Nothing but nighmares

We booked our airfare for the cruise through Travelocity and we booked the cruise through our Discover Card because we got $160.00 off the cabin through Discover Rewards. So, I have had nothing but problems with Travelocity and Delta Airlines since I started the booking process.

Back when we first started looking for Air from Cleveland to PC, I found an awesome deal, 4 Roundtrip tickets from Cleveland to Orlando on Continental Direct Flights for $193.00 a person. Totally awesome. Well, I did the seat selections, put my credit card information in and then there was a computer glitch on Tracelocity's side and it would now allow me to purchase the tickets. Right when I clicked confirm purchase, it said that the price had changed and the return flight was going to cost $350.00 a peson. I immediately called Travelocity and the guy I spoke to said that it was a compute issue on their end but refused to fix it. Said that there was nothing he could do. I asked him to give me the 4 tickets that I had purchased and he said no that there was nothing he could do. I asked to speak to his supervisor and he said "Lady, there is no one else", then I asked for his name and ID number so I could call back and talk to someone else and he refused and then basically disconnected me. So I called back and got another Customer Service person, explained to him what just happened and asked to speak to a supervisor, he did put a supervisor on the phone but said that without the other guys name and ID number, there was nothing he could do. I was furious at this time.

So I proceeded to book airfare with Travelocity, but because of their mistake, we were forced to buy tickets leaving out of Akron/Canton which is about 45 minutes south of where I live. (I live 5 miles from Cleveland Hopkins Airport) Akron is a lot cheaper then Cleveland, but very out of the way. So, we booked four tickets on Delta, direct flights to Orlando and I was happy. Well, Monday, I received an email from Travelocity stating that the Schedule has changed and our return flight from Orlando to Akron was now leaving at 11:00 am instead of 1:45 PM. I immediately called Travelocity again and explained to him that our flight could not leave before 12:30 becasue the Cruise line will not give us a Transfer for a flight that leaves prior to 12:30 PM. (I called the Cruise line to confirm this). The guy from Travelocity tried to put us on a flight that left at 1:00 and had two stops, one in Charleston and one in Cincinnati and returning to Akron at 10:21 PM. I said ABSOLUTELY NOT. I told him that he needed to find us another flight. He then said that he would have to have someone call me back. I gave him my number and here it is Wed. and I STILL HAVE NOT HEARD FROM ANYONE. However, I knew they would not call me back so I called back yesterday and got a girl who was very nice and very helpful. I asked her to re-book us on another flight and now we are flying out of Orlando at 1:35 and arriving in Akron at 6:00.

I also called Delta to find out why the schedule keeps changing. The person I talked to was not very nice either. He just said that they reserve the right to change flights and times. That's all he would tell me. I explained to him that my concern was that if I'm on my cruise, with no way to contact anyone, how am I supposed to be sure that I'm going to have a flight when I come home on Sunday because they keep changing the schedule. (They have changed the schedule twice since I booked my air). He just said that there is no guarantee. I asked him to see if we could switch to another airline and he said that he would not allow us to switch. He was very rude and I asked for his supervisor and he refused to put him on the phone. Said that I didn't need to talk to him because he would tell me the same thing. I was floored at this. I advised him that I would be calling back and speaking to someone else. Told him that I would never fly with Delta again. I mean, I can't cancel my flight because I don't want to run the risk of not getting another flight, but my lord, how can Delta run their company like that? He asked me what I wanted him to do for me, and I told him that I wanted to be booked on the same flights that I paid for. I wanted to be booked on direct flights, which is what I paid for. I didn't think that was too much to ask.

So, I did contact Travelocity's President and CEO and told her my entire story and how my husband and I have used them to book all our vacations and that I was dissapointed in their level of service and am waiting for a case specialist to call me back. I am more upset because of the fact that their computer problem caused me to lose good air and now I'm being forced to drive to Akron which is 45 minutes south and we have to leave our car there all week which is exta money out of our pockets because of their customer service rep's refusal to assist me. Sorry, but unacceptable.

Sorry, it's so long, but I just wanted to warn people about Delta Airlines mostly because they are a terrible company and I will never fly with them again. I'm upset with Travelocity but before I make a conclusion about them, I want to see what they have to say.

