Monday, January 23, 2006

Orbitz, how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways.

The, uh, nice people at Orbitz wrote back:

When booking with any online service you are acting as your own travel agent. It always a good idea, as well as your responsibility to verify all travel information before going. ... In this situation the hotel states the reservation did not go through even though Orbitz shows the electronic transfer of the reservation as successful. The hotels are responsible for managing their inventories and unfortunately this hotel did not.


Since Orbitz is not prepared to recover the cost of the screw-up from the hotel, what am I paying Orbitz for? A few guesses.

  1. For a terrible web site. One that forgets who am I even though I check "remember me." One that times out sessions after a few minutes. One that is slow. One that doesn't understand simultaneous sessions. One that can't learn when my default airport has changed. One where the price changes every time I try to buy something. In a fraction of the time, Yahoo has already made them look lime amateurs.
  2. For obnoxious customer service. Customer service that tells regular customers that they have to pay $50 change fees. Customer service that tells me I should double-check everything they do because they might screw up and leave me without a hotel at my destination. Customer service that tells me I should double-check everything even though the confirmation tells me not to contact the hotel directly. Customer service that thinks it's okay when they land me in Miami with no hotel and can only find me a dreary room at the same price but minus the excellent location, 4 stars, and ktichen of the original (possibly explaining why it was free at the last minute). Customer service that discourages me from speaking to a manager and tells me I should not expect compensation. Customer service that says I must continue my discussion by email and then cuts off the email thread and says I must continue by phone.
  3. For incurring additional risk. When I book a hotel directly, I can usually cancel without penalty. When I book airfare directly, I usually have 24 hours to cancel. When I book with Orbitz, I'm screwed. With an Orbitz travel package, I pay $50 to cancel the hotel and the airfare is nonrefundable.

At the end of the day, I am forced to use Orbitz because they have their special deal with the airlines that lets me search all of their cheapest airfares. Luckily, you can usually save $5 by booking straight with the airline and even get a few miles in the process. Next time, I'm going to start with Travelocity's supposedly pleasant customer service and work my way down.

Any tips on getting some finanically-meaningful apology out of Orbitz? Anybody have any luck with the Better Business Bureau or something?

37 comments:

  1. you might like this:

    http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=orbitz_blows

    orbitz does suck, i use expedia to find cheap shit and book directly wiht the airline. for hotels i often use expedia though. i've never had a problem, so i don't know how their customer service is.

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  2. man, i am with you. i just got back from a vegas trip that was booked on orbitz... what a nightmare. i got to the flamingo hotel and they told me that i had no reservation and that they were near capacity. i called up orbitz and i get some worthless outsourced customer service in india. i spent a total of a little less than 2 hours dealing with the hotel customer service and orbitz customer service trying to sort out the problem. i had to finally put the hotel room on my credit card and deal with the problem the next day when i could speak to someone competent -- when i say competent, it's all relative. the customer service at orbitz was atrocious -- long hold times and inflexibility. nothing was accomplished speaking to them. they apologized and said that this kind of stuff happens from time to time. never will i use orbitz again. never again!

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  3. This is the worst Orbitz story. please get this around. In February I was invited to a college graduation in Massachusetts. I logged on to Orbitz and booked 2 nights at a hotel for May, 4 months later. Later that day, my 10 year old daughter brought home her dance recital schedule... it was the same day as the graduation. So i can't go to the graduation. Well, it's 4 months in advance, no problem, you'd think, right? When i called Orbitz, LESS THAN 24 HOURS AFTER MAKING THE RESERVATION, they said I had to call the hotel directly myself. When i called the hotel, they said what reservation? We don;t have anything from Orbitz. The hotel made a 3-way call with Orbitz & said this is fine with us, go ahead & cancel. So orbitz sent me a confirmation of the cancellation I had made with the hotel at their insistence. And then guess what? The charge still appeared on my credit card! And Orbitz insists that all reservations are non-refundable.... even if they do nothing at all. So they made $239, and never lifted a finger. And i got absolutley nothing. I cancelled my credit card (Discover) because they insisted I had to pay.It';s not worth my trouble to sue Orbitz 7 they know it. So spread the story far & wide! Orbitz is more than just bad... they are thieves!

