Why is Travelocity “unable” to refund my ticket?

Question: I’m writing to you because of a really difficult situation that I have with Travelocity.

My girlfriend and I had a set of multi-destination tickets that we booked through the site. We called Travelocity to ask if we could change one of our flights from Chicago to Washington. An agent told me it would cost another $300. She was nice but her English was not all that great. I got a confirmation email, but without any numbers.

Instead of charging me $300, Travelocity billed me another $4,000. They re-issued all the flights again, including the transatlantic flight.

I’ve been on the phone with their agents for the past month or more, trying to get this fixed. Eventually, they told me that if I cancel the remaining flights I would get a refund, which I agreed to. The refund was to appear on my credit card in one to two billing cycles. I re-arranged my travel plans and bought the tickets I needed elsewhere.

However, I then received an e-mail that said Travelocity is “unable to refund” the money. I called to see what was happening, and several agents and supervisors said that the refund is no longer possible but that I can get credit for future purchases, provided that flights take place within a year. Do you have any advice? — Marko Grdesic, Madison, Wis.

Answer: Next time, don’t change your flights. Oh, who am I kidding? Plans change, and Travelocity should have been able to handle this request without sucking another $4,000 from your bank account.

Your story is a cautionary tale about offshore phone agents and the needless complexity of airline reservation systems. It helps to look at this from the perspective of an online travel agency and an airline.

A big online travel agency wants to save money, so it hires inexpensive agents for whom English isn’t a first language. It figures the cost savings will be more than the added expense of reservations that get screwed up because of language issues.

An airline, on the other hand, wants a sure thing. It wants cheeks in seats, or, more precisely, it wants the money from those tickets. Once you commit to a fare, it’s in the carrier’s best interest to make it difficult to change. So it hits you with fees for making changes and it almost certainly gave Travelocity a hard time when it tried to make a single tweak to your multi-itinerary trip.

These two forces are conspiring to create your $4,000 headache.

How could you have prevented this? First, you should have stayed off the phone as much as possible. Some flight changes can be made online — it’s not clear if yours was one of them — but I would have tried that before phoning Travelocity. When you were connected with an agent who you couldn’t understand, you could have asked for another representative or simply ended the call (politely) and called back until you got through to someone who could speak your language.

As for the refund, the phone is the least efficient way to inquire about that. Put your request in writing. Send an email. Your case will get a tracking number and Travelocity will be able to refer to it whenever you inquire about the money.

I asked Travelocity to have another look at your case. It promised to investigate, but five months later, you still hadn’t received your money. So I asked the company again, and this time, it issued a full refund.

  • SirWired

    If I was the OP, I would have filed a credit card dispute as soon as the errant $4k charge appeared and phone rep #1 couldn’t have taken care of it. Since you have to file the dispute in a certain amount of time, doing so preserves your rights while you duke it out with the travel agency some more.

    NEVER, NEVER, believe promises about “the check is in the mail” while your chargeback window is expiring.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    Another example of poor customer service from an online booking site.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    “A big online travel agency wants to save money, so it hires inexpensive agents for whom English isn’t a first language.”
    - – - – - – - – - – - -
    The average income for a customer service rep (CSR) in India or the Philippines is $ 400 USD per month ($ 2.50 USD per hour – $ 400 divided by 160 hours).

    Most if not all of them have never been on airplane or have been outside of their country…no travel experience. They are reading scripts.

    It blows my mind that people will want to do business with and/or talk to these online boooking sites for their complicated travel plans, their once-in-a-lifetime trips, etc. especially when they encountered a CSR that they can’t understand.

    Of course, a B&M travel agent can make mistakes; can be imcompetent as these CSRs in India and Philippines; etc. but I don’t think that a traveler will have to wait for a year to get a refund.

  • Chicky

    And again, these places like Travelocity and Orbitz are great for comparing fares, you know, just to see what’s out there. BUT, I book directly through the company websites, or in the case of this kind of complicated, overseas itinerary, I’d have hied myself to the nearest brick and mortar travel agent. The thought of booking such a complex trip online gives me the heebie-jeebies.
    Having said that, Travelocity dropped the ball — several times. It’s a shame that it takes not one, but two nudges from Chris to get them to do the right thing. Not to budge from their rules and make an exception for special circumstances, but just to do the ordinary, RIGHT thing. Good grief!

  • Carver

    @Arizona

    “It blows my mind that people will want to do business with and/or talk to these online boooking sites for their complicated travel plans, their once-in-a-lifetime trips, etc. especially when they encountered a CSR that they can’t understand.”
    —————–
    I think that if you thought about it from the perspective of someone for whom money is tighter and lacks your depth of travel experience, it might seem less incredible.