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate dealings with airline travel, however changes in flight times are happening more now than in the past and it is not just Delta's flights that have changes.

As to driving 45 minutes extra to the airport, we live in Columbus, Ohio and often fly out of Dayton (70 miles away) as we can often save more than $100 pp on flights.

Have booked many, many flights through Travelocity and have never had any major problems with the bookings.

Dianne

This is not uncommon in the airline industry and Delta is not the only one that does it.

Also if I had the problems that you experienced after trying to book the Continental flights then would have told me something about Travelocity and would have found someone else. This is why one reason that I refuse to book anything with those large on line booking companies and go with a brick and mortar TA who I know is there to take care of problems when they arise. Hopefully your cruise will make up for all of this inconvenience. Good luck.

It is not just Delta, we are booked on Continetal out of Cleveland in Feb. and I think our outgoing flight has changed 4 times. We had a straight flight to SJ and now we have a stop. Nothing they can do if the flight doesn't exsist but accomodate you the best they can. Next time you find a flight on travelocity go to the airlines website and it is usually about 5.00 cheaper because of no service charge. That way the airlines I have found are very accomodating if they change your flight. I have even had them changed to a different day when times haven't worked out. Flew Delta last year out of CAK and had this happen when they threatened strike and we changed our flights and the poor guy had to charge us something so he charged me 1 cent!!!!! I did book direct with Delta though. Good luck and try not to let it ruin your vacation!!!!

We have had this happen with other airlines - it happened to us on American when we flew in November. It is what it is, you can't control the flights, many won't fly if the plane isn't full.

Sometimes it is easier to book directly with the airline than through a third party - they seem to work with you a little more if you booked directly with them than when a third party is used.

I am so sorry you are having this problem. Have you checked other airlines and times? I have been dealing with AirTran and they do the same thing with switching times, BUT they at least accomadate us if we can not take the new timed flight, they will put us on a later flight if need be with no extra charges. We do have layovers with Airtran but when I am paying $79.00 per person I dont mind.

If you dont mind paying a cheaper price and having a layover time that is anywhere from 1 -3 hours take a look at Airtran they might go out closer to you.

Try to call your credit card and explain what happened with Travelocity and Delta and that they will not help you out with fixing their problem and see if you can cancel payment. Make sure that Airtran or anyother airline can accomodate you with flights that you need first. I prefer to deal with the airlines or cruiselines directly myself cuz you never know what can happen.

Hope you have much luck with getting this resolved.

I now try to fly in a day before and fly out a day after to avoid all hassels that could arise such as weather delays and travel change times. We dont stay in the best hotels we stay at hamptons or embassy suites not a fortune but peace of mind to know we wont delay. As for your computer glitch I am always weary or doing something online and not with a actual person.

As others have said, flight times change all of the time. In all fairness to the airlines, I have generally found them to be reasonable in allowing you to make changes to accomodate issues that may have occured because they changed the flight time. Yes, it might mean having to take a connecting flight instead of a non-stop---I guess you just have to be flexible. As far as having to drive 45 minutes to Akron, I guess I can see why you might find it inconvenient, but its only 90 minutes (round trip)--could be worse. Enjoy your cruise!

Sorry to hear about your experiences. I hope that everything works out in the end & you can have a fantastic holiday! Perhaps when you call next time, start by saying, "Hi, this is ..., what was your name?" By asking up front, they'll probably be more likely to give it to you & you'll have it if they get rude or it's needed later...

We were so glad we booked our first cruise through a Travel Agent back in Sept 2004. We were in the Carribean when Hurricane Jean hit. It was announced that the port was closed & we would not be returning on Saturday morning as scheduled. Rather than stand in line for 2 hours for the phone in the lobby to the airlines (which some people we knew did), we just waited until we could use our cell phone to call home. My mom (who was at our place watching our daughter) advised that our TA had monitored the situation. She'd called to say she had us rebooked for a Sunday evening flight (gave time & flight #) and that she would reschedule for Monday should the need arise (It did...). We got an extra 2 days on the ship; she took care of the details; everything was great!

I'm sure some people save money through these larger on-line companies, but it is often true that you get what you pay for. We are leaving in less than a month for our next cruise (this time bringing our 12 year old daughter), and we obviously booked through our TA again. (There has been one change from the original airline booking, but she took care of it & notified us of the details...)