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  4. Hey Guys, I totally agree, (except not with the ex-employee - and no Orbitz can't take the blame for anything apparently!) However, my situation is a bit different Orbitz's screwed me - their site told me 'Error" and that I was not able to purchase my tickets at that time, to try again later. But being anal and paranoid I called just to make sure I was not charged for those tickets. The very rude and unfriendly customer service rep who kinda gave me attitude and was like NO we have nothing for you reserved, I asked if there might be a delay and she no - getting annoyed with me she tried to cut the conversation short. However after being assured that I was not charged I went back online to make another purchase for these tickets and found them on a different site, with no problem and printed the confirmation etc. But days later I checked my email and saw a conformation from Orbitz anyway with the failed attempt - or at least that is what I had been told by the Orbitz rep and seen on my computer screen - now they are after me for this charge I didn’t even make or use! So be weary of them!

    Hey Maura maybe we should compare notes - these seems to be a scam of theirs.

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  5. The anonymous reply by a former Orbitz customer service once again indicates what kind of inferior customer reps Orbitz employs. I had many trouble with Orbitz as well. The customer service tends to put you on enternal holds once you start questioning their logic or ask for a supervisor. I understand when the ticket is purchased non-refundable, thus it cannot be refunded. I had a refundable ticket to Frankfurt. I paid $1,450 for it. I had to cancel the flight and send my ticket back to orbitz. I've been waiting for a refund over a year now. Everytime I call in I get b.s. excuses from it will be refunded within next 3 months to "you never cancelled this ticket". I called them 5 times already and today I called to follow up again. I was told that since it's been over 1 year since the original purchase of the ticket, all records are now purged and neither rep or supervisor can access it and there is nothing they can do. WAY TO GO ORBITZ!

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  6. [...] After my encounter with Orbitz, it’s been refreshing to have companies care at least a bit more when something bad happens. Jetblue and Netflix both recently sent me small credits after some amazingly crappy service when I missed a flight and screwing up the order of my Battlestar Galactica DVD’s multiple times, respectively. Yay, nice companies! [...]

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  7. I booked some flights from Myrtle beach to denver for the dates of Jan.4, 2007 and to return on jan.9, 2007. Three days later I get a confirmation from orbitz saying my flight is for nov. 9 to the 16. I noticed this mistake made by orbitz, and called. After three hours of waiting I got no resolution. They said they are not at fault and I would have to pay 130.00 per ticket to change the dates! That came out to 390.00 extra I would have to pay. I looked at the prices for flights on nov.9 and they came out to be 476.00 because it was actually october 30th when I booked the flights. The prices I payed for my tickets were 367.00 a ticket(The exact same price for the tickets to fly on the dates I requested) I told them how ironic, The price I payed for my tickets are the exact same prices for Jan 4-Jan.9! They had no answer to how that happened. I told them they are at fault and I should not have to pay the 390.00 extra, but its like they have a bunch of idiots working customer service! Needless to say, I paid the 390.00 because I didn't want to lose the 1101.00 I already paid for three tickets. Never ever use orbitz!

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  8. I also got screwed by Orbitz. I made a "package" reservation to go see a friend being treated for cancer. Unfortunately, I was totally emotional when I made this reservation, my first time booking on Orbitz. There really was no savings packaging the deal, (I checked rates for hotel,etc.) it was just easier doing it in one place on one website so I proceeded with the reservation. The trip cost $931. The husband of my friend called and she wasn't doing well. I told him no problem, we could cancel and I would rebook when she was feeling better. Because I booked this as a "package" and it was less than 24 hrs notice, the Orbitz CSR told me I wasn't entitled to any refund or credit for a future trip. I would lose everything -- absolutely ridiculous!! He told me I should have bought the insurance. When I reviewed the insurance, it wouldn't have covered this event. I will NEVER USE ORBITZ AGAIN WHAT A LOUSY COMPANY, I DON'T KNOW HOW THEY STAY IN BUSINESS!!! I will repeat this story as often as possible to inform other consumers.

