Online Travel Agencies: A Litany of Complaints

Better Business Bureau (BBB), Consumer Affairs, Pissed Consumer and Trusted Pilot are among the websites filled with numerous complaints about OTAs, including Booking.com, Expedia, Hotwire, Hotels.com, Kayak, Orbitz, Priceline, Travelocity and Trip Advisor. Complaints range from undisclosed fees, incorrect changes to itineraries, showing up at hotels with no record of reservations, low prices that suddenly aren’t available when trying to book, long wait times to give assistance by phone and an overall lack of customer service.

Among recent complaints:

On Oct. 28, Gary of Satellite Beach, FL, wrote on ConsumerAffairs.com, “Booked a stay using the Travelocity.com website. During booking process the website explained $97 room rate and $50 for taxes and fees. After my stay, I discovered an additional fee of $146 was added. After contacting Travelocity.com they advised there was nothing they would do to try and explain or rectify the issue.”

On Oct. 27, John of Deltona, FL, posted, “We booked a vacation from Orlando to Las Vegas through Travelocity. After booking/paying for our vacation, Spirit Airlines called to inform that our flight had been changed not once but three times. The last time that our flight was changed they gave us a returning flight to Dallas, TX with no flight back to Orlando. We spoke with Travelocity and only got, ‘Well you are going to have to purchase a ticket to get back to Florida.’ Their reasoning behind this is that they are only a booking agency and have no control over the airlines. We purchased travel insurance, and we’re told that it doesn’t apply to this case. I will never use Travelocity or Spirit Airlines ever again. We are now going to miss our vacation and not get our money back.”

On Oct. 23, Chuck of Douglassville, PA, wrote, “My son was to fly from STL to PHL on Delta and fly back on AA. Delta had two mechanical breakdowns and had to reschedule his flight the following morning. He had a 0900 appointment in PHL, which he would not make so we had to cancel his flight. Delta was very accommodating. I called Travelocity. They said they could not do anything to help me recoup my money. Called AA. They said they could not do anything because Travelocity had the tickets. Called back Travelocity. They said to call AA. I said ‘No, you call AA,’ while I am on the line and explain to them so I can talk to them. He called AA and abruptly hung up on his end. Here I am playing chase the tail. So I call Travelocity and ask for a manager. He says he will not call AA because it is against policy to help out a customer by calling the airlines. WTF! You do not want to help out a customer? Well I finally got through to AA and got it somewhat resolved but (not) by any help of Travelocity. Will never use them again for flights. TERRIBLE.”

On Oct. 15, Natalie of Colombia, PA, wrote, “I went through Travelocity website to book airline tickets. I went to click book it, and their website went down. Now I have six airline tickets for the same three people. I am out over $1,200, and no one in their customer services is helping. Been on hold for over 10 hours, on different days, calling to get a refund. This was and still is a horrible experience.”

Consumer complaints about OTAs weren’t limited to Travelocity.

Ledia of Villa Park, IL, noted, “I have been searching for a ticket from Chicago to Madrid for the past month. I have looked at different online agencies. One of them is Priceline. I am so disappointed at their false prices. They show availability and price per person, and once I choose it, it redirects me to an outrageous price difference. I then chose another price option, same thing happens. Then I choose another… same thing. But, once I chose something on the higher price range, it will not change it. I do understand that prices do change frequently, but it has been showing the same price and availability for the past two weeks. If these prices are not available, why even bother showing it on there? I have also changed computers and searched from another one, and it is showing the same price. But as soon as I click it, it gives me a $2,000 increase. This is horrible for the people who are wanting to use Priceline. This is not fair. I have even searched from TripAdvisor, and it has given me same price from Priceline, and once I click to reserve, price goes up dramatically.”

Anish of Redmond, WA, on Nov. 8 wrote of Expedia, “There website looks good and flashy but if you ever have to deal with there customer support, it is worst possible department.”

Nayith of Cottage Grove, WI, also complained, “We bought three vacation packages for two adults and one (child), that included airline tickets and hotel all inclusive for three. They booked us with Frontier. After we have paid for the vacation for three we ended paying $178.00 extra for two suitcases and reservation of the seats online. We got to the (airport) 1 1/2 hour before the schedule airline departure and when we got to the desk they told us that we were not in the people taking the airplane, and that they can book us four days later for $250 per person. We had to buy tickets on American Airlines. Then when we got to the hotel we only had reservation for two adults and not the four year old. We lost one day of vacation, paid extra $330, for airplane (tickets on) AA, hotel for $80 in Charlotte NC, $178 extra to Frontier for suitcases and seats $200 extra for the four year old. So we ended paying almost extra $800 and lost one night of the hotel. I called Expedia when the itinerary showed only two adults for the hotel and they assured me that it was because the kid was under 12 years old they did not have to showed in the email.”