We have had this happen with other airlines - it happened to us on American when we flew in November. It is what it is, you can't control the flights, many won't fly if the plane isn't full.

That is not true. It is pretty complex to schedule a fleet of over 600 airplanes. Changes to a departure time out of a city in the morning might have to do with utilizing that aircraft later in the day. They simply do not change things because the airplane is not full. It is much more complex then that.

Christy1120,

I have been changed 5 times already, yesterday was the 5th time. I made reservations on Delta's website some time in August to go to my Mother-in-law in Ft. Lauderdale in January for her 85th birthday. They have changed equipment 3 times and the schedule 5 times. It has been very frustrating and upsetting because each time they wipe-out my seating that I had selected for us. I cannot fly in the rear of the plane and that is where they put us each time they changed equipment after having seating near the front. Sometimes I talked to someone with some compassion and sometimes I talked to someone that couldn't care less. We pretty much only fly Delta and had NEVER been through this before after many years of flying. They occasionally told me that because of the specific airports and there schedule changes for slots in and out that in turn they have to adjust their schedules on flights. The most frustrating part of this is that I had to go constantly on their site and check my itinerary for any changes, they NEVER contacted me. I am going to eventually send a letter to the CEO of Delta if I can find out his e-mail address.

Any flight on any airline is always subject to change.

I've actually had similar problems as you are having now.

I booked my parent's cruise air via travelocity, and the great air price I'd found and wanted to purchase, when I actually hit the "purchase" button, the price skyrocketed.

When I got someone on the phone to explain this, she said that their website sometimes does that ... sort of lures you in with cheap prices, and then if there has been a price change, you don't know until you are 4 layers into the reservation.

I couldn't believe it either!

So I changed my search parameters, and found sort-of cheap air, and the price didn't change .... so I booked it. Two months later, I get an email that the return flight is now leaving sooner.

Ok, great. There is still plenty of time for them to catch that flight.

Two months later go by.

The time changed soooo much (120 minutes earlier) that they had to now get a new flight. There's no way they could make that.

So I called and said the change didn't work for us.

They changed our reservation to reflect the new itinerary, and I made him send me an email confirming that both my parents were on the later 2pm return flight ... and I kept him on the phone till I received that confirmation.

Wouldn't you know that when my parents went in to the airport to check in for Continental that the reservation system only showed that my MOM had a seat and my DAD DID NOT!!!! :eek:

Had I not had that confirmation emailed to me about the schedule change, they'd not had a chance.

But seeing this confirmation, the counter agent gave my dad a seat ... and they didn't have to pay for it.

Lesson learned ... when dealing with airfaire internet agencies .... if there is a change, be sure to receive an emailed itinerary with both parties having seats ... and call the airline company a few days ahead of time and CONFIRM that both parties have a seat on their plane!

:)

It has been very frustrating and upsetting because each time they wipe-out my seating that I had selected for us. I cannot fly in the rear of the plane and that is where they put us each time they changed equipment after having seating near the front. Sometimes I talked to someone with some compassion and sometimes I talked to someone that couldn't care less.

 

The most frustrating part of this is that I had to go constantly on their site and check my itinerary for any changes, they NEVER contacted me./quote]

 

I have had the same problems! My flight has changed so many times, I have lost count but I did see that you can sign up for email notices if they change the flight time.

 

It really is annoying when you have good seats and then a time change makes your seats move back :mad: . I called one time to Delta and got a nice rep who gave me great seats, then the next time, no such luck, "sorry, I cannot help you."

To the OP

Sorry you have has such a problem with your airfare for your ucoming trip. I do believe your problem is with Travelocity because that is who you purchases your tickets from Not Delta. You should have contacted Travelocity to get you on a flight once the schedule changed from your original flight on Delta.

I have always done what others have said and look on the big sites for a fare and schedule I like then go to the airlines web site to book the tickets. By doing this when there is a schedule change I can find a flight I like better and then contact the airline and have them switch me to those flights. I fly Delta mostly and have never been told that I couldn't switch my flights once there was a significance change in the schedule.

Tom

Just a few quick points:

Probably NO computer glitch.