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  9. Orbitz has by far,the worst customer service. You are completely on your own when making any changes to you flights -- only god can save you then

    I wanted to make a change to my flight and was told to mail in the original flight ticket (since it was an international ticket). I mailed it in through UPS (cost $25) only to be told that there are no flights available for the dates i wanted. Ironically, while I was online when I was with the service rep, I found availability through cheaptickets and expedia. The rep was still unable to find anything...

    After about 45 minutes i was told that i could not change my ticket. Frustrated, I asked them to cancel my ticket, to which the guy gave me all sorts of answers from we can't do it to a charge of $200 dollars. It appeared as if he did not know what he was talking about or the policies and procedures. On being asked to transfer to a supervisor, I was on hold for over an hour...

    ...still waiting to get a resolution on it. In the meahwhile, I think i have signed off from orbitz forever.

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  10. I am an employee of Orbitz.com in the customer service department. Do mistakes happen? Yes. Are you, the customer, responsible for reservations you make? As much as none of you want to hear it, yes, you are. Allow me to repeat this - you are responsible for what you book when you accept the responsibility of booking your own travel. Travel is complicated, and the rule for your ticket or car/hotel reservation can be difficult to understand. Day after day we listen to call from customers who never bothered to read the rules of their purchase before entering their credit card information. Why would you make a purchase without closely checking before clicking "go? Orbitz customer service is not responsible when you make a mistake - and we're not unique in that respect. All travel websites are the same. So please - take the time to read what you are buying. Would you walk into the Gap and just grab a pair of jeans without looking at the size, wear them and rip out the seams because they weren't the right size then blame the Gap for allowing you to walk out the door with the wrong product? No. So don't blame your travel website (whoever they may be) for your haste to finish your booking without reading everything. The rules apply to everyone - no matter who you are. Just read the next ime.

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  11. orbitz is incompetent and run by con-artists. what happened to "the customer is always right" in the world of service and sales? i booked a horseback trip from vegas through orbitz and it was the most bizarre, creepy, poorly run and misadvertised tour i'd ever been on...i have NEVER complained about a tour (trust me, have been on strange ones in mexico), but this one was not only bad, but dangerous. we were left in winter desert temperatures at night of 30 degrees without heat, alone in a cabin, waiting for someone, anyone, to pick us up to take us back to our hotels for 45 minutes. half of what was advertised never happened, and orbitz refused to refund or at least compensate in some way for this shitty experience. this is a law suit waiting to happen. the sagebrush ranch is a fly by night makeshift corral run by homies from detroit...not cowboys! the "cowboy" we had confessed that his cousins were working there to avoid jail in michigan. screw orbitz. and mr. orbitz customer service rep, please get off of YOUR high horse and have at least a little empathy for your customers. unless of course, you are hired to be sociopathic and then we can't expect you to be moral, courteous, or logical.

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  12. We sent this complaint while our friend was still in the air, without a place to stay and without a wheelchair or promises of help when they landed.......

    Complaint - Complaint Added
    The following information was successfully added to the ConsumerAffairs.Com database

    Company Name:
    Orbitz Travel

    Company Contact:
    Amanda#43123



    Incident
    Our friend booked through this Orbitz, her flight was delayed and rushing to make the connecting flight she injured her knee, I have spent one hour and forty minutes trying to get Orbits to assist her with a wheelchair and hotel connection. I was shuffled from operator to operator left waiting for long periods of time, called on my other phone and probably got the same operator I was on hold with on the first line. They said I did not give them 24 hours notice about this problem so they didn\'t have to help. They advertise and claim to have a 24 hour hot line but then say it is too late at night to expect a supervisor to be available. Quote \"It is 12 midnight here and there is no other supervisor who can help.\" Reminded that they advertise 24 help line she said \"without 24 hour notice there is nothing they can do in an emergency.\" Their service was in all ways unprofessional and time wasting. My friend is about to land in Detroit at 1AM, with an injured knee and no place to stay. They said it is just a shame they can\'t help.

