And they were not tears of joy at having found a bargain. Elizabeth Hutton’s mother, Mary Ellyn, bought a round trip ticket from Cincinnati to Tallinn, Estonia, with stopovers in Newark and Stockholm. But something was wrong with the reservation, and she had to pay for another flight.
Does that sound familiar?
Despite repeated attempts to contact the online travel agency, CheapoAir wouldn’t help.
“They ripped my mother off,” her daughter wrote to me. “They refuse to reimburse her. And what’s worse, CheapoAir made my mother cry.”
They made her mother cry? How could they?
Here are a few highlights of her experience:
On May 29, my mother, Mary Ellyn Hutton, booked a round trip flight on CheapoAir from Cincinnati to Tallinn, Estonia, through Newark and Stockholm for $926. She received the booking confirmation. On May 31, she gets an email saying the due to technical difficulties, they couldn’t process her payment and the fare is $200 more. She goes ahead and pays for the increased fare, or $1,157.
So she’s out $200 already.
Note to self: That shouldn’t have happened.
On June 30, Mary Ellyn arrives in Stockholm. She collects her bag to re-check it to Tallinn, Estonia. She waits in line for her Estonian Air connection at 8:15 am. The agent reports that the flight is closed and passengers needing to check luggage cannot board.
She is sent to Scandinavian Air to re-book. The Scandinavian Air agents search for her reservation to re-issue a ticket to Tallinn, but report that they cannot find any evidence of the reservation in the computer. They cannot re-issue a ticket.
She is told that she has to purchase a new ticket. Mary Ellyn has no choice but to purchase a new ticket to Tallinn, flight OV 126 on Estonian Air, leaving at 7:15 pm.
Mary Ellyn has a twelve hour layover in Stockholm before her new flight. The ticket cost Mary Ellyn $538.
So CheapoAir’s original itinerary had a connection time that didn’t work. Who is responsible for that? That’s unclear. If the system told CheapoAir the connection was “legal” then technically, it would be a system problem. But the online agency would still have to take responsibility for it.
On with the story …
While Mary Ellyn waits for her flight to Tallinn, she visits Cheapo’s site and uses their “contact us” form online. She gets no response during her trip to Tallinn. Mary Ellyn tries to call Cheapo’s international help line, but because the customer is responsible for paying the full cost, she decides not to incur the extra cost.
On July 8, Mary Ellyn goes online and finds a message from Cheapo that they have received her complaint and that she should fax a copy of her credit card statements reflecting the charges for her flights. She emails the statements to Cheapo.
Mary Ellyn takes a cab to the airport rather than enjoy her last day in Tallinn in order to work out the problems with her tickets on the return flight home. She purchases a new ticket to Stockholm, Sweden on Air Baltic leaving at 5:20 a.m. the following morning. She then has to change planes in Riga and then fly to Stockholm, collect her luggage and check in to her flight on Continental Airlines to Newark.
Mary Ellyn pays an additional $277 for her new ticket.
You know the rest. Despite repeated attempts to resolve this through normal customer service channels, Hutton has gotten nowhere.
I contacted CheapoAir on Hutton’s behalf. She sent me the following update:
My mother just told me that Cheapo refunded her $800. Thank you so much for your help! We couldn’t have gotten their attention without you!
I’m happy to have helped resolve this, but I wonder how Hutton could have prevented this ticketing problem from happening.
Paying closer attention to connection times? Maybe. Using a different online agency, or a regular travel agent? Possibly.
I’m not entirely sure this was preventable. But if there are any readers with a deeper knowledge of reservations systems, please speak up. Your feedback could help travelers.
The comments are open.
(Photo: avidday/Flickr Creative Commons)
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{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }
CheapoAir? What could possibly go wrong?!!
For most itineraries I don’t use a bricks and mortar travel agent but as complicated as this itinerary sounds, it needed a full service agent.
CheapoAir and websites like them are not travel agents (no I’m not a TA) they are booking agents. You sign up to get a cheap airfare and no service and theat’s what they deliver. Great for trips from here to NYC not so great for CVG to Estonia.
Rich said it all…
rich November 20, 2009 at 7:56 am
CheapoAir? What could possibly go wrong?!!
Minimum Connect Times (MCTs) are failry standard and built in to the logic of a downline reservation. Where you run into issues is when you book the journey leg-by-leg to maximise you ability to manage price- no protection from MCTs and from normal airport hassles.
