Maybe I won’t be home for Christmas

Question: We are supposed to fly to Australia for Christmas to be with my wife’s parents, but we’re not sure if we’ll be able to make it. I hope you can help us.

Last summer, we booked our domestic flights from Melbourne to Cairns on Jetstar Airways through CheapOair.com. We received a confirmation from CheapOair and my wife even spent 40 minutes on the phone with their billing department, to make sure the transaction went through. She also phoned CheapOair two days later to verify the transaction and received assurances all was clear.

But when she called Jetstar a few days ago, they said we didn’t have a flight. A representative told us our credit card had been declined.

CheapOair has offered to put us on another flight but at a higher cost and perhaps a different date. I just want them to honor the reservation we made several months ago. Can you help? — Michael Burz, Bethesda, Md.

Answer: If CheapOair sent you a confirmation, then you should have had a ticket. It doesn’t seem fair that you’re being asked to buy a more expensive ticket only a few days before you’re supposed to be home for Christmas.

Could this have been prevented? You might have called Jetstar after you made the reservation to make sure your credit card went through. But normally, a confirmation from your online travel agency means your flight is also confirmed with your airline.

You shouldn’t have to call every airline, car rental company and hotel on your itinerary to separately confirm your itinerary — after all, that’s why you’re dealing with an online travel agency.

I found it interesting that you phoned CheapOair twice to “make sure” the transaction went through. Your tickets cost $2,261, which is no small sum. If you had continued to monitor your credit card transactions, you would have probably noticed that the amount wasn’t deducted from your account, and you might have been able to catch this error last summer.

I contacted CheapOair on your behalf, and here’s what happened: There was a breakdown in communication between the reservation system used by your online agency and the airline’s reservation system. That resulted in a confirmation being generated without a reservation.

CheapOair should have been able to catch the problem, particularly since your wife called the agency twice to inquire about the tickets. And Jetstar should have contacted CheapOair when your credit card was declined, letting it know that it canceled the reservation.

CheapOair should have offered you a better solution than buying a new, more expensive ticket. I contacted the company on your behalf, and it agreed to buy a new ticket, with Jetstar covering half the difference in airfare and CheapOair picking up the other half.

Enjoy your trip to Australia.

(Photo: future ancient/Flickr)

  • http://twitter.com/ElmoClarity Elmo Clarity

    “There was a breakdown in communication between the reservation system used by your online agency and the airline’s reservation system”

    From that statement alone, CheapOair should be liable since they didn’t contact the purchasers about the problem.  That is something the passengers had no control over but CheapOair did.  The travel agency shouldn’t be liable for all technical difficulties, but when it is an issue with a third party and they don’t inform the passenger about the problem, they most definitely should be held liable.  As a travel agency, you are paying them to take care of the details.

    And I had looked at tickets through CheapOair in the past but could never get past that name.

  • Anonymous

    CheapoAir.  The name about says it all.

  • Anonymous

    I’ve used Cheapo Air. No problems, I found the flights I wanted on their website and then went to the airline’s website and bought the tickets for the same price.

  • Anonymous

    I gotta say, it’s hard to accept that they didn’t notice over two grand was never charged to their credit card. Maybe they thought the final charge wouldn’t go through until departure, but then wouldn’t they have mentioned that in their complaint?

    I agree CheapOaire screwed up and shame on them for jerking around their customers.  The customers absolutely should’ve been contacted when the charge was declined.  At least they checked their itinerary again before arriving at the airport.

  • Anonymous

    The agent should assume the liability as they are paid for the process. It’s the cost of doing business.

  • Anonymous

    purchase your tickets directly from the airline’s website not one of these online booking sities.

  • Anonymous

    “The computer ate my reservation/money” should never be an acceptable excuse.

  • http://twitter.com/johntbaker John Baker

    While I voted yes, it is limited to a situation where an agent produces an confirmation for an unconfirmed reservation.