    Damage Resulting
    Our friend who is on the flight had a knee replacement last month, injured in the airport and we don\'t yet know the extent of her injury. We also don\'t know if she will find a room and what the resulting expense will be.

    Have Lawyer Contact Me
    Y

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  13. .. to steve jones.. a computer doesn't have the capacity to book a flight for you.. pls. don't blame the computer, it only does what you want it to do. If you travel often you will notice that for refundable tickets some require a fee to cancel for refund. pls don't forget to read the fine print after making a reservation, it will save you a lot of hassle..

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  14. people dont read. that's why they make mistakes. cover your ass the best you can. triple check everything. be OC.

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  15. The computer is always going to make mistakes, regardless of how many times over you review your purchase. Apparently mister ex-employee cannot understand this as an issue. What is the harm in HELPING people as a customer service employee? It is beyond me how a company, even a multi-billion dollar company can neglect the fact that sometimes people make mistakes, or life gets in the way of plans and in return charges their customers for anything and everything. We all can read (and some of us use the English language correctly), but the policys put forth by Orbitz is the issue. As a consumer (big-business employee or not), you cannot be pleased by the lack of flexibility Orbitz offers. You can stand by the policy all you want, but does it have to take 16 hours on hold with ten transfers to be told everything from "you have to talk to the airline (and the airline says 'talk to Orbitz')" to "we'll refund your money (then another person says there is no refund" to finally "there's nothing we can do"? I honestly spent 16 hours on the phone over a period of three days to get nothing accomplished because of an inability by Orbitz to help someone, regardless of the problem. Sorry you hate your job. I hate your job too.

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  16. Orbitz is a fuck up and it's customer service sucks!!! I purchased a round trip ticket to go to Antigua for world cup cricket on the 02/11 leaving on the 13th of March w/ return on the 27th. When logging on for flight the "bull's eye" comes up for round trip. You are req'd to enter departure and return dates along w/ leaving from what airport to arrival at what airport automatically. I entered all necessary departure/return info. and clicked "find" and found ticket wanted and purchased it. When I rec'd my confirmation I didn't have return flight info. I have been purchasing flights for 30 yrs and have NEVER purchased a one-way ticket- always round-trip. When I rec'd this ticket from Orbitz confirmation listed departure but not return. They have taken $550 of my money. Customer Service in Singapore can't speak clear English and won't let you speak to a supervisor. I explained to CS I purchased a round trip ticket. They explained their records show one-way. I requested a change to include round trip but they claimed they could not but for and additional $130 I could travel at a later date on the same one-way ticket (I told CS they must be crazy as hell or I must be stupid as they are to want to use Orbitz for anything). You would have to be crazy or stupid as hell to do business w/ an incompentant website/service center/bogus/phoney/crooked company such as Orbitz. I think Orbitz is a fraud!!!!!

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  17. Wow, after reading all of these comments my own experience with Travelocity pales in comparison. My only beef with them being that they have no discernable Customer Service. From now on I will book through a real travel agency and leave the online stuff to those who thrive on adversity. It may cost more initially, but from what I am reading Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity are no bargain.

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  18. Wished i had read this before booking international flight with orbitz........in january, i booked a flight from denver thru atlanta to frankfurt for may6th......we get to the airport and was told by delta that the flight didn't exist and hadn't for nearly two months.....we were lucky enough to get another connection to atlanta and barely made it (running)...our bags didn't.....ended up waiting a half day for the bags in frankfurt (we got lucky, could have been a lot worse).........contacted orbitz (after 40 minutes) they said they sent an email on april 17th.....they had nearly 4 months to tell me!......problem is I never saw the email but i got plenty of other emails trying to sell me hotels and rental cars.....you would think that something as critical as a flight time change internationally would get more than 1 email notice (if i believe them)......customer service rude and uncaring...all i wanted was a refund of booking fees......1st and last time for these guys......bottom line always confirm the day before......and always check the blogs....