Personally, I book a let at a time direct w the carriers I travel on all the time, but I also know that I better have hand-luggage or I had be even more generous with myself to leave enough time for reclaim, recheck, terminal changes, and heavens help us- security re-screening.
Sounds like she just got the bad end a a deal- and all that could go wrong did. The walkup fares don’t sound as bad as some I have heard of- but honestly I don’t watch the Tallin market at all!
So glad that there was a little bit of a happy ending!
Sometimes you get what you pay for. When was the last time you got your car from Rent-A Wreck? ‘Member them?
But yes, with a dual international connection a real live in person (or on the phone) agent with a name would have likely prevented this. And certainly could have resolved it without losing a day in Estonia on the return. Computers know what is programmed into them–period. BA to the UAE anyone? They know nothing of real life experiences transiting various airports. That is where the experience of an agent (or at least their network) really pays off.
But Chris–you left out the crying part. They made her cry? What did they have to say about that?
@John, CheapoAir, which has been very responsive to this case, expressed concern about the distress they caused one of their customers. They moved very quickly to fix this.
If it is not a trip point A to point B then use a real face to face travel agent, so it might cost you a few dollars more, but at least you are leaving in the hands of someone you can talk to, yes I am a travel agent and no I don’t have pity for those that want to throw their hard earned money away, or think they can book their own expensive trip themselves when they really don’t have a clue as to what they are doing. Just look at people in every day life, they are lucky to make from one day to another.
Stories like this are why I am so thankful for this column. I’m a casual leisure traveller myself – my parents much more so – and as such, on our own we’d never think that stuff like this happens with online travel sites as often as they clearly do. I am in the process of planning a trip to Turkey and Greece for 2010 and you can bet that I’m going through a real travel agent instead of doing what I normally do, which is just look online for the best package price. Saving a couple hundred dollars up front is not worth the potential hassle of missed connections, lost reservations and/or having to pay for another ticket while my trip is in process.
@Chris Elliott …
You and I have very different definitions of responsiveness. They waited until after she returned home to address the issue which meant she lost a day in Estonia. They didn’t “express concern” according to your story until national press got involved so we’ll agree to disagree.
Perhaps in this case a real TA. I do not think Estonia is a top destination place. I could be incorrect. It just seems like a very complicated agenda period. As far as crying well I would to and maybe many more would. Oh better than having a heart attack.
@John, no we are in agreement. CheapoAir didn’t express concern until I got involved, as I said in the original post. It should have been more responsive to the customer’s inquiry, of course.
By the way, Riga is in Latvia, not Estonia. I have never had a problem in doing complicated itineraries, primarily because I always leave a lot of time between connecting flights.
Cincinnati to to Tallinn isn’t necessarily a complicated booking. Although true the company didn’t really get involved to after the trip was over, at least they did respond.
Looks to me like they owe her another $215–the difference in the increased fare and additional flights purchased less the $800 refund.
$538 +
$237 +
$231 (You forgot the extra fare she had to pay due to technical difficulties) =
$1006
So the airline paid her $800 to reimburse her for over a thousand dollars in costs? I am sure she is greatful she got anything back. However, this is a glass half empty issue.
I am not knocking the job you did. It is just that the airline got away in paying damages at 80 cents on the dollar.
Oh, one last thing….when I saw the title of this column, I thought CheapoAir was a joking reference to what many airlines have become.
A full service and EXPERIENCED travel agent would have been the best option. As a Travel Agent I would have booked the trip as follows: CVG to BOS or EWR conneting onto FinnAir into Helsinki nonstop. From Helsinki, the flight to Tallin (on Finnair) is 25 minutes or there is frequent hydrofoil service to Tallin.
First, the passegner would be ticketed on one airline (I would codeshare between CVG and East Coast), thus no surprises once arriving in Europe. Also, I would have offered the option of one night in Helsinki and consider the hydrofoil which is a pleasent journey.
Total fee, about $25-$35, a lot of cost savings and less stress.
on several occasions i have checked the rates on various internet sites advertising “cheap”, “cheapest”, “lowest” fares. i have yet to find any fares lower than those of the airlines themselves.
since i trust no one in the travel business, i carefully note all names, times, comments, etc. at the instant i make the reservations. i store them on my computer timely.
on those occasions that an airline reneges, i notify the carrier’s supervisor and when they dispute it, i offer to play back the recording of my conversation with their agent.