  • Joe Farrell

    English IS the first language for Indian reps – but not for the rest of the subcontinent . . . why and did they take it out of her ‘bank account’ or is that a pleasant little fiction that shows they charged a credit card?

    And then did she pay it? Or dispute it? And if she did not pay it then who paid the 22% interest on the $4k for 6 mnths?

  • BucksterSF

    @carver: “I think that if you thought about it from the perspective of someone for whom money is tighter and lacks your depth of travel experience, it might seem less incredible.”

    My time and money are incredibly valuable to me, and that is exactly the reason I do not use Travelocity (or any of the other budget consolidators). Use them only a couple of times and your chance of having some customer service issue are not insignificant. The time and money it can take to alter something and the chance of it getting worse are waaaay too high to spend my valuable time on. My time is worth far more than the few dollars I can save booking directly through the companies web sites.

    It really doesn’t take travel experience to figure out how these people have make money. Just some common sense.

  • BucksterSF

    “It figures the cost savings will be more than the added expense of reservations that get screwed up because of language issues.”

    I simply cannot understand why normal, functioning adults cannot see this. Why do you think off-shoring is so lucrative? You think these companies save 10% by using foreign call centers? They save 90% and they EXPECT issues. They PLAN for screw-ups and understand that the credit card companies will ALMOST ALWAYS back them up.

    Personally, I find Vegas more fun for my gambling.

  • Monica

    I’m not sure about anyone else, but I can’t take an extra $4K hit to my account if I had already paid $4K for the first set of flights. The credit card would have rejected and I’d be stuck with no flights!!

  • Raven

    I think there needs to be a listing of all travel outlets that use off-shore call centers. Then, people will know who to avoid. I wouldn’t trust someone who can’t speak my language to book my travel. Period.

  • MeanMeosh

    @ Arizona: “Most if not all of them have never been on airplane or have been outside of their country…no travel experience. They are reading scripts.”

    This isn’t something that’s restricted to foreign call center employees. I grew up in a rural area where a lot of people had never traveled out of the COUNTY, let alone the state or country. Just because you use a U.S-based travel agent doesn’t mean they actually have travel experience.

    “Of course, a B&M travel agent can make mistakes; can be imcompetent as these CSRs in India and Philippines; etc. but I don’t think that a traveler will have to wait for a year to get a refund.”

    Don’t bet on that. It’s not an issue with a travel agent, but I’ve been dealing with a refund problem on a vehicle service contract on a vehicle I traded in before the contract expired. 6 months, no refund, because the dealer didn’t submit the paperwork – and now, I can’t get anybody at the dealer to do anything about it. And all of the people I’ve been dealing with are U.S-based.

  • frostysnowman

    I agree with Chicky. I use Travelocity, et al, to compare fares and find good hotels, then book with each place personally.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Carver – “I think that if you thought about it from the perspective of someone for whom money is tighter and lacks your depth of travel experience, it might seem less incredible.”
    - – - – - – – - -
    In this situation where the OP is traveling overseas; airline tickets are $ 4,000; etc, we are not talking about someone who wants only to spend $ 100 for an airline ticket between JFK and LAX. I think that people don’t know who to call; think that these sites have the lowest prices (some do and some don’t), etc.

    Recently, there was an article in the USA Today about online booking sites, b&m travel agents, etc. The study that was done by Forester stated that more people are dealing with or wanting to deal with b&m travel agents. These online booking sites are not going away but it stated that travelers with complicated travel plans, once-in-a-lifetime trips, etc. wants to deal with a real person than a website or a call center in India or the PI.

    In this article, it stated that there have been tens of thousands of b&m travel agents that have left the business since 2000. One of the reasons is I think that the b&m travel agents have done a poor job in promoting their values. Personally, my last two b&m travel agents retired since they were in their late 60s and wanted to travel so that they could enjoy it before getting too old. Looking at our circle of friends and business associates, we don’t know anyone that is a travel agent. I think that a lot of the people that uses these online booking sites use them because they don’t know anyone; they think that these sites have the best deals (some do and some don’t); etc.

    I put a value on my time. In this case, it seems like the OP paid the second billing of $ 4,000; therefore, they lost the use of the money (cash or credit depending upon if they paid the cc bill). Look how much time that they spent. I am not going to sit in an airport for 8 hours (the story from yesterday) or have multiple stops (i.e. Southwest) to save some money.

    We are tight with our money. If we can’t afford to do it right then we wait until we save up the money to do it right.

  • sam

    As I have mentioned before: Why do people continue to work with “anyone” when there is a communication issue ?
    Question was Marko speaking “American” or “Continental English”, whatever.

    This is what I “think took place”.
    He purchased a Multi-City *** NON- REFUNDABLE- thru airfare ***.
    He called the customer service department to “Revise / Change” a **Sector** ( portion ) of his Muti- City airline ticket.

