I want my boarding pass!

Michele Cennamo was planning to surprise her cousin by taking her on a weeklong vacation in the Bahamas for her 60th birthday last fall. The Manhattan legal assistant had reserved a room at the Atlantis, a high-rise hotel on Paradise Island, through Expedia, the online travel site. “I was looking forward to walking along the beach and hanging out by the pool,” she says.

Instead, she believes she was hung out to dry. A month after Cennamo booked, an apologetic E-mail from Expedia landed in her in box. Even though the agency had charged her credit card and issued a reservation number, it said the hotel was sold out and offered to rebook her in a different property. But Cennamo wanted the Atlantis, so she called. “Everyone I spoke to told me there was no reservation in my name,” she says, “and they couldn’t honor a reservation they didn’t have.”

What happened? Let’s just say online booking isn’t as straightforward as it used to be.

Back in the olden days (like, um, two years ago), if you made a reservation with an online travel agency, airlines, hotels, or car rental agencies would treat you like any other customer. But they’d really be much happier if you booked through them. That way, there’s no intermediary to pay. To woo customers, they use the carrot: Book with us, and get bonus miles or a “best rate” guarantee. “Some hotels assign better rooms to customers who book direct,” says Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst at Forrester Research. “Travelers who book through a rental car agency’s site may find their car parked in a slightly better location and may be first in line for an upgrade should the location run out of cars in the booked car class.”

The flip side is that customers who book elsewhere are getting stuck in the eye with that carrot. Some travel companies apparently assign a lower status to reservations from an online middleman. On Spirit Airlines, for example, only passengers who book through its website can get a seat assignment and print a boarding pass before going to the airport. Spokeswoman Rebecca Rivera explains, “It is in our best interest and our customers’ best interest to book on spiritair.com, so we encourage that behavior with incentives such as extra-low fares, seat assignments, and boarding passes.”

With hotel reservations, timing is a big issue. “Many times,” says Steve Hafner, cofounder of the travel site Kayak.com, “your reservation isn’t placed directly into the hotelier’s system.” That’s what happened to Bill Beaton, a financial adviser from West Palm Beach, Fla. He and his wife had booked a trip to Italy last summer and prepaid for two nights at Ca Maria Adele hotel in Venice through Octopustravel.com. As a precaution, he E-mailed the hotel to ask about his reservation. “They said they had never heard of us,” he remembers.

An Octopus agent told him reservations are normally sent to the hotel 72 hours before a guest arrives–even if the guest has prepaid. That kind of delay can make it impossible to request a certain type of room in advance. And if the reservation is not processed right away, the room might not be available when the time comes. Beaton, however, was lucky. Octopus bent its rules and made the reservation early.

Online agencies, of course, defend themselves. “When someone books on Expedia, we pass that information to the airlines or hotels,” says spokesman David Dennis. “It is a valid reservation or ticket, just as if it were done directly. It is entered into their system as a direct reservation would be.” In the case of Cennamo, Dennis said the reservation didn’t get through to the Atlantis because of a fax glitch that has since been corrected.

And there are advantages to booking from an online travel agent. “We are able to package trip components in ways that save even more than if travelers purchased these components separately,” says Travelocity spokesman Joel Frey. Which is absolutely true.

But as Cennamo, the legal assistant, discovered, there can be a downside to using an online agent. Expedia did offer another hotel, but she wanted the Atlantis. She booked directly, though that meant changing the dates–and buying two new airline tickets for $380. And experts say the turf wars aren’t going to go away. In other words, you’ve got to have reservations about reservations made with an online travel agent.

How to protect your reservation

Check fine print. Travel agency websites often (but not always) disclose when your reservation will be processed. If you have questions, call.

Go meta. So-called aggregators or meta-search engines, like Kayak.com or Farechase.com, check many airline, hotel, or car rental sites, then send you to the site to book.

Book directly. If you need peace of mind, head for the airline, hotel, or car rental agency site.

