Got an email...

[star10]

from the online company I booked air with...(not sure if I'm allowed to say their name or not) I got a confirmation right after I booked. Then last night I got an email, that I didn't read until this morning that said that my outgoing flight was sold out and that they set me up on an alternative flight for the same price, but I had to call by 10/25... which was yesterday.

 

I called first thing this morning and the girl said my flights were cancelled because they didn't hear from me yesterday. I said, you emailed me at night... you gave me no time to reply back to you.

 

She said that I'll have to go back online and find a new flight... with new cost!!

 

I am so mad. I asked to speak to a manager, who I am waiting to call me back right now.

 

I think I should have the same fare. I still don't understand how it went thru with a confirmation if it was full. Because right after that I did try and book 4 more, and I got the sold out message.

 

What can I expect? If they do not match my rate... I'll go elsewhere.

 

But I'm really mad because I did end up finding the same flight for my extended family on a different site. It was $40 pp more, but at least they are with us.

 

Now we'll be totally separate. I could've searched for a better rate for them too.

 

The more I think about this, the more mad I get.:mad:

[Globaliser]

I still don't understand how it went thru with a confirmation if it was full.

If it's the travel agent's confirmation, it is only worth anything if the travel agent is trustworthy. A confirmation really means very little on its own unless you can verify with the airline that a reservation has been made. Did you do that?

 

Even if you have a genuine reservation with the airline, and the travel agent was not lying to you, reservations can be cancelled if tickets are not issued in accordance with the terms of the fare.

 

Why did you pick this travel agent? Was it just because it was cheap? Did you know them from previous experience? There's a lot of wisdom in the saying that you get what you pay for. Cheaper is usually less good.

[star10]

Well, It was CheapOAir.com that I used. It was an ok fare...nothing great, but the times were good, and from what I was finding it was the best price.

 

The manager called back and stuck with the fare and the flights... it is actually a better outbound flight, as it's non-stop.:)

 

All that worrying for nothing! Phew. I hate stress.

[Globaliser]

I'm glad that they sorted that out, then.

 

Personally, the name of the company would scare me off before I even started looking. And that's before seeing how they've stolen other travel websites' design elements.

[silentbob007]

This is one reason why I only book airfare the airline websites. There is no "middle-man" for the information to transmit through before booking ... so when I book, I know I have what I want.

[DonLou]

There have been several times when I have found a cheaper fare with one of these "marginal" online sellers. But when I got done filling out the preliminary information and to the actual booking, the price suddenly jumped up. It did not match what was initially shown as the fare. Now, I just book directly with the airlines.

[Cruise Junky]

This is one reason why I only book airfare the airline websites. There is no "middle-man" for the information to transmit through before booking ... so when I book, I know I have what I want.

 

You know, I used to feel that way, but not anymore. I went to book a flight on Air Canada yesterday that I saw on an the Travelling Gnome website for $930. Air Canada comes to the end of my booking and says that will be $1532 please...I think not. So I went back to said on line travel agent and booked it and then phoned air canada back to confirm seats. The difference is insane.

[JJPNYC]

You know, I used to feel that way, but not anymore. I went to book a flight on Air Canada yesterday that I saw on an the Travelling Gnome website for $930. Air Canada comes to the end of my booking and says that will be $1532 please...I think not. So I went back to said on line travel agent and booked it and then phoned air canada back to confirm seats. The difference is insane.

 

Something similar happened to me.

 

I was looking for a one-way biz class fare from the US to China for my recent Yangtze River cruise. Most everyone wanted $4000+ (yikes!). One day I saw that Air China was offering a seat for $1500 and I beat a path to my travel agent to book it (Air China required at that time that all bookings go through agents). But the beauty of it is that it was a code-share ticket and I'd actually be flying on United Airlines (United wanted $4500 for the same ticket).

 

So in travel, it really does pay to look around as there is never just "one" price for that particular ticket.

[jimc_usa]

BTW is is not illegal to mention Travelocity or Orbitz or any of the other big online TA's.