Any negatives with using Expedia vs. the airline site?

[BC]

I have found a flight on Expedia that the airline site is not showing. I called the airline and was told Expedia buys a bulk of tickets and they may have something available that the airline does not. That being said, it seems like I remember someone saying if there is a problem at the airport with your ticket, that you have no recourse except to try and call Expedia since you bought it from them and the airline will not be willing to help you at all. Does anyone know of any problems using Expedia?

 

[seashoreCM]

Yes, plenty.
Horror stories about Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity etc. abound, particularly when changes occurred, changes either made by the airline or requested by the passenger. However I don't have any links in mind at this moment. Even if the ultimate outcome was satisfying, if someone like Christopher Elliott had to write to them to prod them into doing the right thing, that still counts as a horror story.

I suspect that some of the problems occur when the travel agency took a seat from a prepurchased bulk block to sell to you. Then the airline changed its schedule and the travel agency did not have any seats that you liked in its remaining blocks. The agency would have to buy a fresh seat from the airline at extra cost to satisfy your hand picked replacement flight time.

 

[goofy4tink]

I always book directly through the airline. I refuse to use a third party. If there is any kind of issue, you have to go through that third party....and believe me, once they have your money, they really don't much care about any issues. BUT, with that in mind, there really aren't all that many 'issues' that crop up..it's only a problem when it happens to you.

 

[Lewisc]

The agency would have to buy a fresh seat from the airline at extra cost to satisfy your hand picked replacement flight time.

Absolutely not. The fine print would determine what rights the passenger has. It is entirely possible the better flight alternatives will be given to passengers who book direct. The passenger may be given an alternate flight with no options available. Enough of a change and the passenger might be able to get a refund. A passenger who insists on hand picking a replacement flight should be prepared to provide a credit card to pay the fare difference.

Airlines often give passengers fare more options then required by the CoC. Passengers who booked on a third party site are less likely to benefit from such generosity. Airlines won't generally deal directly with passengers who booked through a TA and Expedia may tell you no without even taking the time to call the airline.

 

[PatMcDuck]

One time I booked with Travelocity, or Expedia, and I was not allowed to pick my seats. I think the flights were on Spirit. This was somewhat annoying, made me a little worried, but it worked out ok.

 

[poohs4me]

My mom has had trouble with tickets from Expedia, but only when the flight was oversold and she did not have an assigned seat. She was given the lowest priority of the oversold list. She was not happy. She still uses them but only if she can get an assigned seat, sometimes they are the best price. We ussually book directly with the airline.

 

[bumbershoot]

I don't think I've used expedia, but I've used travelocity and, I believe, orbitz.

Travelocity has been great. I wouldn't book an airline through them if the airline has a refund/credit policy, most definitely.

And while we coudln't book my MIL's seat, that was because that particular airline going out of SEA doesn't allow any online checkin or seat assignments...weird, but at least everyone was in the same boat at the ticket counter.

We booked another airline through trave or orbitz, and though we couldn't do the seats on the travel company's website, a few days later we went to our booking info on the airline's site, and could do it there.

 

[Ms.Minnie]

I will never buy tickets through Expedia again! My last trip in Jan ’10 I bought the tickets through Expedia & I picked the seats I wanted. Well come time for the trip & I know longer have the supposed assigned seats anymore. I was very upset to say the least & after several phone calls with no satisfaction I determined that I would NEVER EVER buy ticket from them again.

 

[seashoreCM]

Absolutely not. The fine print would determine what rights the passenger has. It is entirely possible the better flight alternatives will be given to passengers who book direct. .

Add that to the list of negatives regarding using an on line travel agency versus booking direct.

One might question whether an agency that does not have ready access to alternative flights in the event of airline initiated schedule changes should be referred to as a "consolidator" as opposed to a "travel agency".

 

[Brit_Jude]

I have used Expedia and Hotwire many times and have not had any issues. I have also booked for my family who live in England for their travel when they come to visit. With the US Airline sites you can't always use a 'foreign' credit card (even though it's visa or mastercard) to make the purchase. With the on-line sites like Expedia etc this is never and issue and we have also been able to split the cost on more than one card with a lot of the Airline sites they won't let you do this.

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

I have found fares on Expedia not found on the airline's own website. My bookings have been incident-free. An advantage of checking Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, etc is that their computers scan all airlines at one time and thus give you a generally unbiased look at fares. It will find combinations (i.e. one airline one way, a different airline return) that airline sites won't show because they only display their own flights or partner flights.

However, when those sites return the same responses that the airline sites display, then I will book direct.

A reminder on ALL websites. When you return at a different time or day to search again, CLEAR YOUR COOKIES. Otherwise it may return the same information it gave you the previous time even though there may be new, cheaper options. If you go to a website and the same city-pair from your prior visit is already displaying, that's a red flag to clear your cookies!

BobK/Orlando