You were not able to book the 4 tickets together initially because Travelocity did not have 4 to sell you at the low price. That is why you saw the "price changed" notice. You MAY have been able to book one or two at the lower price and taken your chances if you would have gotten the extra tickets needed on the same flight at a higher price.

Trying to book more than two at a steep discounted price will generally trigger airlines/third party booking agents "yield managment software" to kick the booking to a higher fare class.

As pointed out by other posters, airlines (and trains, busses and even cruise ships) change shedules all the time. In this day and age, to be expected AND to be planned for.

Some rudeness on the part of Travelocity employees, but I get the general feeling that you were asking a questions and didn't want to hear the answer. You WANTED 4 tickets at a heavily discounted price on a specific flight. The agents kept telling you they were not available. You didn't want to hear the answer. You wanted a supervisor. The agents kept telling you that there weren't four tickets available in the same "fare bucket" and getting a supervisor would NOT change the situation. You didn't want to hear the answer.

Sorry to be so harsh, but in your situation, just because you were able to click for 4 tickets and pick seat assignments DOES NOT mean those tickets in the discounted "fare bucket" were available. The seats were available-the ticket prices was unavailable. Please stay on this board and learn some more about "yield management" (how many tickets are sold at what price) and how the airlines/third party booking agents manipulate this software 1000's of times per day.

In your scenario, neither Delta nor Travelocity did anything out of the ordinaryl.

The best insurance against airline schedule changes (which are to be expected I've found) is to book a day early and a day late. Much less hassle.

About Delta... I was extreme aggravated with them for continual schedule changes which simply wouldn't work for us. However, I found "NICE" goes a long way, and eventually got someone from Delta who spent over an hour on the phone with me working something out, even though I booked third party.

We stuck with Delta, and with a bump, ended with a free upgrade flying First Class on our flight leg from Salt Lake City to Anchorage PLUS an additional $1600 (equal to our 4 original tickets) in flight vouchers good for a year. Enough to take care of the airfare for a second Alaskan cruise.:) As the saying goes... sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug!!! We got lucky.

I fly Delta about once a year using my FF miles. It is not at all unusual for there to be multiple schedule changes. Most of the time it is minor. Maybe the schedule is adjusted by a few minutes. Sometimes it is a different type plane. I have been lucky and have not experienced anything major or anything that required changing to a different flight. But I believe that if it were necessary that Delta would make the change without charging a fee. That is what I have been told anyway.

I booked for my flight to West Palm Beach on Oct 2 for a flight on Feb. 2. I have had two "changes" already and fully expect to have at least one more. I agree that it is very inconvenient that you have to get new seat assignments. You would think that they could just transfer what you already had. Interestingly enough both of these changes occured near the first of the month.

As far as being notified goes, I have never been notified. I keep an eye on things myself. I did sign up for the email and cell phone notification but have not ever received one. At first I checked myself once a week or so. Now I am checking everyday because if I have to call and get my seats reassigned I want to be on top of it before my seat gets reassigned to someone else! I wish there was a way to get my seats reassigned online. But you have to call Delta first before the online thing will work.

I too am wary of Travelocity and other such sites. Most of the time I don't even find great deals on those websites and if it's a few dollars different I think I'm better off going directly to the airline website. The few times I did book on Travelocity, I've had problems where my seats were switched when we got to the airport which is an extreme hassle since we have small children . (this was before you could check in on line) According to Continental, it happens often when tickets are booked on Travelocity. I believe that tickets booked through Travelocity get the lowest priority in terms of customer service by the airlines, seat assignments etc. I also believe this for hotels. I even stayed at a hotel once where the desk clerk admitted that the rooms booked through travelocity or hotels.com get the rooms that aren't as nice.

Our flight to FT. Lauderdale on Continental was changed and the people at Continental were very nice about switching our flights to later in the day (since the change would make the flight too early coming off the ship). I think this change would have been more difficult if we had booked through travelocity.

They simply do not change things because the airplane is not full. It is much more complex then that.

Northwest for a while seemed to have a reputation for cancelling flights that were half full. In general this was a cancellation that was while you were at the airport, and they'd have you running around to different gates. Obviously they weren't exactly advertising this, but sometimes you can read between the lines and realize that the only mechanical problem with the plane was that half the seats weren't going to be filled.

