Double trouble on a Cabo getaway

Question: I recently booked a trip for my family of five to travel from San Francisco to San Jose del Cabo through Expedia.

My 80-year-old parents, who live in New York, planned to join us to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. I suggested that my dad book through Expedia as well. My father called and said that he was having some trouble getting through the prompts and he asked if I could help him book the trip. So, I booked the trip for my parents and requested that Expedia forward all confirmations to my dad’s e-mail address.

Three days later my dad phoned to say that it didn’t look like his trip was confirmed, so he asked me to check on his itinerary. I looked it up and it did not appear to be confirmed. I called Expedia and they suggested my parents call their credit card company to see if their account had been charged. If it had not, we would need to re-enter the credit card information. My parents called their credit card company and were told that a charge had not posted. I then re-entered the credit card information and saw that the tickets were showing “confirmed.”

Three days later, my mother called to say that she contacted her credit card company to double-check that the charge went through and was told that US Airways had placed two charges on her account. My parents immediately called for help. I contacted Expedia, thinking it was a simple mistake and after spending no less than three hours on the phone with their customer service rep, was advised that US Airways was unwilling to remove the additional booking. Can you help us? — Lisa O’Brien, Novato, Calif.

Answer: Expedia should have only made one reservation for your parents. When it became clear that there were two, the online travel agency should have issued a quick refund.

Before I continue, let me make a quick observation: Expedia is a fine place to buy tickets and vacation packages, but it sounds as if your parents might have benefited from working with an offline travel agent. A qualified travel counselor could hold their hands through the process and ensure their card is only charged once. With an online travel agency, that’s less likely to happen.

You spent no less than three hours on the phone with Expedia trying to resolve this. Resist the temptation to pick up the phone the next time this happens (and I really hope it never happens to you again). Instead, send a brief, polite email to the company with your parents’ reservation number, and stating the problem and desired resolution.

Truth is, the phone got you and your parents into this trouble. I checked with Expedia, and according to its records, you provided it with an incorrect itinerary number when you first called to confirm your parents’ reservation. “Therefore, the customer service representative advised Ms. O’Brien to re-purchase the trip resulting in a duplicate booking,” a representative told me.

Had you confirmed your parents’ reservation by email, you might have received a different response, but more importantly, you would have had a paper trail to go back to — you offering a confirmation number, Expedia advising you to book again. That back and forth would have been useful in resolving this, and at the very least, you wouldn’t have had to spend so much time on the phone.

If Expedia didn’t address your parents’ problem to your satisfaction, you could have appealed your case to someone higher up. I list their names on my site.

Given that you tried to confirm your trip with Expedia, and that it advised you to rebook your tickets, I asked Expedia to revisit its denial. Expedia asked their airline for a refund on your parent’s behalf, and they received all of their money back.

(Photo: sanct um solitude/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • Meredith

    Wait, wait, wait…

    The Customer service rep did not offer to research the Itinerary via the name or e-mail address of of the guest?

    Yeah, clearly Expedia is not training their call center reps right.

  • Tom

    Not to be unfriendly to the elderly, but considering these folks were in their 80s, they may need assistance in using the computer to make purchases. This time, Expedia is likely to fix the error. But I know with my own relatives being that age, the paradym of purchasing over the Internet is new and difficult. Although many people in their 80s can learn to effectively use the Internet, many others will require guidance, or perhaps should follow their more familar routine and use a travel agent.

  • Carver

    Or better yet, forget Expedia and book directly with the travel provider.

    I do disagree with Chris about the offline travel agent. It seems as if the Ops parents are perfectly capable of using the internet and have the confidence to do so, but merely had an issue this time.

    Not all websites are user-friendly.

  • DWM

    I don’t understand why online travel agents and airline websites can’t do a check before confirming tickets to see if there are similar names and departure/arrival trip times and dates in their database before asking a user to confirm (I program websites, so I should know). Seriously, this would be exceedingly simple to program. They could still place the burden on the user, but instead of simply processing the charge, pop-up a warning saying they already have a trip itinerary like this booked for people with similar names in their system, and ask the user if they really want to proceed.