Federal law allows recording of phone calls and other electronic commun-cations with the consent of at least one party to the call. A majority of the states and territories have adopted wiretapping statutes based on the federal law, although most also have extended the law to cover in-person conversa-ions. Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia permit individuals to record conversations to which they are a party without informing the other parties that they are doing so. These laws are referred to as “one-party consent” statutes, and as long as you are a party to the conversation, it is legal for you to record it. (Nevada also has a one-party consent statute, but the state Supreme Court has interpreted it as an all-party rule.)
i usually prevail as i am prepared to sue the airline. i haven’t needed to do so.
@Phil
Its that condescending attitude by travel agents that wrecks havoc with the public perception of your industry.
@Chris
To your question, “how could this be avoided”.
1. Book directly with the travel provider if at all possible.
2. The more complicated the routing, the less that you want to use a travel booking site.
3. Give yourself generous connect time, particularly when changing carriers, transitting though an unfamiliar place, if you need to reclaim luggage, etc..
I remember booking a flight from SFO to Paris. I gave myself a or 8 hour layover in Heathrow because I was changing from American to British. The American flight was 3 hours late. Others were stressed. Not me.
And I didn’t even us a travel agent.
These stories are unfortunately too common for those doing international travel, esp with itineraries that are not non-stop. We are travel agents and are very solicitous regarding stop-overs and connections, paying attention to the airlines, airports and the passengers (esp their age). Recently we had clients traveling from NYC to Florence , Italy through CDG (Paris), which is a large complicated airport. After discussing with Air France and the clients, we confirmed their booking with a 1 hour layover in Paris, which could have been tough if the originating flight were delayed (which is was). Upon arrival in Paris, there was an Air France Rep with a sign “Florence/Firenze” meeting those connecting to the flight to Italy and they were accompanied to the other terminal and gate. Everything went smoothly and the travelers were extremely grateful. Had they missed that flight, there were others in the following hours. We had charged them a $100 booking fee for 3 passengers and they said it was very well worth the personalized, professional service. We often hear of others booking international flights with different carriers, missing theirflights and having to pay to re-book another flight. Expensive lessions!
@Ron G. — again, this is an issue of the company offering compensation, the customer accepting the compensation, and then notifying me that the case had been resolved. I do not control that part of the equation. I just report it.
Glad you could help her!! That is a horrible story. I’d hate to have that happen to my mom! nobody deserves that. -espeially moms who usually feel guilty for doing anything nice for themselves and anguish over spending a penny on anything superfluous. It is such a shame that she could not have been able to relax and enjoy herself at all. I know I would have been stressing over pretty much doubling the expense, even before any incidentals. They RUINED her trip!! It is sad that she had to feel stupid for trying to trust ‘CHEAPOAIR’. They’ve proven you can’t rely on what should be an ‘inexpensive alternative’ by planning ahead and doing your homework; just to have it all fall apart while you’re in the midst of just trying to survive getting there and make it back home in one piece. I’m glad you ran this story, it is public service announcement to all. Thanks to you atleast she got some of her money back. -that must have been some relief, but it doesn’t give her back her precious PRICELE$$ time. She should sue them for emotional stress, mental anguish, fraud… but that’s just me. -You don’t mess with my mom!! :(
The $800 (or so) was credited back to my mother’s credit card. It wasn’t a formal offer and acceptance of any kind of settlement. I agree that she is still owed the “bait and switch” $200 markup. But after months of time and effort and no response from the company, or being hung up on, or being told that the correct contact person is in the “waivers department,” which oh by the way, has no phone number, we were happy to get anything back!
800 dollars is all she got back for this mess? Are you serious? Let’s do a quick recap:
1) This lady started out her undo journey with having to shell out another $200. Red Flag right there? Maybe she should have looked elsewhere but hindsight is 20/20
2) She had her reservation CANCELED on her and was forced to purchase other tickets.
3) She LOST a day of her trip due the the OVERALL incompetence put forth by these bumbling idiots. She was suppose to have a MEMORABLE vacation and they cost her quite a bit here.
Cheap-o or more like CHEAP BASTARDS should have given her far more than 800 dollars compensation. Quite honestly, a compensated round trip + 800 (Not like they were doing her a favor reimbursing her the money she HAD to spend) would probably be about the only fair resolution so this lady can ACTUALLY have a trip worth talking about.
Note to self… avoid anything that has the word “Cheap” when it comes to flying. As others said, she probably should have used a face to face travel agent here.
Yes, the airline is at fault, but how can you trust a company called Cheapo Air? Enough said.
The more complicated the routing, the less I trust a web site, especially if I have to change airlines. I ran in to this a few weeks ago when an online site gave me an itinerary that included 90 minutes to get from JFK T3 to T1 for an international flight. I use JFK enough to know that this was not enough time, but for a leisure traveler, this may sound fine. An experienced TA would know that you need 2+ hours.