That said, it's definitely not as common these days, because planes are tending to fly fuller. It does seem to happen sometimes on flights from small airports to hubs though.

I have done alot of buy hotels and airline tickets from discounters in the past without any problems. I have not had any experience booking through Travelocity however I did read a very interesting article yesterday in a travel magazine reguarding a person that booked a Hotel in Florence, Italy. When the person arrive at the hotel in Florence the managed explained to the person that there wasn't one resevation there was four reservations under the same name. The person had to pay for all four reservations at the time and had a heck of a time trying to clear everything up. Aparently there was a glitch in the system and even the Travelvelocity computer experts couldn't figure out what accurally happened. It was said to be very careful what site you access Travelvelcity through. There are sites out there that are fronts to get your credit card number and these hackers are one step head of the corporate experts. I have a feeling we are going to hear more about these glitches in the future. As far as flight changes go it looks like we are at the mercy of the Airlines. I know your pain. Tim

Probably NO computer glitch.

 

Trying to book more than two at a steep discounted price will generally trigger airlines/third party booking agents "yield managment software" to kick the booking to a higher fare class.

I am very leery of booking with Travelocity. I saw a great price on a flight and tried to book ONE ticket and was unable to get the price as "the price had gone up".

I booked a hotel and then cancelled as I found a better price through the hotel's website only to find that they had both reservation for me because Travelocity didn't cancel the first one! I was very glad that they did not make me pay for that error!

I now just use their website to find the best price then go to the airline (or hotel) and book directly. It is usually the same price and I save the booking fee.:rolleyes:

I am very leery of booking with Travelocity. I saw a great price on a flight and tried to book ONE ticket and was unable to get the price as "the price had gone up".

 

I booked a hotel and then cancelled as I found a better price through the hotel's website only to find that they had both reservation for me because Travelocity didn't cancel the first one! I was very glad that they did not make me pay for that error!

 

I now just use their website to find the best price then go to the airline (or hotel) and book directly. It is usually the same price and I save the booking fee.:rolleyes:

Everyone needs to know how Travelocity works and maybe that will resolve some of the issues. MOST of Travelocity's air bookings are done in conjunction with the airlines. So you book ONE ticket, you put all your information in, click purchase AND you get that horrible message "price has changed". What happened? Travelocity did not own the ticket-their computer interfaces with the airline computer and when you hit purchase, the airline no longer had tickets available at the price you were seeing on Travelocity. Airline prices can change 1000's of times per day.

However, Travelocity does purchase BULK tickets (consolidator fares) directly from the airline. When you see a Travelocity "web fare", those are generally tickets already OWNED by Travelocity and if there is ONE or FIVE or TEN available at the price you see, you can usually get them without a price change notice. Travelocity "Web Fares" are generally NOT on favored routes at peak times, so looking for tickets from NYC to Florida during President's week is probably futile. I fly LAX/NYC at least 6 times per year. I have NEVER seen that route on a Travelocity "web fare", as it is a heavily traveled business route any time of the year and the airlines don't sell the tickets to Travelocity.

Hotels on Travelocity work somewhat the same way. Hotels set aside certain blocks of rooms available to Travelocity. The best prices are only available sometimes and not generally at peak times.

ESPECIALLY on hotels, you can usually find better prices at the hotel's own website.

The rate issue also sometimes happens the other way (not with a message, but getting hte lower price on travelocity). For our next cruise, I'd found a price on travelocity, then tried booking it through the airline. I could find the price on the airline's website, but it wouldn't let me book it. Next fare was much more. Back on travelocity's site, no problem booking said fare.

Greatam, I find your comments very interesting. How do you know so much? I use travelocity to get an overview of fares. If something looks good I go directly to the airline site. We are booked on Jetblue (starting routes to JFK and Long Beach from O'Hare in January). Initially I saw $267 RT fares for the needed 4 tickets (O'hare--LGB). However the next morning the tickets were $317. I played with the number of tickets--and found that I could get 2 for the original lower price, one for inbetween the two prices and I would have to get the 4th ticket at the $317 fare. If I tried to book all 4 at the same time--all 4 were the highest price eventhough cheaper seats were still left. I landed up doing 3 bookings. Got the seats, 4 for $1168--which I think is good for direct flights to California. (Would have saved $100 if I had booked the night before--Oh Well!)