    It is very possible the flight he requested Chicago to Washington was sold out in the correct original “class of service”, and was replaced to a higher airfare ( which could have no-restrictions )

    When he was speaking to the Travelocity Rep, he should have received an email confirmation usually within 30 minutes. Airlines and most Travel Agents provide this confirmation. Why this “confirmation” possibly took a longer period of time, is just ludicrous. It should have been “caught and corrected” within a few hours.

    I apologize if I am not being clear:
    1- A Non- Refundable airline ticket can be replaced with a higher airfare. BUT

    2- Regardless of what the new / revised airline costs it still remains
    “Non- Refundable”. It reverts back to the Original Rules and Restrictions.

    Again I am amazed the traveling public does not work “Directly” with the Out-Bound Airline OR a decent knowledgeable T.A

  • Carver

    @BucksterSF

    You’ve made my point for me. Your time is extremely valuable to you. Even if travelocity and the like are cheaper, you figure that the time and aggravation in undoing their screwups isn’t worth the savings.

    However, I am sure that you can appreciate that someone else may have a different time/money value proposition.

  • Jeanne in NE

    A number of people have posted saying that complicated matters require a (competent) brick and mortar travel agent. The problem for so many people, like me, is that competency is hard to find.

    My husband’s company requires business travel be booked through a particular agency. They are sloppy, perfunctory and tend to book him on the highest price fares and the highest rate classes at hotels. 2 years ago, the company stopped allowing their employees to book reservations, travel and then submit receipts for reimbursement. I used to handle setting up trips for him – now the company is paying double what I could find for him.

    AAA “specializes” in Disney and Sandals-type vacations. We were going to take a trip to Europe, right about the “Blue Sky” rules were going into effect. I asked the agent at AAA how that would affect our trip. Neither she nor her supervisor had a clue. I booked the flights myself online – I figured both of us had the same level of expertise.

    I’ve used Rick Steves and paid the extra to make pre- and post-trip arrangements. We didn’t take a trip we had in mind because the agents there couldn’t tell us how to get to the airport on Christmas morning.

    I could go on for several more paragraphs, citing more examples. No one I know uses a travel agent. No one with whom my husband works uses a travel agent for personal travel. I have no recommendations on which to rely. Where do you get a competent b&m travel agent?

  • bodega

    As a ticketing agent with over 25 year of experience, there are a few details missing from this person. Was this a nonrefundable ticket? If so, then if he was changing any outbound portion of an international ticket, the entire reservation is rebooked, repriced and the $300 fee quoted could have been the change and cancel fees. What happens then is that the ticket is exchanged and any fare increase is collected along with the fee. Thus the extra charges. No doubt the agent he spoke with gave him limited information and didn’t take into account any fare increase, just quoted the change/cancel fee, but when the ticket was exchanged, there was what we call an add collect.

    If this wasn’t a nonrefundable ticket, but a ticket that only had a change/cancel fee, then a refund could be obtained, but for a multidestination ticket as he said he had, it sounds like he purchased a mulitlegged nonrefundable ticket and should hav known the rules of his fare BEFORE purchasing the ticket. Sadly, when I read many of these issues that people ask Chris for assistance on, the full details are often lacking. Possibily to get help when they really don’t qualify???

  • bodega

    Jeanne@corporate travel is different than leisure. A good chance the agency that is handling your husband’s travel is booking higher rates on air and hotels, is that business travel often means lots of changes and cancellations which costs. By booking full fares, if a meeting gets over early or gets cancelled, a business person can make changes to their travel plans much easier and get home faster. Less isn’t always better and with corporate travel this is often the case.

    Not sure who you are blaming for not knowing about a shuttle or transfer service to an airport. Taxis are always available, so not sure why you would have canceled and blame Rick Steves office.

    Maybe you should get into the business and provide a service to those in your area since you can’t find anyone who knows what you know and what you want to know.

  • Roberto Pascal

    1) Those with little or no experience SHOULD use someone who does. Find a B&M agency

    2) Use online agencies MOSTLY to compare pricing. The only time I’ll use one is if my itinerary is non-stop AND I have a feeling the price will drop (Orbtiz price assurance)

    3) Once you compare then book directly from the vendor itself; if Delta is the cheapest price then go to delta.com and book it there.

    We had mixed success using a B&M agent for a trip to Sweden last year. Finding a rental car was much better via the agent. Finding decent flights was a better price than if we’d have done it. BUT, we had no control over making flight changes, only our agent could make those changes. That was annoying since they were last minute changes we wanted to make and it was the middle of the night in the US when we needed to make those changes.

    But, the positives and peace of mind using the B&M agent by far outweighed the negatives.