When I am taking a complicated itinerary, I always stay within the same alliance (Star, Skyteam, etc.) and look for ground transportation options in the event that the 15 seat commuter flight on the last leg of my itinerary gets canceled (like taking the train from JFK to DC). Had she used Finnair, she would have had the ferry option for her last leg instead of being stuck at ARN. That having been said, I agree with some of the other posters, this itinerary was over complicated and probably didn’t save her a lot of money. A TA who has a lot of experience with international bookings could have saved her a lot of aggravation. If you don’t know who to use, ask around and see if there is a local TA that big companies like GE or P&G use.
Chris:
Riga is in Latvia, not Estonia.
I agree ‘happy to get anything back’ is unfortunately the general consensus for most customer service experiences, and guaranteed it would’ve been nothing without the media attention. Smart smart smart -contacting Chris. thank God for small favors, my mom always says. …
@Sadie Sue — fixed that. It was in her letter, but I corrected it. Thanks.
Enjoyed all the comments re this issue. Chris, I am an avid follower of your e’s. You actually helped me out last year with property stolen out of my suitcase by baggage handlers in Paris. Gave me the correct names to e at United. My claim was resolved appropriately by United (after months of phone/e tag). You have helped so many of us “average citizens” who are often at the mercy of the airline industry and their “outsourcing employees”. The main reason for my comment is directed to Angel. I am saddened that you recommend the mom sue the company. Come on, the issue was taken care of to the satisfaction of the woman. Why do so many people think every time their life is not “fair” that they are entitled to sue someone? There is a certain amount of responsibility this woman took when she chose to book her travel as she did. I am a “mom” in my late fifties. When I had a travel problem I hung in there for months, finally contacted Mr Elliott, obtained valuable contact info, took care of the issue and got on with my life. Moms are quite capable of handling life situations and many of us don’t cry. This moms crying is not the real issue. Chris addressed the real issue and the company stepped up and corrected the wrong that was done. Life is what happens when we are living it! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Yes, I should have gotten out my globe…… I meant Latvia, not Estonia. I’ll get it right one of these days.
And here’s the thing re: why would she purchase a ticket from Cheapo (the “she got what she deserved” argument). She is a layperson….a regular consumer. She’s a grandmother of seven who lives in Ohio. This site was among myriad other online travel companies offering cheap travel services, which millions of travelers use these days. She was given an itinerary, she paid the money just like anyone else does for an online transaction and her tickets didn’t exist, she was abused by customer service, and she worked patiently for months to resolve it nicely with them. Is it shocking that Cheapo took her money? No. But are they allowed to take money because they choose a stupid name that purportedly warns consumers not to trust them? No. She is the consumer and she was wronged by a corporation that has no inclination to treat its customers well. They should have given her back her entire fare. But I’m not in charge. :-)
@Liz,
Why don’t you have Mr. Elliott follow up and seek further compensation? I still think your mother is getting “Shafted” here by this company. Not only did they profit an additional 200 dollars from THEIR BOOKING MISTAKE, they ruined her vacation. I hardly say giving 80 percent refund is a resolution. Hell, I hardly say giving a 100 percent refund is a resolution here. This company downright ruined her trip. The least they could have done is refund the full amount + a travel or hotel voucher for future use.
No matter the end result, I think it’s safe to say people AVOID this company.
Justin
Yes, she could (and should) have used a better service, a real agent or booked directly through the airline. BUT, the simplest thing she coulda/shoulda done is check over her itinerary the day before. Really. Flights get canceled or have their times changed, electronic information does get lost and you can solve a lot of the ensuing problems by just checking through you itinerary and calling the airlines to be sure they have your tickets, you correct seat and the flight times are unchanged. (BTW: it doesn’t hurt to verify your hotel reservations the day before either.)
Screw-ups will happen but in defense of Cheapo, in April we booked a Santiago – Punta Arenas, Chile, RT flight with Cheapo using SkyAir (far cheaper than Lan). In spite of repeated attempts I was unable to talk to a Sky agent in SCL to confirm but Cheapo said to not worry. And everything proceeded as planned.
Chris sez:
Cheapo Air has moved very fast to resolve this . . ..
Only AFTER Chris Elliott travel blogger and journalist got involved.
When the CUSTOMER tried to resolve this they were met with the run around standard delay tactic – send me this – send me that- copy this copy that.