    There are a number of “technical” glitches that might occur on a booking site. As long as they don’t produce a confirmation, they aren’t liable. Once they have produced the confirmation, they are.

  • Anonymous

    While the agency absolutely should’ve notified the customer immediately that the card declined, I do have to say that the onus here IMO, is on the OP.

    How could you not ensure that you have enough credit available to actually make what is an important purchase before you click the “buy” button? And why on earth would you continue to use your card unless you were sure that the ticket purchase had gone through completely? The OP should’ve been monitoring their transaction history until they saw that amount come out.

    Now more than ever, we as passengers have to be vigilant about every detail in our travel arrangements, and making sure that your tickets are paid for should be at the top of that list, no?

    That all being said, very glad to hear it worked out okay for the OP and his wife.

  • Bob M

    Did she compare cheapo’s airfare with the Jetstar fare on their web site? I doubt it, should have bought directly from the Jetstar web site, these 3rd party on line travel agency are loosers from a consumers point of view. If your going to use a travel agency go to a brick and mortor agency.

  • http://www.pipdigital.com Nancy Dickinson

    While I’m not sure they should be liable for every glitch, they sure dropped the ball on this one.  At minimum an e-mail should have been generated informing the OP of the problem so they could resolve it in a more timely manner.

    However, Chris, you made the single most significant point – the charge didn’t go through and didn’t show up on their credit card statements.  But one can almost forgive the OP on this as well – these purchases can be slow going through given the steps that have to be taken to make the purchase. 

    Yet one more reason to not use the opaque sites…

  • Anonymous

    “…we booked our domestic flights from Melbourne to Cairns on Jetstar Airways through CheapOair.com.”

    Why do you even read these letters any further?  You get what you pay for.

  • Anonymous

    I agree the agency should be responsible…BUT, how on earth did they not notice their credit card had not been charged?? 

  • http://twitter.com/dmuth Douglas Muth (Giza)

    This isn’t a technical glitch, it’s a glitch in CheapOair’s business logic.  This line is the smoking gun:
    > We received a confirmation from CheapOair 

    You never EVER tell someone that they successfully purchased a product or a service from you if you haven’t received payment.  Whoever actually told this to Mr. Burz is in need of a reprimand and possibly some retraining.

  • Anonymous

    I cannot believe these people, having made the reservation and purchased tickets that far in advance, would not have seen that the charge NEVER APPEARED ON THEIR CREDIT CARD BILL! They say they booked last summer and they are just now finding out they do not have reservations and tickets? It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out something has gone astray. Not only that, they should have gotten a confirmation with the electronic ticket numbers right away after purchase. While the agency that took their order shares in the blame, people have to look out for themselves. Yes, they got a confirmation but they never got billed for the tickets. Were they just going to fly on the airline’s dime?
    Nonetheless, CheapOair should have fixed the problem and ate the increased costs for doing so and it should charge the couple’s credit card for the original amount of the tickets and ensure they get home for Christmas.

  • Anonymous

    Purchases can be pretty slow going through the system, but several months (they said they bought their tickets last summer)? One should see that if after a month of the purchase nothing shows up on their credit card, there is more than likely, a problem; one that could probably be resolved quite easily if caught early rather than waiting months to bring it forth.

  • Anonymous

    Then you didn’t really “use” them.

    I check those sites all the time but never buy from them so I don’t consider that using them.

  • Anonymous

    @mikegun “used” them in the negative connotation of the verb.

  • Joe Farrell

    because they secretly hoped that they would get the trip for free because something had gone wrong with cheapo processing their credit card . . . .  is there any other answer?

  • http://profiles.google.com/saucywench S E Tammela

    The most amazing thing here is that she didn’t book direct with JetStar. It’s a discount airline. They do most of their business direct. I guess it’s a lesson for all of us.

    (Quite apart from those being very expensive tickets to begin with.)

  • Anonymous

    I’m impressed with Jetstar picking up half the ticket price even though it appears that none of the problems the Burz experienced was on its side.

