Annoyed with Expedia

[qman]

Expedia just changed our flights incoming to WDW and there is (I don't believe) nothing I can do about it.

Originally we had a 3:15 pm flight out of Portland (Maine) arriving in Atlanta at 6:05pm and then a connection to Orlando leaving at 8:05pm. Those times allowed us to have the kids in school for a half a day and gave us a long enough layover to allow for any delays (our trip is in February).

I just got an email from Expedia today. Our first flight is now leaving at 1:15 pm, two hours earlier. Now the kids will probably miss a whole day of school and we will be in Atlanta for four hours! There are earlier flights out of Atlanta but Expedia has an $150 per ticket charge for changes.

Any thoughts?

 

[plutolovr]

Expedia didn't change your flights, your airline did. If you have your flight information, call the airline or go online to their site and see if your original flight was canceled. You should be able to call the airline and change your flight to something more reasonable to you for no charge since they're the ones that changed it.

 

[dioxide45]

You will probably need to call Expedia and have them also bring the airline in to the conversation to see if they can move you to a flight that works better for you. Are there better options available? Check your flight days for the airline you are flying on and see what else is available. There may or may not be other flights that will work.

As the PP indicated, it is not Expedia that changed your flight times, it was the airline. This has been happening a lot this fall with many airlines consolidating schedules. You situation is not unique.

 

[DebbieB]

If this is Delta, they will try to work with you. I have flights in December that have had 2 major time changes. In both cases, I was able to switch to other flights. But since you booked through Expedia, I believe you have to go through them.

 

[seashoreCM]

If the airline changed the times, Expedia should work with you when you hand pick other flights you like better, with no extra charge.

If Expedia changed the times, all the more reason for Expedia to work with you when you hand pick other flights you like better, with no extra charge,

I've lost count of the number of stories I read about on line travel agents being a pain in the rear to work with if things need to be changed. Next time book directly with the airline, hotel, rental car agency, etc.

 

[qman]

Thanks for the advice...

I called Expedia and they agreed that because the airline changed their (Portland to Atlanta) flight I should be able to switch my Atlanta to Orlando flight without paying a penalty. I'm flying Delta and they have flights to Orlando leaving almost every hour so the potential of reducing my layover back to two or three hours seems plausible.

The hangup is that while my flight down is via Delta my return is on United. The lady at Expedia told me that United is the "holder" of the reservation so they need to contact them first then Delta. So they will do that and get back to me.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

The hangup is that while my flight down is via Delta my return is on United. The lady at Expedia told me that United is the "holder" of the reservation so they need to contact them first then Delta. So they will do that and get back to me.

This is a good example of why it is usually a better idea to book directly with the airlines rather than through Expedia. If this trip had been booked directly, you could have straightened things out much faster, without going through a middleman.

 

[yooperfan]

The hangup is that while my flight down is via Delta my return is on United. The lady at Expedia told me that United is the "holder" of the reservation so they need to contact them first then Delta. So they will do that and get back to me.

This is a good example of why it is usually a better idea to book directly with the airlines rather than through Expedia. If this trip had been booked directly, you could have straightened things out much faster, without going through a middleman.

Booking directly through the airline would be great but a lot of us are tied into using the companies our frequent flyer miles are dealing with. Delta uses an American Express card for there miles which is useless where we live, most businesses here don't take AE. When NWA was taken over by Delta, we had no choice if we wanted to actually earn miles but to go with another card. Our FF miles have to be used through Travelocity (which I have never used before) so I'm having nightmares about the next time we need to book with miles.

 

[dudspizza]

Booking directly through the airline would be great but a lot of us are tied into using the companies our frequent flyer miles are dealing with. Delta uses an American Express card for there miles which is useless where we live, most businesses here don't take AE. When NWA was taken over by Delta, we had no choice if we wanted to actually earn miles but to go with another card. Our FF miles have to be used through Travelocity (which I have never used before) so I'm having nightmares about the next time we need to book with miles.

Sounds like a sucky card to me. I have three credit cards tied to American Airlines. I get miles directly with American and can book using my miles directly on aa.com. In fact, once I get the miles with AA, they are treated the same as if they were miles flown. I have maybe 7000 actual paid miles flown with American but have earned over 160,000 miles via my credit card. When I fly, I am treated like a frequent flier. Great card to have!

Duds