Watch out for Expedia!

[shelleyrb]

Last night, at last, fares were lower from RDU to MCO at the end of October. We decided to book our tickets with Expedia.com on USAirways, and requested electronic tickets. Well, after COMPLETING the transaction, we got the message "Your tickets will be mailed in 2-3 Business Days" or something similar. What?? We didn't request paper tickets. I paged back to make sure, and there it was, checked "Electronic Ticket". So, I waited for my confirmation email, which came about 3 minutes later, and sure enough, they issued me paper tickets with the $19.99 "service fee". I immediately called Expedia Customer Service, and talked to Janet, who insisted my only choices were "wait the 2-3 days for the tickets, or we can void the order, and you can *try* to rebook and see if you get electronic tickets." Oh, and meanwhile, I would lose the nonrefundable $10 service fee Expedia charges, and pay ANOTHER $10 for the new booking. I told her this was unacceptable, I did not request paper tickets with their exhorbitant fee, and she basically said, "I can't do anything about it."

So then, I sent feedback to Expedia via their form, again to customer service, and told them I'd called, what I was told, etc., and that I was very unhappy. The response was "Our reservation systems are down; please call Customer Service for assistance". I've already tried that.

What I should have done is void the order last night, tell them to keep their $10 fee, and that would be the last money they would ever see from me, but of course we didn't think of that easy solution until today. I don't know what scam they're running; I don't recall having problems with them before, although I usually try to book directly with the airlines web sites. So, a word of caution if you book flights with Expedia: you may get paper tickets along with the $19.99 fee whether you like it or not. And, they will do nothing about it except tell you "Not our problem"

Shelley

 

[prncess674]

Call your credit card company and tell them to deny the charge. All tickets should be cancellable within 24 hours. Also call US Air and see if they can tell you if you have an e-ticket.

 

[CarolA]

The only other thing to consider is was this a transaction that HAS to be paper ticketed. I can't belive it would be but... are all your flights on USAir (ie you are not on a United or commuter plane for part of the trip)?

 

[Lewisc]

I noticed more of the flights shown with Expedia and Travelocity involve connecting with different airline and/or using a different airline for the return. Not sure what fares they're using but Carol is right, it's possible tickets are required for your booking.

 

[shelleyrb]

Perhaps, that might be something to consider. The CS rep told me last night "maybe they're out of E-tickets". Huh? Right! She didn't have any explanation, lol.

And, we received no message stating that the ticket could only be issued by paper. It gave us the choice, and we chose electronic. I'm upset that we were not made aware of this until AFTER the transaction.

 

[holidaybarb]

I had a similar experience today buying tickets from Expedia for a trip to Las Vegas. After the fare, taxes, and fee had been posted a message appeared stating that paper tickets were required and there is a $19.99 shipping fee. I was startled. First, no one uses paper tickets anymore. And I've purchased from Expedia in the past without this fee.

The tickets were for American Airlines and I joked that maybe they'll go out of business and we'll need our paper tickets. Not really very funny.

Anyway, the fare I got from Expedia was so much less than I could get from AA, Travelocity, etc. that I paid the fee. So what's this all about? Sounds like a way to increase profits to me.

 

[peg2001]

Shelley,

Thank you for posting the warning!

Peggy

 

[seashoreCM]

As far as I know they cannot charge you their "nonrefundable $10.00 booking fee" if you want to cancel the deal completely because of the $19.99 paper ticket fee you were not told about in advance.

Before you click the "Book It" or "Finish" button all of the charges and final amount should be spelled out. It is a good idea to do a print screen of this before continuing.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[Lewisc]

Originally posted by holidaybarb


Anyway, the fare I got from Expedia was so much less than I could get from AA, Travelocity, etc. that I paid the fee. So what's this all about? Sounds like a way to increase profits to me.

Not sure if it's either a way to increase profits or if they're using some type of wierd fare that requires paper tickets. Normally you wouldn't expect an Expedia fare to be (much) cheaper than going directly to the airline. Could this be some type of bulk/group fare that require tickets?

Doesn't make sense that Expedia can't give a straight answer.

 

[FreshTressa]

I have had problems with expedia before on other issues. If you just keep calling and asking for supervisors, eventually you get this harried sounding person on the phone that is like, yah yah yah, whatever you want.

So, if it is really that important to you and worth about 4 hours of your time, you may be able to work something out with them. Not sure $20 is worth your time, but it is just so WRONG, out of principle.

Priceline always lets you know when it will be paper tix ahead of time!

 

[jel0511]

I had this problem with Expedia in the past. I was eventually (after MANY phone call) informed that Expedia can't issue e-tickets for US Airways due to US Airways not allowing them to. They want their reservations to go through their own website. So, all Expedia can do is issue paper tickets, with the fee. I ended up paying the fee, since with Expedia you can book an infant fare, whereas on the US Airways website you can't so this was MUCH cheaper. I'm sorry this happened to you.

 

[honeymo78]

I booked through expedia for US Airways tickets a few months ago for my trip in august and got e-tickets. HOwever I had to call them back and make sure they sent me my ticket numbers since they don't show up on the expedia page. I'm just glad I can print out my boarding passes before I leave. I'll figure out what to do on my return later - maybe there are kiosks at MCO.

 

[DebbieB]

I've searched for fares using Expedia but found that I could get the same fare on usairways.com without the service charge. Plus you get 1,000 bonus dividend miles for using usairways.com.

 

[Barbruka]

I had the same thing happen with Travelocity. AFTER I paid for my tickets it said I had to pay $19.95 for paper ticket delivery. Reason being because it was two different airlines for each way and you can't issue an e-ticket for that. Has to be paper. But I agree they should tell you that before the purchase.

 

[shelleyrb]

I usually try to book directly with the airline's website, but in this case Expedia had the best times at the best price. USAir's website was charging MUCH more for the same flight, for some reason.

Oh well, if they run into any problems between now and October, at least I've got paper tickets.

 

[travelgoddess]

I am a real travel agent, and I get at least 5 calls a days from
people who purchase their tickets online and get ripped off
in some way or another. I think the internet has some benefits
for travelers, such as checking flight times and fares, but when
it comes to purchasing why not try a real travel agent in your
town that you feel comfortable with. Good luck to you, and I hope
you get this straightened out.

 

[Ven]

I booked our FTP package through Expedia, airlines, hotel, everything. No paper tickets here and no extra charge.
I did just book it last week too.