternoon on my original departure date.

Ironically, while I was holding, I called Mexicana and was told there is no travel restriction due to the swine flu AND my canceled flight was still a scheduled flight on Mexicana's website, at a much higher price. OK... holding... holding.... here comes Joe the manager. His story is that Mexicana did give Expedia the swine flu excuse for canceling the trip. He said that Mexicana has been offering reprotection. When I asked him what reprotection means, he said that Mexicana is offering to rebook us on a different airline. In his opinion he suggested that the airline may be going bankrupt. I asked him if that was the case, why wouldn't they reprotect us for our return flight too and rebook that flight. He said they would only do it for the flight that had been canceled. He asked me to hold while he tried to set up a conference call with the airline to get this straightened out once and for all. Guess what...yup you guessed it, I was disconnected. It's been a two hour battle. I will take this up again in the AM. Wonder if there is legal merit for all these complaints about Expedia and Mexicana that I have been reading on the internet.

Louise of Chorlton, United Kingdom July 14, 2009

I booked a holiday with Expedia for two people: flights and hotel. Due to a clash of dates, I rang Expedia's customer relations to either change the dates, change the name of one passenger or cancel the flights - depending on which was the cheapest option.

I was advised by the representative that it would cost £90 to change the name of the passenger or the dates. However, I would only have to pay £25 per person to cancel the flights. As this came to £50 - I chose this option. However, after checking my bank statement, I found I was only refunded £8.10 pounds for flights that cost £294.20. I contacted both Expedia and Flybe (the airline provider) about this issue and was advised by Flybe that I had to contact Expedia. Expedia's response was that I needed to contact Flybe. Both companies appeared to have passed the blame.

So I contacted Expedia once more to inform them that this response was not good enough. The representative there explained fully the costs incurred and the refunds given. It occurred to me in this e-mail that there was a problem with their refund process as she admitted in the e-mail that I was not refunded the correct amount for the hotel costs. This money was put back into my account. However, she has said in her e-mail that I am not entitled to a refund for the flights.

My main issue with this is that I was not informed over the phone that I would lose £286.10 for cancelling the flights. If I had been told this, I would have certainly paid an extra £90 to change the flights to another date or passenger name. I would prefer to pay the money and go on holiday over paying £286.10 and having no holiday.

JOE of Aptos, CA July 10, 2009

We booked a flight with expedia to fly to Frankfurt. We were unable to make the flight and had to cancel one day before flight date.I contacted Lufthansa and the person I talked to said that even though we had non refundable tickets we could get at least half of the value of the tickets for the taxes and fees if we decided to cancel but that expedia would have to be the one to issue such refund. I talked to four people and two supervisers and they told me that we would have to talk with the IRS. I called the IRS and they told me that they did not know what expedia was talking about that it was them that were to credit our account. I called expedia back again and was placed on hold for one and a half hours and then they told us that it was Lufthansa that had to issue the refund. Lufthansa claims it is Expedia.All I can say is that Expedia is one big dishonest business and are bunch of thieves.

Wendy of Conifer, CO July 10, 2009

On March 7, 2009, I bought an itinerary from Expedia for my son and daughter-in-law to fly from Nanjing, China on May 8, 2009 to Ixtapa Mexico (3228.40 +54 for travel insurance) to join our family for a vacation. On April 15, my son's wife, a Chinese citizen, received her tourist visa for Mexico and was told by the visa agent that was all that was needed.

Late in April, the US government issued a travel advisory for Mexico due to the H1N1 flu. With great effort and confusion, were able to rebook for June 26, 2009 (3488.62 at the time of re-booking). I was told by Expedia that we would be issued paper tickets, to be sent to me in Colorado, because Expedia did not want the liability of sending the tickets directly to China. When they did not arrive after 10 days, I called Expedia and the tickets were eventually reissued, however on May 12, 2009 the price changed to 3515.80. The tickets were issued at the new price, including fees which I should not have incurred.

I was told this itinerary was definitely confirmed, and there was no need to reconfirm 72 hours in advance. I did call Expedia to reconfirm anyways, and I was reassured that we were good to go. Then my son called Air China for seat assignment and was told the ticket he had was invalid.It was the same ticket number as was issued for the first trip and had not been given a new number. Three days of scrambling and dozens of hours on the phone with Expedia and Air China finally produced a new ticket number, just a few hours before the departure time.

According to Expedia, Air China "owned" the itinerary (was the validating carrier), which had changed some over the ordeal, but the outbound flights were always Nanjing to Beijing to LA to Mexico City to Ixtapa. On June 26, 2009, Air China reviewed my son's and his wife's tickets, passports and visas and allowed them to board the flight to Beijing. In Beijing, Air China advised them NOT to board the plane from Beijing to LA, because my son's wife did not have a US transit visa for , which is required for Chinese citizens even to change planes in the US. (Had Air China stopped the couple in Nanjing, these tickets would have been refundable or rebook-able.) Frantic calls to various embassies and consulates were unsuccessful , so at this point they were effectively stranded in Beijing. Expedia would not rebook or reroute since their travel had already begun. I purchased an entirely new outbound itinerary routing them through Europe.