  • Ed

    Well? Mark Travelocity off of my list…I’ll never use them either!

  • Jeanne in NE

    @bodega: Taxis don’t run on Christmas Day in London. Neither do shuttles. “As a ticketing agent with over 25 year of experience” I’m surprised you didn’t know that. Then again, the people at Rick Steves, who wrote the books in which that information was printed, didn’t know that either.

    The corporate travel people weren’t giving my husband refundable tickets. They fly him in coach, generally the middle seat at the back of the plane, for travels 4 months or more out. But your hypothesis was a good one.

    I can’t tell if you were being helpful or snarky with your suggestion that I set up business for myself. As someone who was genuinely asking how to find a competent b&m TA, I would be disappointed if a travel agent was being snarky. It would only serve to add to my list of disappointments with travel agents in general.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Jeanne in NE – “A number of people have posted saying that complicated matters require a (competent) brick and mortar travel agent. The problem for so many people, like me, is that competency is hard to find. ‘
    - – - – - – - – - – – -
    I agree that it is hard to find a competent travel agent. It takes time as well as trials to find a good one.

    In regards to corporate travel, I have encountered a spectrum. My first employer out of college, the travel agency that handled the reservations for the company was very good and never had a complaint in seven years. At another company, one of the employees was a travel agent and she did the travel arrangements for the company employees. She was outstanding. I worked at another company for seven years and the travel agency that handled the travel business for this company was terrible. Eventually, they replaced this b&m travel agency with Egencia, the online division of Expedia for corporate travel.

    @ Jeanne in NE – “AAA “specializes” in Disney and Sandals-type vacations. We were going to take a trip to Europe, right about the “Blue Sky” rules were going into effect. I asked the agent at AAA how that would affect our trip. Neither she nor her supervisor had a clue.”
    - – - – - – – -
    Over the years, I have read posts at the sister forum, Consumer Traveler, of this blog wondering if the travel agents at AAA are “specialists” not “full-service” travel agents. When I walked into our local AAA office, it is like a shrine to Disney. They may know Disney but several of their agents don’t know much outside of Disney and other travel products that they specialize in.

    @ Jeanne in NE – “Where do you get a competent b&m travel agent?”
    - – - – – - – -
    You might want to ask one of the travel agents that are regular posters at Consumer Traveler.

  • bodega

    I was serious. Sounds like you are detailed oriented and that is a plus in this business.

  • Jeanne in NE

    @Arizona Road Warrior, @bodega – Thank you!

    Car Talk (you know the NPR radio show) has a website with a “Find a Mechanic” feature. That’s what I need – a “Find an Agent” feature!

    Going exploring now – my son, d-i-l and granddaughter want to go to DisneyWorld next spring/summer and my husband and I are footing the bill. The Disney experience looks absolutely foreign to me, so I want to find a TA that does more than worship at the altar of Tinkerbell.

  • Barry

    @Jeanne in NE

    My sister and I took a trip to Disney World last May, booked through AAA. I would absolutely recommend booking through them – their price was less than the Disney site with a few extras thrown in. The service of my particular agent (in Seattle, WA) was reasonably good – she had been to the resort a few months before, but didn’t really know the details of the individual hotels. Many of them “just gelled together” from her tour.

    My recommendation is to do your research online – there are GREAT Disney World review site – mouseplanet is a decent one. Figure out what you want from a hotel and which hotel would be best. We are both adults and stayed at the Yacht Club – which was fine, had a great pool, but was a bit worn down. Next time, I would try staying at the Swan right next door. Not a Disney hotel, but looked very nice – and would have been about 1/3 the cost. (Hint – no one ever checked our room keys going into the great YC pool). Besides that, don’t stay at a far away hotel – the ones near DT Disney or the Animal Kingdom – you’ll spend your vacation on a bus. Another nice option looked to be Wilderness Lodge – which we didn’t choose simply because coming from Seattle, we wanted a change from the Northwest decor for our vacation.

  • Jeanne in NE

    @Barry – thanks for the tips. My husband and I aren’t going, so really have to depend on someone else on whom my son and his family can rely if something goes wrong.

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  • bodega

    Not sure what you are really trying to do. Advertise or show us that you don’t understand what type of fare you purchased. A norefundable fare can be resused with a change fee, as that could stay on account for you to use within a year from the date of sale. A fully refundable ticket could also be put to this account and not refunded to you if the TO wants you to rebook with them. Lots of different types of fares and rules, so without knowing what you have and what you have to do to reuse, your post doesn’t tell us much.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/philip.brown.12576 Philip Brown

    Please see my comments about Travelocity & Spirit Air, in the forum about Code-sharing on Oct. 2012.
    Muchas gracias,
    Philip C. Brown