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Travelocity

Travelocity is one of the first online travel services but that doesn't mean things always go flawlessly. Lately, there seems to be an increase in "fare-jumping" incidents, as well as mix-ups regarding hotels and confusion concering cancellations, not to mention the miscellaneous mayhem detailed below.

Travelocity • Cancellations • Fare Jumping • Hotels

Gregg of Peabody, MA (12/28/05):
Travelocity has been advertising round trip tickets on Continental Airlines from PVD to PHX for $153.00-$162.00 for the past two weeks or more. I have phoned them four times but they won't sell me the tickets for that price. They give me the run around and a lame excuse.

I am frustrated and mad that they will not honor these prices that they are still advertising.

Anjuschka of Willow AK (3/23/05):
I booked a round-trip with Travelocity, flying from Anchorage to Heathrow, London. My husband phoned to confirm our flight. I was flying with a 10-month-old infant. He was told that that was all he needed to do and that both airlines would be contacted. The first half of my flight was with Alaska Air to Seattle and then British Airways to London. I was very anxious flying for the first time alone with my baby but he was assured that there was nothing else for us to do.

Anyway when we arrived in Seattle, we went to the boarding gate, to receive our boarding pass as instructed. To my horror I was told that I needed a separate ticket for my baby with British Airways and that we might not be able to get that flight as it was very full. As you can imagine this caused me undue distress and to my baby as she got very upset because of how I was feeling. We did manage to get a seat finally but I had to pay out extra which I really wasn't expecting to.

Now I've written to Travelocity but so far have had no reply. I would like to think that I would be compensated in some way for my trouble as up to that point I was very impressed with their services and felt I would use Travelocity for future travel.

Elizabeth of Clearwater FL (2/27/05):
I purchased a ticket from Ft. Lauderdale to San Juan Puerto Rico for my boyfriend to attend a funeral. He flew down there just fine. On the return, he was told his ticket was canceled. I called my credit card company and was told that it wasn't them, to call Travelocity. I did and could not get an answer as to why they had canceled it. I spoke with several different people and only got placed on hold.

I finally got hold of a person who conferenced a call with my credit card company and was told that Travelocity had already been paid by my credit card company prior to cancelling the flight. The representitive on the phone from Travelocity was told by my credit card company that they would have to issue me a refund. Since they were already paid, the charge was no longer considered a hold. After hearing that Travelocity put me on hold for more that 2 1/2 hours and never returned.

I called back the following day and was told that there was a note on my account and that I was going to be issued a refund, however I have not and am still unable to get any answers. I continue to be put on hold and no one ever returns. We had to purchase another ticket in order to keep my boyfriend from being stranded in Puerto Rico.

Vicki of Redwood Valley CA (1/9/04):
I attempted to make travel arrangements online and kept getting an error message at the credit card window. The screen instructed me to try another credit card, after 4 different credit cards and 8 attempts, I called customer service and found that my credit cards were all authorized for payment but no travel tickets were confirmed. After numerous phone calls to Travelocity and receiving the runaround I have yet to get the problem resolved. My credit cards are now maxed out with 8 charges and still have no airline/ hotel tickets.

I have no access to charge on my credit cards due to they're all over the limit. Everyday the problem is not resolved, the airline tickets are increasing in price.

Christopher of Walnut Creek CA (12/4/03):
My brother and his girlfriend tried to make air and hotel reservations for a vacation in Las Vegas. They tried to pay with her credit card but they received a call from Travelocity's fraud department the next day saying that her credit card wouldn't work because she couldn't give them her zip code (she's from Ireland where they don't have zip codes).

I offered to let them use my VISA debit card. However, the post office recently changed our zip code and my bank had not updated that information yet. The zip code I gave them caused the transaction to be rejected and they said that it was too late to keep the reservation. We made other travel arrangements through a different company. But when I looked at my online bank statement it showed that on November 23rd I was charged $500.95 (twice) with one of the charges being refunded immediatley. Travelocity has $500.95 of my money and has not given it back yet. After numerous calls to them and hours of waiting on hold I am still waiting for a refund. It is now December 4th and there is no sign of my money yet.