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  19. When I booked a travel through Orbitz, they claimed it at the lowest. However, when I checked out the hotel, they game me a receipt with $35 less than what Orbitz charged me. One night hotel charge of $35 was a big for me. I tried to recover the difference but I had to submit, "other online for the exact same day lower price proof" for the past trip? I called their customer service and complained. After she agreed to reimburse me the difference if I fax a proof which I did. A couple of days later, they sent me e-mail that they do not refund as the hotel changed the rate after the date I booked. I will NEVER USE ORBITZ again.

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  20. I just had the worst customer service experience in my life. I booked the Casa Sant'Andrea Hotel in Venice, Italy with Orbitz, using a $50 off coupon code. Everything went fine until I received the confirmation email, which said the hotel was in Rome! I immediately canceled the reservation online. When I went back to the site to find the correct hotel in Venice, it gave me the same hotel, and the map showed Venice, not Rome as well. Turns out the hotel I booked was in Venice, even though the confirmation email from Orbitz said "Roma".

    Okay, time to rebook and let Customer Service know what happened. I deserve my coupon back, right? I canceled because of a mistake on their site. I called their toll free number. Long story short, I was transfered 4 times, each time someone telling me something different. Back and forth between Customer Service, who was supposed to re-instate the one-time use coupon code, back to Booking who said the code wasn't valid. Yikes! To make things worst, the customer service reps where clearly out of India, so there were plenty of language problems during this fiasco.

    It goes without saying I'll never book with Orbitz again. When I told a few other world travelers about my experience, they nodded as they too had terrible service with Orbitz. Unfortunately, this hotel only books through Orbitz so I had to bite the bullet and rebook. Let's hope when I get to Venice the hotel will be there and I'll have a reservation.

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  21. i am so mad at orbitz right now i can't see straight. i wish i had seen these blogs before i made a reservation through them.
    i canceled my hotel reservation several weeks ago, got a concellation #, but still got an email 2 nites ago that i have a reservation. so i called orbitz to confirm the cancellation and after giving my cancellation #, got disconnected!! i called today, which is 24 hours ahead of what would have been the reservation and was told that i would be charged the full fee of $366 even though i cancelled at least 6 weeks ago since it is 24 hours before They said if i had read the small print, it said it was a non refundable reservation! so it wouldn't have mattered anyway if i cancelled 24 hours or 6 weeks ahead!
    what a complete rip off! no wonder orbitz is a mult million or billion $$ fraudulent business
    I WILL NEVER EVER USE ORBITZ AGAIN I WILL SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THEM AND I AM GOING TO REPORT THEM TO THE BBB AND THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
    the more complaints against them, the better .

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  22. My wife and I just returned from a vacation where we used Orbitz to book hotels and our airline tickets. We received incredibly poor service from Orbitz. I urge everyone to use some other travel service, not Orbitz.

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  23. Me and my wife bought a trip to London with a guided tour to Londons West End and Westminster Abbey included. Everything went fine with the booking of flight and hotel, but we never got any voucher for the guided tour,that it should be a link to after 24 hour`s.


    So I sent Orbitz a mail to tell them about it, and they told us to wait a couple of weeks to see if the link to the voucher showed up before we should called customer service. The link did not showed up,so we called customer service 2-3 times, and after a lot of explanations and finding the right person to deal with, they should fax the voucher to my work. But they was not able to send it,so we agree to call customer service again when we already had checked in at the hotel in London so they could fax it there. So we did,and after a lot of explanations again (and them asking for credit card number?)they told us it was faxed to the hotel,but the hotel never received it,and the guided tour should be 08.00 next morning from another hotel. We still went to that other hotel without vouchers next morning, and was waiting from 07.45 to 08.30, but it never was any London West End and Westminster Abbey guided tour there for us. After coming back home here in Norway,we sent Orbitz a mail again asking if we got our money back for something we have paid for but not got. They told us to call customer service again,because the persons that answering e-mail`s don`t have privileges to do anything (I don`t understand why they have them). But we are so tired calling customer service so we consider the money for lost, because if they not are able to solve this voucher problem,

    I guess they not are able to solve money back issue either then. But this was last time we are using Orbitz!

