- Jun 5, 2005
- 6,893
- 63
- 91
I have a huge problem. I'm trying to save my honeymoon from being a complete disaster. I'm getting massively jerked around by Expedia and really need some serious help. My fiance and myself are both near tears. We've already spent $5000+ dollars on our honeymoon. Let me explain that this will be a large post....
Actually it is sort of a dual problem. I booked my honeymoon flight to Bora Bora through Expedia.com, flying from Detroit to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Tahiti all round trip leaving Detroit July 22nd, returning to Detroit July 30th. I did not book my accommodations with them. When I originally booked my flight my connection time in LA between my Northwest flight 331, and my Air Tahiti Nui flight 101 was about 2.5 hours. I was supposed to arrive in LA at 9:14pm LA time and depart for Tahiti at 11:40pm LA time. I even printed off these original flight times. As of now(April 5 2009) I have exactly 1 hour and 40 minutes between flights. Both Air Tahiti Nui and NWA changed flight times, it is now arrive at 9:20pm LA time and depart 11pm LA time. This is where I first contacted NWA and Expedia both through e-mail and phone attempting to resolve the situation. Because if you have ever traveled through LAX, domestic to international, 1hr40min is simply not feasible whatsoever. Not to mention Air Tahiti Nui doesn't allow electronic check in and their check in counter closes 1 hour before departure. There is honestly no way I would make my connecting flight. So as I stated I contacted Expedia first, who told me it would cost an outrageous sum of money to change for 2 people and that not matter what to quote the man on the other end, 'plenty of time for a connecting flight.' And wouldn't budge any further, then accused me of being worried over nothing. So then I tried Northwest, which simply put was even worse than Expedia. Besides telling me again of the crazy fee, the lady of the other end said according to NWA records I still had the original 2.5 hours between flights even after I told her on the Northwest website it showed different, and before I could say anymore she hung up on me. Great.
So then I had a bright idea which seems stupid now in retrospect. I went to American Airlines website and booked two one way tickets(only $250 for both of us) to LA for July 21st, figuring me and my new bride can check out LA for a day, and make our Air Tahiti Nui flight no problem. Which then I found out through a friend that missing one flight might cause them to cancel all your flights. I contacted Expedia who confirmed they would cancel ALL my flights, including my flight to Tahiti if I missed their initial flight to LAX, they advised me to contact Northwest again. I contacted Northwest again who told me I'd get an $80 credit by canceling plus whatever cancellation fees, but that I needed to contact Air Tahiti Nui to proceed further. I contacted Air Tahiti Nui, who told me they couldn't cancel that flight and I need to contact Expedia, again. So I contacted Expedia again, who gave me major runaround and stated that if I canceled my Northwest flight they would have to cancel all my flights and that I could ONLY change my flight from Detroit to LA. Tried asking for a supervisor and was refused my request. I hung up, called back get a different customer service person, said I could change my flight. Then told me there were no flight available at all for that whole day. I knew that was BS so I asked to talk to her supervisor. After 15 minutes on hold I talked to 'Brian' who said sure I can change your flight that it will be $170 in fees plus the cost of the new ticket. Which was $1183.72 for ONE ticket from Detroit to LA. I kid you not. So $1353 to book a new ticket. Just ONE I need two, so $2706 for the both of us.
I'm totally at a loss of what to do next, I've already spent thousands of dollars. I just want to go on my honeymoon! Please can anyone help?? I was thinking maybe do an executive level e-mail pleading my case??
Thanks in advance to anyone that responds.
UPDATE 4/7
Well the update is that I am about to fire off an e-mail to the senior VP of customer operations.
I've gotten in touch with my credit union who said that I can call at any time to dispute the charges but they recommended I use that as a last resort.
And basically I'm going to wait now and see if this senior VP responds to the e-mail, if not I'm going to the president of expedia.
Hopefully I'll have a better update tomorrow when I get off work.
MAJOR UPDATE 4/8
Well I sent the e-mail off yesterday and expedia called me back a few hours later! A lady named Julie helped me, said she would call me back today, she gave me her phone and e-mail address, which she asked not to share and I wont. And she did call me back today. She first apologized over and over again. Then she explained EVERYTHING to me, what my options were, best case scenario, worst case scenario. And then she actually listened to me. Amazing.
She said she'd get working on it ASAP to ensure my honeymoon happened. She called me back 20 minutes later, saying she was halfway there on resolving the issue and would call me back in an hour or two. Well about an hour later she called back. Everything is fixed, I was moved to an earlier Northwest flight so now I have 5 hours of connection time. I was reissued ticket numbers and she again apologized over and over and over again. I thanked her multiple times for saving my honeymoon.
And the best part of it all, it didn't cost me one penny, she did it all for free.