    It’s almost like these websites are designed to take advantage of people who don’t use computers…

  • Tom

    This trip may be a revalation for the poster. Her parents live in New York and she in California so she doesn’t see them on a daily basis. This is a complicated trip — booking online, flight from New York to Cabo certainly involves changing planes, going to a foreign country with a different language. I suspect this trip may be at the edge — or perhaps beyond — what people in their 80s can handle. My parents traveled the world, but when they took my teenaged niece to Europe when they were in their 80s, my niece reported spending most of the trip rescuing them from their mistakes. It’s not just that people in their 80s have a reduction in their faculties, but also that how airlines, airports, hotels, taxis, immigration etc. works change from the world they are accustomed to. The confusion buying tickets on Expedia is an early warning.

  • Jeanne in TX

    My dad is in his 80s and is still in robust health, mentally and physically. He still travels, some domestically, some internationally. However, the most high-tech item he owns (besides a cell phone he recently acquired) is a manual cast-iron typewriter from the 1950s.

    Using a computer to make his travel arrangements is out of the question for him – I don’t think he even owns one.

    When he travels, he uses a “brick-and-mortar” travel agency. For many people beyond a certain age, a TA would probably be the better choice, rather than Expedia/Travelocity/Orbitz, etc.

    (BTW: He can still type about 75 words-per-minute on that old manual typewriter of his! But I have no idea how he’s getting the replacement ribbons for it…)

  • Joe Farrell

    So what service would a travel agent provide here? Have we not read stories right here on Chris’ blog that details the brick and mortar travel agent who double charges and refused to credit an account and gave the person the run around.

    The poor average person is at the mercy of the Bangla Deshi call center for Expedia – if you do not say just the right thing they find the wrong script and you are at risk.

    The simple question here to have asked was:
    “My itinerary does not show airline ticket numbers. Can you confirm that this itinerary has been ticketed and if so please send me the confirmation?”

    Most people hem and haw and never get around to be direct in a conversation because people are not told to be specific and direct when dealing with a company – people are generally too polite and fail to be clear – I know – I’ve listened to many a call that has been played back and I have no idea what they are calling about because they so vague and unclear and stumble and I don’t need to know that their grandmother is 75 and had a cold yesterday- just TELL the person what you want. Be CLEAR. Do NOT be polite in the sense of adding extra words to the conversation – be direct.

    And as for travel agent – what would THAT have cost here? I’d like to hear from a real brick and mortar agent – what do you charge for airline tickets and hotel reservations such as these?

  • Raven

    Another reason not to use Expedia: The Bangladesh Call Center. If I want an answer, I’d like to speak with someone who actually knows English, not someone who is coached to read a script with an American accent.

  • Laura

    A great travel agent would have saved them from a lot of wasted time and a lot of unnecessary stress.
    I have no idea why so many people are so anti-agent. It makes no sense. I could probably mow my own yard, home school my kids, and cut my own hair if I had to. But why take any of those things on if I can find someone else to do it?

  • Jeanne in TX

    @Joe,

    You’re correct – there are definitely some horror stories out there where “brick and mortar” travel agents are concerned. Mr. Elliott has covered plenty of them. However, let’s not paint all TAs with the same “travel agents double charges and refuse to credit an account and gave the person the run around” brush. That’s simply sterotyping, and sterotyping is rarely an accurate way of looking at any segment of people.

    If ALL TAs were crooks, then why does Mr. Elliott also recommend people use “brick and mortar” TAs from time to time? I don’t think that he would, if he thought that they were all dishonest.

    While some TAs are crooks, there are definitely some honest, hard-working TAs out there who have the best interest of their customers at heart. My dad knows of one, fortunately. Because of this, he’s able to enjoy his hardy later years to the fullest. An honest TA can bring a valuable service to someone’s life.

    Emphasis on “honest. ” ;-)

  • Carver

    @Laura

    Its not that people are anti-travel agent. It’s that many of us believe that the value of a travel agent for a simple trip is generally zero. The real story is when the travel agent lobby tries to convince us that EVERY trip requires a travel agent, and whenever anything goes wrong the begin bleating that only a fool books on the internet.

    When people make such ridiculous comments it calls into question the relevency of field for standard bookings.

  • Josh

    Regardless of how it came about, duplicate tickets booked in the same name, for the same flights on the same airline, charged to the same credit card, are a clear and obvious “fat finger” situation, and it’s fraud for US Airways to refuse to refund the extra set. And usually, the credit card charge details show the flight dates and times, so it should be a slam dunk not requiring a lot of documentation to prove. While on the phone with the credit card company the first time, the customer might have been able to dispute the extra charge right there, which would have pushed back on the airline to resolve the issue faster.