  • Anonymous

    My thinking was that maybe that is why the wife double checked to make sure the flight was really booked.  She noticed that the cost had not been taken from the credit card, and called to make sure they really had a reservation.  The consumer really has no control over when a company chooses to charge them.  Of course this is just speculation on my part.  I really do feel that, if thier card had been declined, the company who was trying to charge them should have notifiied them.

  • Anonymous

    I’m not voting because the question is too broad.  In this particular instance, yes, the agency should pay because it didn’t do its job.  But I can’t make a blanket statement like, “an agency should be responsible for a technological glitch.”

  • Asiansm Dan

    CheapOair, what do you expect? Why don’t go directly on Jetstart website?

  • Anonymous

    Thanks Jeanne…someone got it! :)

  • Anonymous

    I don’t think I’d be so hard on the Burzes for not checking their credit card statements – they may quite innocently have thought that the charge wouldn’t occur until after the flight actually took place.  I have a package pickup reserved for tomorrow – I’ve charged it, but the charge won’t be posted until the pickup occurs.  Maybe that was the thinking?

    My suspicious side says – hey, what’s with all the checking and phoning up front?  And if the card was declined this summer, how is it okay for a charge today for the amount of the original fare?

    But that’s just me being suspicious.  Doesn’t change the actual thrust of the matter here: the OP received a confirmation of a reservation that didn’t occur.  Glad that Chris was able to come up with a happy ending for the Burz family.

  • Anonymous

    If they had access to a computer they should have had an e-mail confirmation. Here in the states I know we can go to airline web sites and bring up our reservation with the locater number.

  • Anonymous

    Lesson of the day: If you ever buy from a travel agency, demand direct access to your reservation and e-ticket receipt from a valid 3rd party GDS system.  Do not rely on the agencies own internal system because those systems are NOT acceptable to an airline and the country’s Billing and Settlement Plan (travel agents pay airlines through the BSP ARC in the USA).

    Nowadays, agencies most probably use one or more of the 3 GDS companies – Sabre, Travelport (Worldpsan & Galileo) and Amadeus – to book and issue tickets. So you can check what your agent is actually doing by asking for your PNR number and logging on to the the GDS’s consumer portal to check.The internal references that agencies use are bogus since you cannot use them to access your records on a GDS. You must have the following:(a) the GDS used to book and the PNR# (6 digit alphanumeric)(b) the airlines reference numbers, use the term RLOC for Record Locator (5 or 6 digit alphanumeric). Note there is one RLOC per airline used in the reservation.(c) the e-ticket numbers for paid bookings – 13 digit # with the first 3 being the airline’s IATA accounting code.If an agency is unwilling to give you ALL the above numbers, then do not use them.If your credit card payment was denied, you will not have a valid E-ticket for your reservation. So simply go to you booking and display the e-ticket receipt (ETR). The status should be OPEN FOR USE. If you don’t have an E-ticket (or it was voided), your SOL. You aint’ flying.
    This is pure rubbish:

    There was a breakdown in communication between the reservation system used by your online agency and the airline’s reservation system. That resulted in a confirmation being generated without a reservation. 

    You cannot have a a confirmation without a reservation. That’s impossible. The reservation system (GDS) will confirm with you using a PNR # and the airline will confirm with the GDS using Record Locators (RLOCSs). [Note I am sitting here in SE Asia in my hotel logged on to my GDS and just did one for Jetstar. So I know it's easy.]

    Reservations and e-tickets are 2 different animals. The Reservation comes first. You don’t need a credit card to simply make a reservation. You only need 4 things-
    (a) passenger name and type
    (b) an itinerary (made up of confirmed flights)
    (c) a phone number
    (d) a ticketing date field
    You can only enter a FORM OF PAYMENT and ISSUE TICKETS AFTER creating valid reservation.

