Worried about having booked through Orbitz!

[FutureSailor]

I booked our flights through Orbitz and now, having read a few posts about problems with these kind of sites, I am wondering what will happen if one of our connecting flights is delayed or cancelled causing us to miss our next flight? To make matters worse, we are switching airlines (first flight out is on Delta, and the connection is on USAir, I think).

If the Delta flight is delayed or cancelled, who would be responsible for rebooking us?

Also, I do have travel insurance purchased through Travelex; is that likely to help in any way?

 

[disneymomof6]

Those "sites" as you mention are all owned by different airlines... its the way of the future and is very safe. I am a prior Travel Agent and I assure you that online sites are eliminating the need for TA's.... Delta and us air code share... meaning they are working together on those flight segments.... connections are booked based on whats doable... if a flight gets in late preventing you from getting on your connection... you would go to Delta and have them put you on another one which they will do and even if it means putting you on another airline and taking the loss.... If you miss your connection and it is NOT because of late arrival times then thats your burden... Orbitz doesnt make the connection... airlines put together the flights... orbitz just posts them on the site.

 

[kimkatmom]

We booked our flights through Orbitz for your December trip to WDW. I have NEVER, and I mean NEVER, had so much trouble traveling. [And we travel a lot!]

My husband and I traveled with my 76 year old mother. I made the reservations in plenty of time -- June for a December flight. The day before we were to leave I got on the internet to "reconfirm" our seats and check in on Delta. Much to my surprise, we had no seats. Originally we had like 16 A, B, and C. Now we have none. So I call. After bouncing around to begin with, they give me three seats, one behind the other in the rear of the plane. I am now officially not a happy camper -- you see, my husband who is a recovering chemo patient and now a heart patient because of the affects of the chemo and my 76 year old mother are now sitting away from the only person going who is healthy and able to help them in an emergency situation. I told that to the people at Delta. "Sorry, those are the only seats we have." Long story short - three hours later, [and I'm at work doing this], I finally get three seats together. I was undone!

Then, after our wonderful vacation at WDW, I check our flight and luggage in at OKW only to find that we can't check in because there has been a "change in our plans." Really, who changed them??? The young ladies at OKW were amazing at trying to unravel this next mess. We finally were able to confirm that we did, in fact, have seats on Continental. Good - and the seats were together. So, off to the airport we go -- We check in at the airlines only to be told that there were changes in our flight. We were asked if we had made changes -- answer was no. Did we cancel and then reschedule -- no. All we did was book the flight and wait for our travel day to come. In all reality, it didn't really make any difference at all what they were asking us. They just were curious why they found on their records that there was a change. WHAT A NIGHTMARE!

NO -- I WILL NEVER USE ORBITZ AGAIN! Unbelievable. My advice to you -- keep on top of them. Don't assume that everything will be ok. Keep calling them. Hopefully you won't have to be on hold for three hours and bounced around like I was. If I were you -- I'd check weekly!

Good luck. But I know that when you get to your destination that you will have a WONDERFUL TIME.

 

[FutureSailor]

kimkatmom: Thanks for your story. And I do plan on checking Orbitz every week. I am traveling with two kids and I will be quite unhappy if somehow our seats get separated.

disneymomof6: I hope you are right that Delta would put us on another flight if they made us late for our connection. But are you saying Orbitz has no responsibility? As a former travel agent, do you know where I can find the federal regulations about what airlines must do if they make you miss a connection? I seem to remember something about if that airline doesn't have a flight leaving in three hours then they have to pay to put you on another airline? I could well have the details all wrong, but do you know if some kind of rules like that exist? Thanks!

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

kimkatmom, the experience you are describing has a to do with both Orbitz and the airline(s). Because you booked so far in advance of your departure date the airlines probably went through at least two "schedule changes" where flight numbers changed and/or departure and arrival times changed and/or there were equipment changes. When airlines load schedule changes sometimes seat numbers remain as originally booked and sometimes they don't. I've never been able to figure out the latter except I know if there is a change of equipment the seat numbers do get messed up. But this should not have been a last minute surprise. If you book with a travel agent, the agent would have called to inform you of changes and even rebooked your seats. If you had booked on an airline website you would normally receive an e-mail each time there is a schedule change and you would have noticed the lack of seat numbers. Orbitz is a travel agency and they are informed of schedule changes by the airlines but they failed to forward the information to you. I guess they get thousands of those every day and can't possibly do it and they're NOT going to give the e-mail address to the airline because they don't want the airline contacting you directly to possibly steal their customer. Everyone booking an airline reservation, especially months ahead of time, needs to keep up with the changes.

Also, you never did lose your seats on those flights, you just lost your seat numbers. Your reservations to be on those flights still existed. Of course seat numbers are important not only for being able to sit where you want to sit but also to assure you have a place in case the flight is overbooked. In overbooking situations it's the late-arrival people without seat numbers that are sitting in the terminal hoping someone with seat numbers doesn't show up or is willing to give up their seat.

Futuresailor, the original airline that you check-in with is responsible for getting you to your destination. If a connection is missed because of the fault of the first airline (including mechanical problems) then they will arrange to get you to your destination. If you miss the connection because of an act of God (i.e. weather) then they will still help you get a new way to where you're going at no expense to you. The main difference is when it's late in the day and there are no more flights to where you're going. If it's their fault, they pay for your hotel and meals. If it's an act of God then you are on your own for that expense. Don't be sitting around worrying about this stuff; airline connections happen hundreds of thousands of times a day.

BobK/Orlando

 

[FutureSailor]

The main difference is when it's late in the day and there are no more flights to where you're going. If it's their fault, they pay for your hotel and meals. If it's an act of God then you are on your own for that expense. Don't be sitting around worrying about this stuff; airline connections happen hundreds of thousands of times a day.

BobK/Orlando

Thanks for the advice. I actually am not worried about the expense because we have travel insurance that I am pretty sure will cover us if we are delayed because of weather. What I am mostly worried about is if the initial Delta flight is delayed and we miss our connection, that Delta will say it's orbitz's or the other airline's responsibility while they will say it's Delta's. And I will have no way of proving who is really responsible!

 

[bicker]

A couple of more notes about seat assignments. They're just requests, like a "ground floor" request on your hotel reservation. Neither the airline nor Orbitz makes any promises regarding seat assignments, nor even the kind of aircraft that will be used, nor the number of stops, etc. Beyond that, one reason that seat assignments are "lost" is because of flight consolidations. If the airline plans 11 months beforehand to run five flights a day, and then switches to four flights a day, obviously, at least a couple of flights are being consolidated together. In cases like that, airlines sometimes will release all seat assignments, since there may have been too many conflicting seat assignments between the consolidating flights, and it would be unfair to give priority to one flight or the other.