This is a bitch about the airlines and life.

I booked a flight in July on USAir through Orbits and had to cancel it. I was told on the phone by the Orbitz lady that they don't do refunds, and that I would simply have a USAir credit on Orbitz. She also mentioned that USAir charges a $150 fee upon re-booking. Ok, sucks, but Ok.

So I've been on the phone for 57:40 now with Orbitz trying to use the credit.

1. The $150 fee is IN ADDITION/EXTRA/MORE... I can't use any part of the credit to pay for the new ticket.

2. You can't use Orbitz generated flights/prices in re-booking. The Orbitz guy actually has to use the USAir computer system directly and use their prices in their own home system.

3. Orbitz charges a $50 fee to book over the phone... which I have no choice on.

4. The Orbitz computer system and the USAir computer system don't like eachother in general, so he's had to manually re-enter all my data 4 times now.

5. USAir has the highest domestic cancellation/re-booking fee that I can find.

6. Just passed an hour on the phone.

So I'm feeling especially fuxored right now. I'm sitting here staring at the screen feeling like I've just been bent over and fucked. I know that all these fees are written in the fine-print somewhere and that I clicked a box agreeing to pay for them, but it's still just sucking the life out of me.

7. Been on hold for the last 12 minutes, just passed 1:08. FML.

 

you should be pissed at yourself for using something like orbitz and not booking the exact same flight directly with the airline yourself.

i thought you were smart enough to know about scams?

 

NVM. Had to re-read.

 

Just got off the phone at 1:27... will post screenshots in a minute.

 

I use the travel sites to find the flight and then just do what Brain said and book it through the airline because it is almost always cheaper.

 

you dont like paying for a middle man that has horrible policies for cancelations?

 

Sam, where are you headed?

 

Btw USair has lost my checked bags on three different occasions. **** them.

 

USair is the only airline that ever lost my bags forever. Every other time, they show up a few days late. I was on a week long business trip, they lost 3 suits, ties, etc. They said if the bag doesn't show up for 3 days, I could spend up to $25 on replacing items.
Then after 90 days, I could file a claim. The claim required original store receipts (not credit card records) for all of the expensive items. They also required me to sign an affidavit that said if they lost another bag of mine, I would not hold them accountable for it!
All this from the airline that ripped out their video systems because it would save 200 lbs, resulting in fuel savings.

 

My bag was lost for about six months before I got a call from some dude in a warehouse out in Arizona.

 

Leaving VaBch Sat morning back to NOLA... gonna be back there for all of October until I officially move up here to VaBch 1st week of Nov.

Ended up costing me a total of $600 to fly from Virginia Beach-New Orleans with a stop in Charlotte... total trip time is like 4hrs.

Didn't know the various booking sites were ripoffs... won't be using again. The fact that I was on the phone for over an hour half THAT I HAD TO PAY THEM $50 FOR seals the deal.

Unfortunately I'll have to check a bag on my flight because of carrying firearms... hope it gets through.

 

All this could have been resolved with MOAR BOOST

 

I got fucked like this once also. Booked a round trip flight through an online service. Something came up that I had to rebook to get onto an earlier flight out of town. I planned to return on the flight that was booked with the round trip. I got to the airport for the return flight and got told that my ticket was no longer valid since I took a different flight out...so bought three flights and they cancelled two of them. After fighting with the ticket counter for three hours, they finally booked a stand-by ticket through a partner travel agency. Like your story, they absolutely refused to rebook me through the main airline system unless I paid rebooking fees plus the full $1,200 face value for a one way, same day ticket.

I feel your pain.

 

I got $800 of non-refundable Orbitz hotel reservations refunded once. It wasn't easy and I learned my lesson.

 

It's a wonder companies can stay in business with practices like this nowadays with the way social media and all that is. As soon as one person has a bad experience i have infinity different resources to hear about it. One would think these idiots would be all about customer service and satisfaction.

 

Actually having a fire arm in the bag just about guarantees that the bag will get there. Here is a brief life hacker story about it. There is a good video on youtube of a guy completely explaining the law. I will see if I can find it again.

Here is the video. It is a great watch.

 

Deviant Ollam is the man. He's a super fun guy and a great speaker. I've never seen anyone that can get out of handcuffs like that dude. He's one of the guys at DefCon that I will go to his talks even if the topic isn't even remotely interesting, kinda like Dan Kaminsky, Bruce Potter or Johnny Long. This particular talk is a few years old, but I've got the slide deck for it if anyone is interested.

/threadjack

 

Yeah someone has to be with it the whole time. If I'm traveling to a free state, I'll usually pack a toy or two.