Since the money was charged to my VISA debit card it came right out of my checking account. This is cash out of my pocket. I am a full time student on financial aid and I can't wait indefinitely for my money to be returned to me. My wife is pregnant and we have bills to pay.

Cristina of Canyon County, CA (11/19/03):
I bought airline tickects for my parents to travel from South America (Chile) to USA. I paid the trasanction with my credit card. Days later I received an e-mail form Travelocity stating that the airline had moved the departure dates so I had to rearrange my parents schedules. This change was free of charge since it was not done by us but by the airline. However my parents were forced to pay $200.00 at the airport, the airline just gave them the option of paying or not flying at all.

It has been more than a month since I contacted Travelocity about this problem, since I did business with them I am demanding a refund for that amount and nobody has answered me yet. I have sent at least 20 e-mails and when I called they said that I have to wait at least 3 months for them to make a decision about it. Should I take them to small claims?

Cristina should wait another month or two, as it can take a long time for a refund to work its way through the system. Thereafter, Small Claims Court sounds about right.

They forced my parents to pay the only money I had given them to travel $200 to use in case of any emergency. My dad suffers from high blood pressure and the incident was not exactly a pleaseant one for him.

Richard of Pt. Pleasant NJ (10/31/03):
This saga started when I booked flights through Travelocity with Sprit airlines for departure 4/2/04 and returning 4/9/04, out of Atlantic city. All came back UNconfirmed in a day or so -- which is code for the airline has decided it wants more money for the flight than was posted on the website. I called Travelocity and spoke to an agent about midnight one night and explained that I needed a non-stop flight out of one of the New York area airports to Orlando on the above dates. I asked if she could find me the cheapest flight that would be confirmed.

She booked me a flight out of Laguardia. When I was reviewing the itinerery with her she mentioned stop-overs in Nashville. I explained that I asked for a non-stop flight and she hung up on me. I called back and was left on hold endlessly. I sent an e-mail explaining the mistake and explained that I would call back in the morning to clear up the situation. When I called back in the morning the agent found me a non-stop flight but said that I would forfiet my flight protection canceling the previous flight that was their mistake. I said that is outrageous for you to make a mistake and to charge me for it.

I then wrote their custumer service dept and was told it will take at least a month for them to review. Damage Resulting: $932.00 loss.

Jean of Rocky Hill CT (9/26/03):
I purchased an airline ticket on Travelocity on 09/22 and after I printed the confirmation, I realized that there was a mistake on the return date. Instead of returning on March 21, 2004, the confirmation said April 21. I called Travelocity immediately. They claim that this is what I requested. I say that their website was having problems at the time that I input my request and didn't accept the correct month. Because of the way that their booking screen is set up, I didn't notice it until after the transaction was over.

Travelocity wants me to pay an additional $230 to fix the error. I have refused the ticket, and I plan to dispute the error through VISA, if Travelocity will not correct the ticket.

Lavelle of San Jose CA (9/23/03):
Travelocity requested duplicate airline tickets from American Airlines. When this was discovered on my credit card statement, I called both AA and Travelocity. AA said I would have to take up the matter with Travelocity. Travelocity acknowledged it was their mistake and requested me to send a copy of the credit card statement to their attention for processing. I was told it would take 3 (THREE) months to process. I told them this was totally unacceptable. After further rather heated discussion, they offered to call the airline to expedite the refund to less than one week. That effort was delayed until tomorrow as the AA office was closed.

Alvin of Harrington DE (9/7/03):
I purchased an airline ticket for my son in Scotland to go from Edinburgh via Gatwick and a connecting flight to Heathrow, destination Philadelphia. When my son checked in at Edinburgh he asked about the connecting flight to Heathrow and was told the ticket price included a shuttle connecting Gatwick to Heathrow, but when he arrived in Gatwick he found out he had to pay an extra cost for a shuttle ticket.

Not having the funds to cover the cost he missed his flight to Heathrow and was stranded in Gatwick Airport for 24 hrs with no help from the British Airways. He had to rely on my wife to book and fax a train ticket down to Gatwick train station to get back home to Scotland!

There was nothing stated on the ticket about the shuttle, so I think I should have a refund on my ticket and be reimbursed for train ticket and the inconveinance of been stranded in the airport in Gatwick for over 24 hrs!

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