    Tommy
    Norway

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  24. Well, if after all that you're still considering doing business with Orbitz, at least you should think about knocking a few dollars off their bottom line before they go so far as to screw you (there are loads of sites offering orbitz coupons - that's just one of them).

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  25. Hello,

    BEWARE of the thieves !! I booked a package on orbitz and it was worth $550.67 when I booked it. A week later, they charged me $15.34 extra on my credit card for unknown reasons. I called up Orbitz Customer service who said they would get back to me. I came back from my vacation an year ago and have still not heard from the. So, I called my credit card company and disputed the extra charge. BAN ORBITZ !!!!!!

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  26. I'm sort of confused by 90% of all of the complaints on here. I've booked on Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia with little incident. Maybe it's just an expectations issue, but when I book through any of those 3 I understand that I have to be relatively certain plans are not going to change. Otherwise, book directly through the airline. If you're looking for a good deal beggers can't be choosers.

    Orbitz is nothing more than a broker for products they are selling. If you buy a ticket to a sporting event from a broker you're not getting your money back if your plans change.

    In fact, I've had plans change after purchasing a ticket from Orbitz (my traveling friends' brother died). He got his refund about 8 weeks later because the airline requires proof. This isn't the fault of Orbitz. Would it be a good business practice to just refund every complaint that comes through. Doubtful when they owe the airlines / hotel / cruise, etc.

    The complaints about the "computer" booking the wrong dates is just ridiculous. Own up to your mistakes. I run my own company and if I refunded everyone that claimed the "computer" made the mistake I'd be out of business taking everbody's word for it.

    The other people just need to read the fine print. Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia, etc. do not own their product. They provide a service similar to that of a travel agent, but there are more rules because the general public is building their own travel. Unfortunately, not everyone is reasonable and able to manage that on their own. This blog is a great example.

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  27. I have used Orbitz, hotwire, Expedia and Travelocity, all have their pro's and con's.

    I spotted a site called Anyfares.com, find air tickets so cheap that my savings were about 35% cheaper than Orbitz, hotwire, Expedia and Travelocity. Flights internationally such as Europe in particular that are great and South American, China and middle East countries, they have expcellent rates. Demastic though there are some what competitive where I used either Hotwire or the airlines direct from their web sites.

    What I really like about Anyfares.com is they sell tickets on US dollars in foreign countries and all their tickets are e-tickets so if you are in France and need a fight to St.Petersburg Russia or London or Franskfurt, they sell everything in US dollars and you have your tickets emailed in 10 minutes so you can just travel just like that. Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity, they sell their tickets if you are out of the US, they will charged you the currency in that country if you want to fly from there to somewhere else. So if I was in France for example and I want to fly to London, Frankfurt or anywhere, they will charged me in Euros or Pound Notes (it is like charging you double when the US dollar is so weak) when if you are an American and want to save, you can't save because Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity will charged the currency if you are outside the United States but with Anyfares.com, they don't. Euro’s, Swiss Marks, British Pounds, Russian Rubles and etc, they currencies are high to the US dollar and if you are an American, you are stuck if you have to meet those currencies if you have only US dollars.

    So consider if you have a money budget and you can't afford the high currencies, try http://www.anyfares.com

    Jim

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  28. I have used Orbitz, hotwire, Expedia and Travelocity, all have their pro's and con's.

    I spotted a site called Anyfares.com, find air tickets so cheap that my savings were about 35% cheaper than Orbitz, hotwire, Expedia and Travelocity. Flights internationally such as Europe in particular that are great and South American, China and middle East countries, they have excellent rates. Domestic though there are some what competitive where I used either Hotwire or the airlines direct from their web sites.