Michele Cennamo was planning to surprise her cousin by taking her on a weeklong vacation in the Bahamas for her 60th birthday last fall. The Manhattan legal assistant had reserved a room at the Atlantis, a high-rise hotel on Paradise Island, through Expedia, the online travel site. “I was looking forward to walking along the beach and hanging out by the pool,” she says.

Instead, she believes she was hung out to dry. A month after Cennamo booked, an apologetic E-mail from Expedia landed in her in box. Even though the agency had charged her credit card and issued a reservation number, it said the hotel was sold out and offered to rebook her in a different property. But Cennamo wanted the Atlantis, so she called. “Everyone I spoke to told me there was no reservation in my name,” she says, “and they couldn’t honor a reservation they didn’t have.”

What happened? Let’s just say online booking isn’t as straightforward as it used to be.

Back in the olden days (like, um, two years ago), if you made a reservation with an online travel agency, airlines, hotels, or car rental agencies would treat you like any other customer. But they’d really be much happier if you booked through them. That way, there’s no intermediary to pay. To woo customers, they use the carrot: Book with us, and get bonus miles or a “best rate” guarantee. “Some hotels assign better rooms to customers who book direct,” says Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst at Forrester Research. “Travelers who book through a rental car agency’s site may find their car parked in a slightly better location and may be first in line for an upgrade should the location run out of cars in the booked car class.”

The flip side is that customers who book elsewhere are getting stuck in the eye with that carrot. Some travel companies apparently assign a lower status to reservations from an online middleman. On Spirit Airlines, for example, only passengers who book through its website can get a seat assignment and print a boarding pass before going to the airport. Spokeswoman Rebecca Rivera explains, “It is in our best interest and our customers’ best interest to book on spiritair.com, so we encourage that behavior with incentives such as extra-low fares, seat assignments, and boarding passes.”

With hotel reservations, timing is a big issue. “Many times,” says Steve Hafner, cofounder of the travel site Kayak.com, “your reservation isn’t placed directly into the hotelier’s system.” That’s what happened to Bill Beaton, a financial adviser from West Palm Beach, Fla. He and his wife had booked a trip to Italy last summer and prepaid for two nights at Ca Maria Adele hotel in Venice through Octopustravel.com. As a precaution, he E-mailed the hotel to ask about his reservation. “They said they had never heard of us,” he remembers.

An Octopus agent told him reservations are normally sent to the hotel 72 hours before a guest arrives–even if the guest has prepaid. That kind of delay can make it impossible to request a certain type of room in advance. And if the reservation is not processed right away, the room might not be available when the time comes. Beaton, however, was lucky. Octopus bent its rules and made the reservation early.

Online agencies, of course, defend themselves. “When someone books on Expedia, we pass that information to the airlines or hotels,” says spokesman David Dennis. “It is a valid reservation or ticket, just as if it were done directly. It is entered into their system as a direct reservation would be.” In the case of Cennamo, Dennis said the reservation didn’t get through to the Atlantis because of a fax glitch that has since been corrected.

And there are advantages to booking from an online travel agent. “We are able to package trip components in ways that save even more than if travelers purchased these components separately,” says Travelocity spokesman Joel Frey. Which is absolutely true.

But as Cennamo, the legal assistant, discovered, there can be a downside to using an online agent. Expedia did offer another hotel, but she wanted the Atlantis. She booked directly, though that meant changing the dates–and buying two new airline tickets for $380. And experts say the turf wars aren’t going to go away. In other words, you’ve got to have reservations about reservations made with an online travel agent.

How to protect your reservation

Check fine print. Travel agency websites often (but not always) disclose when your reservation will be processed. If you have questions, call.

Go meta. So-called aggregators or meta-search engines, like Kayak.com or Farechase.com, check many airline, hotel, or car rental sites, then send you to the site to book.

Book directly. If you need peace of mind, head for the airline, hotel, or car rental agency site.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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