MetaChat - Airline Itinerary Change Question.

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21 June 2007

Airline Itinerary Change Question. So I get an email from Orbitz→[More:] informing me that instead of leaving from PDX at noonish and flying directly to Honolulu (then to Kona), we are NOW booked on a flight at 7:30am to Seatac and then to Honolulu.

There was something in the email that said, "if this is acceptable, you need take no action."

This bites, in that Portland is a 2 hour drive and we'll either need to spend the night there or get up VERY early for the drive and hope that we don't get a flat tire or anything (either way, renting a car for the drive to PDX so Daughter can have ours, but we do not want her driving home from that airport by herselt yet).

I have looked all over the Orbitz site but have found no other options for pushing back on this.

I am assuming that I just need to go with the new itinerary, since it's a non-refundable ticket.

Does anyone know the ins and outs of this? I fly, like once ever 3 years and am not that savvy about all of it.

post by: danf at: 12:39 | 10 comments

Yeah, they do this, it's happened to me several times (not through Orbitz but through ebookers.com or lastminute.com) and there's not a lot you can do about it, I'm afraid.

posted by essexjan 21 June | 12:52

Man, that's annoying. They pulled that on us this year, too, but it was such a small change that we didn't really have any trouble from it.

You might be able to get a Portlander to put y'all up for the night if you want to go that way. I've got a crowded 1bdr with a loveseat, so I'm no good, but there are folks about.

posted by cortex 21 June | 13:11

I'd give them a call at 1-888-656-4546 and talk to a live person about it, 'cos Orbitz is a terrible, terrible place to buy tickets from, and they will do all they can to keep you from getting your original itinerary back.

posted by cmonkey 21 June | 13:16

Thank you for considering it cortex. We DO have a few places we can stay, but a rub is that Daughter is up there for a week and we are picking her up on Saturday after her show at the Bagdad. So, one day with her then we are off.

We might stay in a motel at the airport or might just get up early.

And the rez could change again.

posted by danf 21 June | 13:17

'cos Orbitz is a terrible, terrible place to buy tickets from,

So cmonkey while I have your attention, what are better options than Orbitz? I really have no clue.

posted by danf 21 June | 13:18

You can find the flight on Orbitz and then book directly through the airline. This is what I do. I often have to call the airline, rather than use the airline's proprietary site, but I have never found a seat/fare on Orbitz I couldn't replicate or improve by calling the airline directly.

Kayak.com gets raves on the internet, but I've never used it.

posted by crush-onastick 21 June | 13:28

I usually use ITA or travelocity for comparison shopping, find an itinerary that sounds good, and then see if I can get the same flight booked directly with the airline. I've found that nearly all of the time the cost is the same, and the rest of the time it's cheaper to book directly from the airline than through a site like Orbitz. I've actually booked flights from Lufthansa that were hundreds of dollars cheaper directly from them.

For example, I'm flying to Salt Lake City at the end of July. Yahoo/Travelocity says that Delta 868 will be $310. That same flight directly from Delta is $303.

posted by cmonkey 21 June | 13:36

Wanna know a secret? All these find-the-lowest-fare websites all use the same software. I know a guy that works for the company that was contracted by Travelocity, et. al. They all use the same fare searching algorithms. Kayak.com basically runs an emulation of all of the other websites that use the same technology to give you your results.

posted by backseatpilot 21 June | 13:38

Most airlines have a price guarantee, too, that says they'll beat the lowest price. I've also found that if I book through some agents, I can't get credit for airmiles with the airlines, so it's always best to book direct with them if possible.

posted by essexjan 21 June | 13:43

cmonkey's got it: ITA for the win - they are my first stop and they tell you how to contact the airline! They've got smaller airlines like Uzbekistan Airways and Air Tahiti Nui, too, so you can see just how cheap things can get (my personal best was a fantastic LAX-Paris-LAX flight on Air Tahiti Nui, returning to LA on Christmas Eve 2005 no less, for $400 including tax!).

posted by mdonley 21 June | 22:37

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