Sarah of Chicago, IL, posted on Nov. 2 of that she got tricked in her most recent OTA experience. She said, “I booked a room through Expedia for Halloween weekend. The reservation was for the Clairon Hotel Midway- Chicago Illinois. When my boyfriend and I got there to check in Expedia didn’t have the hotel reservations for us. They hadn’t sent it over to the hotel or anything. I was told there was no info with my name or the confirmation number. The woman at the front desk said, ‘Well there are no room available.’ So we went back to the car and started calling around for other hotel rooms and finally found one that was double the money. I called Expedia today and talked to about six different people. Each time it was someone who didn’t speak very well English. I was hung up on or ‘disconnected’ about four times. Then the last person that I spoke with Edward was, the rudest customer service representative that I have ever spoken to. He was talking down to me and just plain ignorant. I work in customer service and was appalled by him. I will never ever ever ever use EXPEDIA AGAIN!!!”

For VW of Rosemead, CA, posting on Oct. 30, the experience was even worse, “What started as a fairly simple issue has yet to be resolved and has given me more stress than I ever expected. I had to miss my flight due to a visa error, so I called Expedia to find a new flight for me. After I’d spent about an hour with an agent, the call was dropped. So I spent another half hour with a new agent. Not only did she add an extra $300 to my ticket change fee, but then after I asked her about this she placed me on hold and decided to up-and-leave after I waited 10 minutes. I was handed to yet ANOTHER agent, who ended up charging me roughly $1,900 for just the flight change. Ok, problem solved right? Well get this – later when I’m about to leave for dinner, I get an email saying that ALL my flights have been canceled, without any explanation. Had I seen this email even a day later, I probably would have no chance of booking another flight in what short amount of time there was left. I call back to inquire about this, and they freaking tell me that they can’t get a hold of my airline, and if I would please wait another 72 hours. For what?! Not only this, they have yet to return me the $1900 they charged me for doing absolutely NOTHING. I ended up booking a completely new flight through AAA (which I should have done so in the first place), for much less than the total amount for the flight change fee. They don’t give a rat’s ass about anything except making $$$. Keep well away. You’ll thank yourself for it.”

From Trust Pilot:

On Oct. 28, Phil Dennis wrote, “As a Group CFO, based in the UK and an experienced international traveler, I made the mistake of booking a car hire for collection in France through Travelocity. My complaint is the dreadful customer service experience following our trip. I called the US customer service number over a week ago and spent 43 minutes on a call which cost me £65 regarding a simple problem.”

Twefiq Al-Sharaiyra on Oct. 5 titled his complaint, “Worst travel agency experience in 20 years of flying.”

Gayle Knoll posted on Nov. 5, “I booked flights to and from Alaska for an Alaskan cruise through Orbtiz and had the worst experience ever. At the end of our trip we arrived at the Fairbanks AK airport to fly home and found when we got to the Delta counter we had no tickets to come home. When we told them we got our reservations through Orbitz, they told us to call Orbtiz, that Delta could not do anything. When I tried to call Orbitz it took over 30 minutes for anyone to even answer the phone, and when they did, they repeatedly put me on hold, because they couldn’t figure out the problem. We needed to be on that flight home due to several obligations, so decided to purchase tickets to come home and were charged nearly four times what the original tickets cost. Since we have arrived home, we have been fighting with Orbitz, Delta and United to get our money back. We feel that Orbitz did nothing to help us get home and then are blaming the airlines for the mix up. The flight to Alaska was on United and United changed their flight soon after our reservations were made, Orbitz never advised us of this change and they blame United for not reissuing the return ticket through Delta. They refunded only a portion of our money, ‘as a one time courtesy.’ Everytime I call, I get someone in the Philippines and can never talk to the same person twice, what a mess, I will NEVER use Orbitz again.” A responder from the Orbitz Care Team replied by telling Knoll to “Please email socialnetwork@orbitz.com.” 

From Better Business Bureau:

On Oct 27, a consumer filed about Hotwire.com: Even though my transaction was not completed, my card was still charged
On October 5, I attempted to set up a vacation package with a hot wire representative over the phone. After over an hour the call was disconnected by the representative and when I called back there was no record that I had even called into hotwire. The next day my card was charged for the full amount of the booking but hotwire could still not locate my reservation or even the call that was made into the call center. Even after multiple escalations to management, no one was able to do anything to assist me or reverse the charge to my card to be able to book the vacation. Now I have no vacation and no money available on my credit card. Customer service was not helpful or even empathetic with my situation and seemed to not have any idea what was going on. The company makes it seem like I have absolutely no recourse in this matter and did nothing to assist or compensate for the hours I spent on the phone trying to fix the problem they created. ‘