Meanwhile, I called Air China to confirm that we still held the return tickets (which went through Europe). Air China said the return itinerary was still set. Expedia denied this, saying the entire itinerary was cancelled when the couple did not board the plane from Beijing to LA. Furthermore, the refund policy for the original June 26 itinerary (through LA) was governed by the airline with the strictest policy, which was Mexicana's the itinerary included a short, cheap Mexicana hopper from Mexico City to Ixtapa, which was nonrefundable.

Result: Entire amount of our purchase was deemed nonrefundable by Expedia. Air China was willing to refund 2000 RMB (~300US), but they said they could only do so through Expedia. I did not contact Lufthansa regarding their refund policy on the scheduled return.

Magdaelena of Bronx, NY June 24, 2009

I booked a flight with Delta Airlines for June, 24, 2009 at 11am. We arrived the day of, and at 8:45am, the ticketing clerk informed us that our flight had been changed to an earlier flight. She also let us know that Delta informed Expedia of the change, but Expedia did not contact us to let us know. We were told by expedia that "an email" was sent out informing us of the change. We never received an email from expedia. We were told that expedia does not call customers because it is a web-based company. They have basically blamed us this entire time for the error because we were "notified".

We should have been called to be informed of this change because we have a 2 year old and a 2 month old and we now have to wait an additional 6 hours in the airport because some [rep] at expedia did not pick up the phone and call us. We also had to call expedia 2 weeks prior to inform them of the birthdate of our 2 month old because we initially estimated his birthday because he was not born yet. My wife confirmed with the agent whom she spoke with that the flight was ok, and they said yes. And of course, Expedia has no record of this communication.

Delta also let us know that they would have called us but they were not given any contact information, which means that expedia did not give our full information to the airline that we planned on taking. The supervisor for Expedia refused to let us put in a complaint because their "records" show that we were contacted. They should not rely on e-mail to report such a huge change in someone's travel plans. My wife was also on hold for the greater part of an hour so that she could speak to a supervisor, to no avail. I think that this is ridiculous and violates all sorts of ethical ideals.

Francis of wyoming, MI June 23, 2009

I was getting a ticket home to see my wife and had to change the travel date, due to orders, ok no problem. The agent on the phone repeats the right date july 22 2009 and then later I find out they marked it for the 20th. I was informed that even though it was their error, after repeating the proper date originally. I would have to fork over another 200 to get a flight at all. Even united is disgusted with them.

Cathy of Duvall, WA June 19, 2009

I booked a trip through Expedia for my husband and I under one itinerary number, and my son and his girlfriend under a separate itinerary. I elected to pay half of each itinerary and have the other half billed to my credit card 30 days before the trip. Ultimately, my son and girlfriend could not go and I cancelled their trip.

It took 4 phone calls and an hour and a half because I was continually put on hold and then disconnected. Finally I obtained a confirmation number and assumed the matter was concluded.

On June 15th I received an email advising me Expedia had received "approval" for both itineraries to be charged to my credit card. I contacted Expedia immediately and, after several disconnections and being on hold for nearly an hour, I was assured the trip had indeed been cancelled and my credit card would not be billed for the cancelled trip. At that time I was provided a "reference" number.

I just received notice that my credit card was billed for both trips. I immediately contacted Expedia and, again, after a disconnection and ridiculous amount of time on hold, I was advised they had a record of the cancellation and the charges would be reversed in 7-10 business days, but it might take "1-2 billing cycles" before the amount was credited. I asked for clarification, i.e., whether it would take 7-10 business days, or 30-60 days. The response was unintelligble.

Winston of Cambridge, United Kingdom June 14, 2009

On 06/06/09 I was exploring the option of purchasing a flight from London Heathrow to Newark. I found a flight leaving on 17/08/09 and returning on 04/09/09 for £621. I was proceeding to do the booking when the price went up to £907. I was asked to confirm the new price. However, I did not. On 08/06/09, I received a call from my bank telling me my card has been put on hold due to insufficient funds. Expedia proceeded with the booking without my confirmation and took £907 from my account. I did not have the sufficient funds to cover that amount. Therefore the bank froze my entire account. I have spoken with the staff in Expedia whom were very apologetic. However, the funds could not be transferred back into my account for another 72hrs. This has caused my family and I a great deal of stress. I had to borrow money waiting for the transfer and have now missed out on seeing my family in NY. The flights are now too expensive. I have sent a complaint using the Expedia complaint procedure. Which is an email contact only with no number. However, I sent the complaint three days ago and have received no correspondance from Expedia. Expedia has no regad for my situation and the whole ordeal is very stressfull and depressing. the flights are far too expensive now and my holiday was ruined.

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