Question: I recently bought two one-way tickets from Madrid to Cancun, Mexico, through Cheaptickets.com. I found tickets that were within my budget and called the online travel agency to verify all the details, including the baggage fees.
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Question: My husband and I were planning a weekend trip to New York to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. I have mobility problems and we always book a hotel as close as possible to Broadway in the theater district.
For the trip in question, I searched Cheaptickets.com and found the W Hotel right off Broadway. We thought we booked the room, but when reviewing the confirming email, we found that we had accidentally booked the W Hotel on Lexington Avenue — not the W Broadway hotel.
Within less than 24 hours, we canceled the reservation and tried to rebook the correct W hotel. I did not notice the cancellation notice on the screen and the original booking confirmation disappeared from my files. I did not retain a printed copy of it.
We were stunned when we were billed $477 for the cancellation. After many phone calls and emails to both Cheaptickets.com and to the W Hotel, Cheaptickets.com told us that billing one night’s charge for a cancellation was a policy of the hotel. The hotel told us it was not their policy.
After much correspondence with Cheaptickets.com and our credit card company, we were told that we had to pay the charge, which we did. However, we still feel that a $477 charge for a cancellation made in less than 24 hours after the reservation is very excessive and unconscionable. Can you help? — Beulah Saideman, Philadelphia
Answer: If the W wasn’t charging you a cancellation penalty, then it must have been Cheaptickets.com. But since you didn’t keep your records, it’s difficult to say exactly what was going on.
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Question: We bought two first-class airline tickets to Peru on TACA through Cheaptickets.com. But we soon found out they were economy-class seats.
We’ve asked the airline for a $1,100 refund — the price difference between first-class and economy-class tickets — but it won’t budge. Cheaptickets.com sent a $400 voucher that we don’t want.
We’ve disputed the ticket charges with American Express, but it has denied our claim. It’s obvious to us we didn’t receive what we paid for.
We’ve never sued anyone and I would rather not have to go there. Do you have any other suggestions? — Virginia Pozo, San Francisco
Answer: If you didn’t get a first-class seat, you shouldn’t have to pay for one.
TACA owes you a refund of the fare difference between the two classes. And your online travel agency, Cheaptickets.com, should help you. At the very least, you would expect American Express to take your side in a dispute.
So what happened?
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