    What I really like about Anyfares.com is they sell tickets on US dollars in foreign countries and all their tickets are e-tickets so if you are in France and need a fight to St.Petersburg Russia or London or Frankfurt, they sell everything in US dollars and you have your tickets emailed in 10 minutes so you can just travel just like that. Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity, they sell their tickets if you are out of the US, they will charged you the currency in that country if you want to fly from there to somewhere else. So if I was in France for example and I want to fly to London, Frankfurt or anywhere, they will charged me in Euros or Pound Notes (it is like charging you double when the US dollar is so weak) when if you are an American and want to save, you can't save because Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity will charged the currency if you are outside the United States but with Anyfares.com, they don't. Euros, Swiss Marks, British Pounds, Russian Rubles and etc, they currencies are high to the US dollar and if you are an American, you are stuck if you have to meet those currencies if you have only US dollars.

    So consider if you have a money budget and you can't afford the high currencies, try http://www.anyfares.com

    Jim

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  29. I will NEVER give any of my business to Orbitz again. I highly recommend anyone use this site just to obtain information only then go directly to the airline/hotel/rental car site and book directly. These cust. service people at Orbitz are idiots. They apparently outsource to India for all of this stuff. Almost all have an accent. I recently cancelled a ticket worth $288.00, THEY screwed up and booked me on another trip, when I called their attn to this, they denied that they booked the trip, said they had merely changed the record locator number. However when I went to book a trip and use these funds at a later date, they took two $50 cancellation fees and $30 orbitz fees from my original ticket. I spent literally 4 1/2 hours and three separate conversations on the phone with these people. In the end they only used $64 of the original ticket towards my new ticket, hardly worth 4 plus hours of my time.
    I HATE ORBITZ!!!!!!!!

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  30. Should we ever use ORBITZ Travel Service again.........may the flees of a thousand Camels settle in my crouch!!!
    To say Orbitz S*#ks would be an understatement!
    Rest assured should you ever need there help after booking with them ......FORGET-IT !!!! They don't even want to know WHO-YOU-ARE.
    Orbitz booked us in La Royal Hotel, Metz, France, without ever contacting them (the hotel) regarding rooms or services. Had this hotel been within the US. boarders they would be CLOSED!! Exposed plumbing, electrical wires hanging everywhere from nails in the ceiling. Expsoed insulation in the room. No shower curtain. OH!, but they did have soap....
    The hotel advertised a continantial breakfast at 22 Euro's Per Person.....Hell we're lucky we got hot water for Tea, and ORBITZ after we contacted them for the second time by cell phone at $1.29 min, and put on hold for over 11 minutes each time ...replied, "well what would like us to do?"
    SO regarding using the service of Orbitz....THINK TWICE B-4 USE!

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  31. Looks like I am not the only one that has had a bloody nightmare with these idiots

    In the past week I booked a flight for my girlfriend to fly from MEX to NRT
    only to have Orbitz come back the following day to say need to re-book
    re-book over the phone and they guarantee the flights are now confirmed
    same garbage the next day need to re-book - no one can tell me what the
    problem is in booking the flight.
    Next go to book with other company (Expedia) to find out that no CR left on my CC due to Orbitz now holding CC authorizations for 5K usd.
    Call orbitz to get them to notify the bank immediately that the authorizations are no longer valid - so I can book other flight.
    Orbitz then advises that it is now in there billing department and it takes
    7-10 business days for the Cr authorizations to drop off.
    I speak to the bank - they advise that is Garbage and that Orbitz can call the bank with the Auth numbers and have that CR released
    Call orgitz back again only to have the agent argue that it cant be done - in the end the agent (whom actually happens to be in there call center in Pakistan or India who cares more idiots) then askes me for the number to my bank ?? then asks me for my personal information so they can speak to my banker (like my Tax ID)
    (again what a load off complete incompetency - as every one whom has access to a Visa terminal can access the billing banks contact details from the Authorization id details.
    As you can all see this is now becoming unbearable.