  • Joe Farrell

    Too bad the only way to discover ‘honest’ is by finding the dishonest or incompetent first in many cases –

    I have worked with corporate T/A’s and retail T/A’s and have not found a single one who looks out for my financial interest and comfort as much as I would. When you travel business class internationally a couple times a year and look at the money to be made in that market and you cannot find a T/A who is up on the upgrade offers and hotel offers for upgrades to concierge accommodations for less than the price of a room that I can easily get myself by simply ASKING the hotel in advance – well –

    I have never once had a T/A despite making tens of thousand a year in commissions for my firm’s business ever send me a limo to meet me at the airport after coming home after a long business trip – or send me a bottle of wine at my hotel room – or spend their money to do ANYTHING for me other than process my travel.

    Thats not how I do bidness . . .

  • Mel

    Irrespective of the OPs parent’s ages, when she called to verify their trip, SHE gave Expedia the incorrect itinerary number, resulting in the recommendation to rebook. I don’t blame Expedia for this one; although, having said that, if the itinerary given was not in their system at all, it would have been nice if the representative had said, “I don’t see an itinerary with that number, can you doublecheck or give me an email address to look it up by,” or something similar.

  • MichelleLV

    Why is there so much under estimating someone in their 80s? My grandfather is in his 80s. He travels internationally by himself, and also spends more time on the internet than anyone I know. The problem lies with Expedia in that they failed to check for a reservation with the the name or email or address.

  • Jeanne in TX

    @Joe,

    Your experience with TA’s is an unfortunate account. It’s also unfortunate, that I don’t think that you’re exaggerating.

    I guess my dad’s case is a special exception. He’s known this TA for many years, and was using their service long before the general public had access to the Internet (from back in the early 70s), when he had to travel a great deal internationally, and would be gone for weeks at a time.

    Back when he started traveling internationally, the Internet wasn’t even an option. Somehow, his TA has survived the advent of the Internet by providing their customers with a good service.

    Unfortunate to think that they’re now the exception, and not the rule…

  • http://www.imageswritten.biz Susan

    I have had good success using a TA for a “special trip.” For our honeymoon we used a TA and had a great trip. There was even a special wedding flower arrangement waiting on us from our TA. We had troubled with a canceled returned flight, called her and she had us rebooked easy peasey while we stayed by the pool.

    Once we wanted to go to Vermont and see fall in New England. Our TA booked us at some great Inns and made sure we had an itinerary of can’t miss stops. Her advice, in all but one stop was right on the money. She listened to us and did not sell us a package, but instead built a great trip for us.

    That said, when we go to Germany, we book it ourselves. We are both reasonably fluent, know the area we travel to well and are simply no interested in staying “where Americans” stay.

    Sometimes it is wise to use a professional and sometimes is makes sense to DIY the trip.

    We are going to a city close to us for winter break – I think I can handle the arrangements myself. If I were going somewhere further away or taking a once in a lifetime jaunt – I would look at using a trusted profession who is familiar with the area I am going.

    I will also so, each time we have used a TA, he or she has been independent and truly working for their clients, not working a trip selling mill. There is A BIG difference.

  • Geoff

    I realize that the bigger the company, the more the complaints. I have never had more complaints from local online travelers. I find great deals for my clients. The time for real live travel agents is now. You don’t have to tell every time some poor fool hits enter twice or never got the confirmation and booked again. It happens every hour of every day. Who cares about the fools and thier computers? Use an ASTA travel agent that knows what is going on where. Did you know that concourse C in Atlanta is powereless? I do, and so do my clients that were re-routed.

  • Joey

    The irony is that everyone–including the OP–is making a big deal about the parents’ ages, yet they seem to be the only ones involved who didn’t mess anything up! Had they resisted the urge to have the daughter “help” and handled the follow-up themselves, they probably wouldn’t have an extra set of tickets.

    What I never understand about cases like this is why these big travel companies can’t/won’t search on name, address, credit card, etc. Certainly, the daughter should have been able to give them the correct itinerary number, but a quick search on any of those other things would have quickly identified the problem. Somebody called wondering if a transaction had went through…seems like a search like that would have been the first thing an agent should have done.

  • Mary Graham

    It’s almost like you’re saying the consumer is the villain! Come Chris, Expedia, should have been able to ask the right questions so this poor women didn’t have to be on the phone for 3 hours. Honestly.