Q: I recently bought airline tickets through Expedia on British Airways to fly from Seattle to Salzburg, Austria. I had just accepted a two-month contract to work in Europe and I needed the flexibility of a changeable fare, which this ticket offered — at least, that’s what I thought.
After I was in Austria, I tried to make a change to my return flight. I called British Airways and was told that after I had begun my trip, the itinerary couldn’t be changed. An airline representative told me I could apply for a waiver by faxing the terms I had to British Airways. I thought he was kidding.
I called Expedia. A phone agent told me I could make the change, but then she was unable to do so. She did some further research and discovered that my ticket was actually subject to two fare rules, and that Expedia was required to apply the most restrictive one. I asked if that information had been available to me when I first made my booking, and she conceded that it was not.
She then offered me a $75 credit on my Expedia account — hardly enough to cover my expenses and time. After several more calls to British Airways and Expedia, I spoke with a supervisor who raised my compensation to a $100 voucher.
I just want to fly back to Seattle when I want to. Can you help me? Or am I hosed?
– Pam Mandel, Seattle
A: You are not hosed, Pam.
This is one of those cases where you did everything that you could — you asked about the fare rules, you even read the fare rules — and you still got burned. Or, to use your words, hosed.
But who is responsible for this mix-up? British Airways or Expedia?
I say both have some blame. British Airways shouldn’t offer any round-trip ticket with two change rules. One rule per ticket is plenty. (The fine print on an airline ticket can be so overwhelmingly complex that even reservations agents have a difficult time interpreting it.)
Expedia should have explained the rules to you carefully and thoroughly, and it apparently did not. Instead, it sold you a product with what amounts to a “hidden” rule. Although Expedia is an online agent, its responsibilities are essentially the same as those of any living, breathing, down-the-street travel agent. In this case, Expedia should have been more diligent
I asked Expedia to take another look at your records. When it did, it discovered that while its agents provided you with accurate information about your fare rules, that information was also incomplete. Moreover, when you called up your itinerary information online, only one of the fare rules displayed.
“It is never our intent to mislead or miscommunicate to our customers, nor is it our intent to cause such confusion or inconvenience,” a representative, Jill Knaack, wrote in an e-mail to you after the investigation was completed.
Expedia helped you rebook your flight back home at no additional charge.
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Hi
I was wondering if you could help and/or advise me how to deal with a United Airlines problem. I have written letters to United, & to Mastercard…as yet to no avail..
The problem: I purchased 2 full fare r/t trip tickets and 2 things happened – First
United changed the seats on our return flight without permission (for operational purposes they said) then we were downgraded to economy (not sitting next to each other)(The plane was also 2-3 late, switched boarding gates 3t)
and were only offered a refund when I asked at our arrival in Newark- and, bottom line that have offered $94.00 per ticket. I think this is grossly wrong. We paid $1969.99 for one R/T first class from Boston to denver, with a return to ewr from Denver and thenn pd $1734.98 for 2nd ticket R/t to ewr/Denver.
They have sent us 2 vouchers at $150. each – which frankly, they can have back – they are no use in solving this problem -(& I haven’t yet read them for any restrictions!)
I booked these tickets with a United booking agent who confirmed these were first class seats, and at same time given first class seat assignments for both ways. I rec’d email confirmation with all of this, which states the flight is “United FIRST”, and with first class seat assignments.
The reason they are offering the $94 credit is because, according to them, the class code (not on my confirmation) indicates these really weren’t first class tickets, after all. And, the way they calculate ETC… COMES TO $94.00 EACH. (At EWR counter, I had been offer=red $114 each – &
I said that doesn’t cover the difference in cost & it was for their change .
I went on line and found that United has the 2nd highest number of complaints of all domestic airlines listed- re: The Aviation Consumer Protection Division of the DOT – according to the Feb 08 Air Travel Consumer report, Table 6 in the Fares dept. Fares category is described as complaints about: “Incorrect or incomplete information about fares….etc etc,,,,, (and) level of fares in general..” Clearly, I am not the only one & they just do not care Any ideas to get us a fair fare refund!!