I’m going to guess the problem may well have been with the employee with whom Beth spoke rather than an institutional one with Expedia (though that’s certainly possible).

I say that because of a serious problem I had with a Delta Airline check-in clerk in Hongkong some years ago.

About 2:00 A.M., I had had to book the earliest flight available to the U.S. because of a personal emergency, which turned out to be about eight hours later. I did this through American Express, from which I had a gold card. (That was its own less-than-thrilling experience, but that’s another story.)

When I tried to check in, the clerk demanded I pay the fare, quoting what American Express had quoted me. I explained the fare was already paid via my American Express Gold Card. He made a show of checking again, then said they had made the reservation but that I hadn’t paid.

Perplexed — why would American Express give the the reservation service but not jump on the chance to accept the charge (way under my limit)? — I suggested he call the Hongkong American Express office and ask them to double-check the situation with them. Yes, I had made the reservation through a U.S. office, as the Hongkong one wasn’t open when I called, but I knew everything should be online.

He immediately began shouting at me and accused me of being a troublemaker and thief. And he threatened to call the police.

He didn’t have to call them; two airport police were nearby and witnessed the entire scene. Quite properly, they moved in to investigate.

The three of them were all local Chinese, of course, while I’m a Caucasian Westerner. The clerk immediately tried to play the race/foreign card, greeting the officers with “Good morning, Brothers. Can you either make this “gweilo” [a derogatory term for Caucasians] thief pay for his ticket or take him to jail?”

Now, the Hongkong police are, by and large, extremely professional, and these two officers fit the mold. They asked me my side of the story, which I recited. Then they suggested to the clerk he call American Express to work it out — and to do so right now, since it was getting close to time for me to be moving on through immigration control and so forth.

Much to my astonishment — and, clearly, to the officers’ — he flat refused, insisting he was right and I had to cough up the fare of about US$1,100.

I noticed a pay phone nearby about then, and suggested to the officers one of *them* speak to American Express, at my expense. They agreed, and one did so after I gave him my card and ticket. He hung up, and told me I was right, then we went back to the counter.

The clerk looked smug (and to this day I wonder why) — but then *his* phone rang. The officer had ordered the American Express clerk to call the jerky clerk and straighten him out, even giving her the phone number. (He had an airport internal phone directory, including each gate’s phone.) The officer snapped at the clerk to answer the phone and just *listen.*

A minute or two later, problem solved, I was on my way after offering profuse thanks to Hongkong’s Finest.

Of course, American Express was aware of the problem, and a day or two after I reached the U.S., I got an apologetic phone call from a representative there — an unnecessary but appreciated call, unnecessary since the company had upheld its end of the bargain to the letter, and, in fact, had gone above and beyond in assisting me in obtaining a ticket at a time of year getting a trans-Pacific ticket isn’t all that easy, not on such short notice.

I had *not* reported the incident to Delta; I was just glad to get past the problem and on my way without having to fork over the fare, which I *could* have done and almost certainly gotten reimbursement, but what a pain that would have been.

Turns out other Delta clerks in Hongkong filed an internal report. After I went back home to Macau, I found a very nice letter from someone at the headquarters in the U.S. — plus one from the general manager in Hongkong — both apologizing for the incident and informing me that after an internal investigation and conference with the two police officers, they had dismissed the clerk. A few days later, the Hongkong GM telephoned me to be sure I had the letters, and she again apologized, and even offered me a free upgrade to business class on my next round-trip flight to Texas.

Satisfied the problem was with the now-dismissed clerk, not the airline, I thanked her and declined the more-than-generous offer of the upgrade. After all, my problem hadn’t been with something within minute-by-minute control of the airline — my clerk, it turned out, was the boss that morning, so the other employees couldn’t intervene (thus their internal report). Besides, I was darned impressed the other clerks had taken the initiative to even make the report in the first place, never mind the airline’s going WAY over and above in following up.

By the way, I have no affiliation with Delta. No friends or relatives working there, now, then, or ever. I own no stock in it. That’s my full disclosure! :-)