    So if someone told you your credit card was denied, it should have meant you had a reservation first. So if you don’t have a reservation to begin with, then there was no reason for the agency to enter your credit card as a form of payment. This is another BOGUS argument given to the OP by the agency.

    So below is why I think there was a problem. Next time please use a real travel agent and stay away from those offline agencies who are simply paying google to come up on top of search results.

    Jetstar has a special payment process requirement I have a feeling the lowly (cheap paid) agent did not follow the special payment process of Jetstar. I hope they can read, comprehend and understand English instructions well since they might be in some foreign country. Read the part of using a Credit Card settled in American Dollars (2nd sentence).

    Copied and pasted from the GDS itself:

    4. PAYMENTJETSTAR ACCEPTS MASTERCARD VISA AMERICAN EXPRESS ANDDINERS CLUB FOR AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR TRANS- ACTIONS. VISA AND MASTERCARD ARE ACCEPTED FORMS OF PAYMENT
    FOR ALL OTHER CURRENCIES.  THESE MUST BE ENTERED AS ASPECIAL SERVICE REQUEST (SSR) AT THE TIME OF BOOKING
    3SSR OTHS JQ HK1 CCVI123456789/EXP12-10/JOHN MATHEWS
    IN ADDITION THERE IS A DIRECT PAYMENT OPTION THROUGH JETSTAR.COM FOR BOOKINGS MADE OUTSIDE 14 DAYS OF DEPARTURE. IATA AGENTS IN SELECTED COUNTRIES HAVE THE OPTION OF USING BSP PAYMENT. THIS ENABLES AGENTS TO PAY BOOKINGS BY ENTERING AN SSR OSAG INCLUDING THEIR AGENCY IATA NUMBER. ACCOUNTS ARE SETTLED THROUGH BSP ON A RECURRING CYCLE. SEE http://WWW.JETSTAR.COM/AGENTS FOR DETAILS OF HOW TO REGISTER FOR BSP PAYMENT.BSP PAYMENT SSRS ARE ADDED TO THE BOOKING IN THE FOLLOWING FORMAT
    3SSROTHSJQCK OSAG02345678
    OR
    3SSROTHSJQ OSA02345678

  • Anonymous

    ADDENDUM:

    Jetstar is a ticketless airline.
    Therefore you won’t get e-tickets. Your reservation (booking) is either marked as PAID or it will be cancelled right after the allowed HOLD time.

    Any standard GDS can be used to book Jetstar flights.
    The travel agency can “relay” your credit card information to Jetstar using an SSR message; -or-
    the travel agent can use the standard ARC billing and settlement plan by ending an SSR OSAG message with their IATA account number.

    All the billing and payment information are also visible through the SSR message exchange in the PNR. So, the travel agency cannot claim innocence since the transactions are all recorded in the PNR.

  • Ann Lamoy

    Very expensive? I looked online at some of the major airlines flying from Baltimore to Melbourne and they average around $1600 or more per person. So $2200 total for 2 people at Christmas seems pretty cheap to me.

  • Anonymous

    They must have bought their IAD-MEL tickets, too for that price.

  • Anonymous

    Agree. Blaming technology for human mistakes is just too easy.

  • http://twitter.com/flutiefan flutie’s girl

    $1600 + $1600 = $3200

  • http://jpportz.livejournal.com/ Jeremy

    Jetstar does not fly to the continental US (they do go to Hawaii).  The discussion was about flights within Australia, which are never more than a few hundred dollars on Jetstar.  Perhaps it was really a combined Qantas-Jetstar booking.   Qantas does resell Jetstar flights on a full-service basis that are available in travel agent inventories.

  • http://jpportz.livejournal.com/ Jeremy

    Many Jetstar flights are also offered as codeshare on Qantas in which case Qantas booking conditions apply, right?

  • Anonymous

    I don’t know the answer to this question. I suppose Australian rules apply. But if a ticket is sold in the USA, the US DOT keeps the marketing carrier on the hook also.