But I would also like to thank ATOT for your help and advice and without your help I might not have found the right e-mail address. So thanks and have a :beer: on me.
Actually it is sort of a dual problem. I booked my honeymoon flight to Bora Bora through Expedia.com, flying from Detroit to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Tahiti all round trip leaving Detroit July 22nd, returning to Detroit July 30th. I did not book my accommodations with them. When I originally booked my flight my connection time in LA between my Northwest flight 331, and my Air Tahiti Nui flight 101 was about 2.5 hours. I was supposed to arrive in LA at 9:14pm LA time and depart for Tahiti at 11:40pm LA time. I even printed off these original flight times. As of now(April 5 2009) I have exactly 1 hour and 40 minutes between flights. Both Air Tahiti Nui and NWA changed flight times, it is now arrive at 9:20pm LA time and depart 11pm LA time. This is where I first contacted NWA and Expedia both through e-mail and phone attempting to resolve the situation. Because if you have ever traveled through LAX, domestic to international, 1hr40min is simply not feasible whatsoever. Not to mention Air Tahiti Nui doesn't allow electronic check in and their check in counter closes 1 hour before departure. There is honestly no way I would make my connecting flight. So as I stated I contacted Expedia first, who told me it would cost an outrageous sum of money to change for 2 people and that not matter what to quote the man on the other end, 'plenty of time for a connecting flight.' And wouldn't budge any further, then accused me of being worried over nothing. So then I tried Northwest, which simply put was even worse than Expedia. Besides telling me again of the crazy fee, the lady of the other end said according to NWA records I still had the original 2.5 hours between flights even after I told her on the Northwest website it showed different, and before I could say anymore she hung up on me. Great.
So then I had a bright idea which seems stupid now in retrospect. I went to American Airlines website and booked two one way tickets(only $250 for both of us) to LA for July 21st, figuring me and my new bride can check out LA for a day, and make our Air Tahiti Nui flight no problem. Which then I found out through a friend that missing one flight might cause them to cancel all your flights. I contacted Expedia who confirmed they would cancel ALL my flights, including my flight to Tahiti if I missed their initial flight to LAX, they advised me to contact Northwest again. I contacted Northwest again who told me I'd get an $80 credit by canceling plus whatever cancellation fees, but that I needed to contact Air Tahiti Nui to proceed further. I contacted Air Tahiti Nui, who told me they couldn't cancel that flight and I need to contact Expedia, again. So I contacted Expedia again, who gave me major runaround and stated that if I canceled my Northwest flight they would have to cancel all my flights and that I could ONLY change my flight from Detroit to LA. Tried asking for a supervisor and was refused my request. I hung up, called back get a different customer service person, said I could change my flight. Then told me there were no flight available at all for that whole day. I knew that was BS so I asked to talk to her supervisor. After 15 minutes on hold I talked to 'Brian' who said sure I can change your flight that it will be $170 in fees plus the cost of the new ticket. Which was $1183.72 for ONE ticket from Detroit to LA. I kid you not. So $1353 to book a new ticket. Just ONE I need two, so $2706 for the both of us.
I'm totally at a loss of what to do next, I've already spent thousands of dollars. I just want to go on my honeymoon! Please can anyone help?? I was thinking maybe do an executive level e-mail pleading my case??
Thanks in advance to anyone that responds.
UPDATE 4/7
Well the update is that I am about to fire off an e-mail to the senior VP of customer operations.
I've gotten in touch with my credit union who said that I can call at any time to dispute the charges but they recommended I use that as a last resort.
And basically I'm going to wait now and see if this senior VP responds to the e-mail, if not I'm going to the president of expedia.
Hopefully I'll have a better update tomorrow when I get off work.
MAJOR UPDATE 4/8
Well I sent the e-mail off yesterday and expedia called me back a few hours later! A lady named Julie helped me, said she would call me back today, she gave me her phone and e-mail address, which she asked not to share and I wont. And she did call me back today. She first apologized over and over again. Then she explained EVERYTHING to me, what my options were, best case scenario, worst case scenario. And then she actually listened to me. Amazing.
She said she'd get working on it ASAP to ensure my honeymoon happened. She called me back 20 minutes later, saying she was halfway there on resolving the issue and would call me back in an hour or two. Well about an hour later she called back. Everything is fixed, I was moved to an earlier Northwest flight so now I have 5 hours of connection time. I was reissued ticket numbers and she again apologized over and over and over again. I thanked her multiple times for saving my honeymoon.
And the best part of it all, it didn't cost me one penny, she did it all for free.
But I would also like to thank ATOT for your help and advice and without your help I might not have found the right e-mail address. So thanks and have a :beer: on me.
Facebook
Twitter