I got an idea Chris – ask CheapoAir what happened to her original inquiries and where they were in ‘process.’ Why had the customer not received a timely response? I want to know THAT answer before I am willing to kick over any kudos to Cheapo Air.
And the first post sez it all: who in their right mind books a complex itinerary to Eastern Europe with a connection in a non-English speaking country with an outfit called Cheapoair?
Not sure about Mary Ellyn’s age, but I do know that slightly older people tend to trust a little more readily than those of us who view the Internet with a slightly jaundiced eye.
As Liz said, she found the company, booked her itinerary, paid for it and showed up to check in. People not accustomed to air travel in particular, especially those who haven’t traveled much since 9-11, often don’t realize the potential disasters inherent in booking travel these days. We suspicious folks who read Chris’ columns religiously, start out by calling the airline to confirm the reservations, etc. But someone who hasn’t flown in a while probably wouldn’t think to do that.
I had a nostop flight from BNA to DEN in 2007, and rented a car. I called Frontier the day before to confirm my reservations. I called Avis to check the status of my rental. I signed up for cell phone notification if anything went screwy. I printed out copies of my e-mail confirmations. Then, as I recall, I e-mailed Chris to ask him if I needed to do anything else. LOL. He kindly replied he thought I had everything covered.
I am just naturally paranoid the airline or car rental company is going to screw up, so I tend to over-prepare, simply to cover my bases. However, would a grandmother of seven think to do all this if she’s not a frequent traveler, and doesn’t read Chris’ blog? Probably not. And she shouldn’t be penalized for that.
The Cheapo people owe her about $1,000 more for them being such a pain in the keister to deal with.
I’m a mother, too. -and if it was my trip or my mother’s it would be a once in a life-time type of trip, and it is unforgivable to ruin that & basically charge her double because otherwise she’ll end up stranded…
I agree with Chicky November 20, 2009 at 4:00 pm
but still with deference to Chris getting her some $ relief, because as I said I doubt she would have gotten anything besides the run-around otherwise. Obviously. ~Happy Weekend….
Don’t know what happened in this case but my wife and I have taken 2 vacations thru Cheapo Air. Hawaii and Bahama’s with no problems. ya gotta read the fine print
Wow, Which genious thaught that calling their company Cheapoair would be a good idea ??! Thats just asking for a bad experiance. I feel bad for this person, It sounds like she got screwed around by this airline big time and had a heck of a time figuring it all out. I’m so glad that theres people like Mr. Elliott because I’m sure if he didnt step in she’d still be out 1000 dollers instead of 200 dollers.
I am with Vic and the other people in this post. Read the fine print when booking. It is so easy to just blame Cheapoair when something goes wrong. They are just a third party arent they?
She is not entitled to a full refund.Let us not get emotional about this. She dealt with a third party period.The incident could have happened with Expedia.Orbitz,Travelocity. Maybe her family should have worked with her on her itinerary. Once again I would have spent some extra money and used a TA.
Carver kudos for you post on travel agents. There is one who writes for another blog who in addition to her fee would enjoy some flowers, wine and candy.
@barbie45 – Why do you feel she isn’t entitled to a full refund? I can’t believe you wouldn’t be fighting for all of your money back had this happened to you. What does third party have to do with it? Emotions aside, she had already paid in full for her ticket, so she should be reimbursed anything over and above the cost of that original ticket regardless of who issued it.
Exactly barbie. I am not saying cheapoair is some great company, but this does not sound like a case where they were in the wrong. People like to place blame on third party companies when in reality it is probably the airline or the person them self to blame.
Mona and Alfred,she did agree to settle period. As Chris stated even he is not sure how it could have been prevented. People have put forth various solutions. If she did not fly at all yes then a full refund. But she did get to her destination and bach home again poorer and none to happy. Maybe she was entitled to more compensation,but why full refund ?
@barbie45, yes she did agree to settle, so that does close the case, but maybe I wasn’t clear when I said she should have gotten a “full refund.” What I meant was a full refund of anything over the $926 her ticket originally cost. The $800 she accepted didn’t quite hit that mark and, had it been my money, I would never have settled for less than a “full refund” of my addidional costs. Since she was willing to accept the $800 offered, then that’s the end of the story for her.
Mona,you are correct. She should have received that full amount without a doubt. However I assume they were just tired and wanted to setlle. I would have pressed on. Happy Holidays
Barbie, darling…I trust that you don’t want me to point out your spelling error in the above post, the way you’ve doing to me.
Stop harrassing me, dear.