    During this same call this same agent tells me what was going to be a paper ticket now is an electronic ticket (and I believe her as there
    is no info on tracking number or no follow up email as to what is going on)

    Well it just gets better, I have just returned from a 4 day trip to MEX city to see my girlfriend and give her package for the flights - to only return to now see that the other trip purchased for my girlfriend prior to this mess (which was the connecting flights from NRT to AUS) is now not an electronic ticket it is now a paper ticket and the ticket from Mexico to NRT has been confirmed.
    Cool now I have a fucking paper ticket at my US home that I could have hand delivered in the package when I went to Mexico city.

    I call Orbitz again and they advise the ticket has been delivered - no body has signed for it (that will be nice to see if I can track that down now)
    They gave me no solution to how to now get the ticket to my girlfriend, could not give me access to be able to return the ticket and have the airline issue a new ticket at the airport.

    In the end I had already booked another ticket with Travelocity whom confirmed in 10 minutes what Orbitz could not achieve in 3 days and about
    5 hours on the phone.

    So basically so summarize it all up.

    Good luck to any body that dreams of saving money with Orbitz - this is the most un-organized, un-educated, incompetent bunch of fools I have dealt with.

    Oh one more thing - same company advised me that my girlfriend could
    book a ticket and travel through the US to Australia with out VISA
    Pls not - unless some one has a visa or belongs to a visa waiver country this is BAD, BAD information - again incompetent idiots.

    Good luck and try Travelocity or contact the airlines direct.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I hate them too...March 5, 2008 at 3:50 AM

    I recently booked an international trip. I was going to a country that declared a state of national emergency for 20 days -- all I wanted to do was change my flight for 2-3 weeks and it was going to cost me an extra $978.00. So instead I wanted to cancel and it only cost me $200.00. They didn't think a 'state of emergency' for an entire country was a big deal. Air France Sucks Too. They agreed as well.

    ReplyDelete
  33. am writing to document my customer experience with Orbitz.
    I booked a family vacation on March 31. It was an easy and reasonable process. Indeed, I got what I considered a really good package in terms of quality and price; the vacation I wanted to plan with my kids and wife.
    I got my confirmation emails and trusted Orbitz to take care of the rest.
    I was wrong.
    Today I learned, by a casual visit to the website, that my whole vacation had been canceled without notice.
    I called customer service and was informed that the reservation was canceled. Just like that.
    Customer service informed me that a cancellation notice had been sent to my system on March 31 and that there was no possible solution to my predicament.
    I rushed to check my emails looking for a cancellation notice and what I found was the email bellow.
    I find this response unacceptable.
    I have lost time and will soon lose money because of a decision taken by your company. My familiy is disapointed and distressed.
    Camilo Pino


    The "cancellation message":

    The flight portion of this reservation request has been sent to the airline(s). Final purchase is pending until we receive confirmation from the airline(s). Once that confirmation is received, we will issue the ticket(s), and send a "Travel Document" e-mail including trip details and ticket number(s) within 24 hours. We will also include a temporary password that will allow you to access your itinerary online.

    Please note: You cannot use this document to pass through airport security because it does not contain your ticket number(s).

    Please review your trip information as it appears below. Your Orbitz package locator is EKE7A5.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Ha! I guess I dont feel so bad seeing Im not the only one having trouble with these idiots!! My story is just like anyone else, I screwed and didnt feel a thing!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Wow, like everyone else, I should have read this first. Damn Orbitz!

    ReplyDelete
  36. I booked a flight, then canceled it just a few hours later, well within the courtesy cancel time window (no charge), and booked a flight with different departure times. Later I checked in on my flight info, and both flight were still listed!! They claimed that I'd never canceled the original.

    Don't use Orbitz!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Read about an experience with Orbitz that sucks at
    http://antiorbitz.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete