Orbitz
Reviews and Complaints

I have a complaint and I don't know how to send it to orbitz .com. I booked with orbitz on their best deal of the day. It was not until I received the details(after I paid) that there was an extra 39 dollars a day by the hotel. Ceasors palace in Las Vegas. I would not have booked if I had known there was an extra 39 dollars a day for stuff I would not use . they should tell you about it before you book

Evelyn Timmins evesara@ymail .com

For an upcomig trip to Los Angeles, I found a decent offer on Orbitz: A return flight in United First Class sold as a Continental code share for $2800.-. I booked the flight, checked the seatmap, selected 1A and was happy. A few days later, I double checked departure times and found, to my great surprise, the reservation downgraded to business class. Now, $2800.- for business class is no deal at all. I called Orbitz and asked for what seemed to me a no brainer - that the bait and switch be rectified: Either offer me the product you sold me or refund the transaction. It took three and half hours of meandering discussions until I got a supervisor to offer a refund, "pending approval by management". It's now a week later and I am still waiting for the "pending approval". My suggestion: Always book directly though the airline's website. At least you know what you are getting. And avoid AOrbitz like the plague. They don't take responsibility for anything.

I am filing a small claims suit against orbitz for overcharging and fraud. Would you be willing to sent me a signed and dated summary of your experience, so I can use it to prove that it is routine practice for Orbitz to screw people

Let me know if you would be willing to help.

Thank you Very Much,

Tyler
zepplin200053@yahoo.com

THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM! I WILL NOT USE THEM AGAIN AND AM LETTING FRIENDS AND FAMILY KNOW ABOUT THEIR PRACTICES. I ENCOURAGE YOU TO DO THE SAME.

Most of the time you don't pay through those websites. They will hold a reservation for you but you pay the car rental when you pick up. Are you sure that you only paid for the hotel and NOt the car rental?

THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM! I WILL NOT USE THEM AGAIN AND AM LETTING FRIENDS AND FAMILY KNOW ABOUT THEIR PRACTICES. I ENCOURAGE YOU TO DO THE SAME.

Dear Orbitz,

I write to you today to tell you about the horrible experience I had with your service this past year. I have used Orbitz in the past without a glitch and I was surprised that in this time of economic downturn your customer service has declined to these levels. Not only did your supervisors in Orbitz TLC misguide me but also I had to resort to literally begging for a solution so that I could make it home in time to visit an ailing family member.
On August 25th 2008 I purchased an itinerary through your website from Seattle to Montevideo, Uruguay departing on December 24th 2008. The original itinerary included stops in Los Angeles (LAX), Panama City (PTY) and final destination Montevideo. The return was Montevideo, Miami, Denver, and Seattle. (At the end of this letter I have attached all itineraries for your reference).
On October 23rd I received an email notifying me that there had been a change in my itinerary that read the following:
“The airline has notified us of a change to your itinerary. If the updated itinerary below is acceptable, no further action is necessary.”
At this time the itinerary change was very minor and as the email indicated I took no further action.
On December 3rd 2008 I received a second email notifying me that there had been a change in my itinerary, once again the email read:
“The airline has notified us of a change to your itinerary. If the updated itinerary below is acceptable, no further action is necessary.”
This time the flight itinerary had significantly changed, not only was an extra leg added (I now had to do SEA->SFO->LAX) but an extra 5 hours of travel had been added as well. I understand that this change was the airline and not Orbitz fault. The email said no further action was necessary but I wanted to know if I could some how move around the flights so lessen the travel time.
My first contact with Orbitz TLC was on December 9th 2008 where I was on hold for no less than 45 minutes until I was able to talk to the international travel agent. After explaining the situation she said that there was nothing Orbitz could really do because the original flight I was booked on was canceled so I assumed I just had bad luck. At this time she informs me that she noticed that I have paper tickets and that these would have to be exchanged due to the change in flights, she informed me to go to the United ticketing office to exchange them since Orbitz could no longer do anything about them because I was travelling in less than 14 days from the date (It was 13 days at the time). I asked the representative multiple times if I could overnight mail the tickets to Orbitz to get the exchange done, she said no it was to late I had to deal directly with the airline. I drove to my nearest United Airlines office (45 minutes away) to get the tickets exchanged. At the United office I was informed that they could not exchange the tickets because COPA Airlines owned the tickets and that I would have to go to their offices. The next day I called COPA Airlines and they informed me that to exchange the tickets I would have to present them in person, when I asked where their nearest office was they said Los Angeles (I am located in Seattle, the tickets I bought would take me to Los Angeles but I could not board the plane with them). At this time I call Orbitz back and they tell me I have to deal with the airlines directly since “the ticket is a paper ticket and out of our control” (after 15 years of using Travel Agents I have never heard this before). I call United Airlines back and they tell me that COPA owns the ticket and they cannot reissue the ticket unless Orbitz request a code from COPA Airlines to do so.
At this point days on hold with Orbitz and multiple airlines have gone by with me calling every day to see how I can solve this issue. On December 19th 2008 (5 days before travel) I am in a desperate situation with invalid paper tickets in my hand and call Orbitz TLC once again and ask to talk to a supervisor. After once again an hour of being on hold I finally am transferred with Lorie (Employee ref: MTF). After explaining my situation she indicates that I should have sent the paper tickets back to Orbitz, I explain that I had tried to do so but the previous agent said it was not possible. She indicated that now it was definitely to late to send the tickets back that my best option was to go to the United counter on the 24th the day of my flight and hope (her actual words) that they would honor the ticket. As you can imagine at this point in time I am desperate, I have an ill family member that I must get to, I purchased a ticket for it 4 months in advance (a guaranteed ticket not a raffle ticket were hope should be involved) and she is telling me that I might or might not be able to get on this flight.
At this time I have my partner calling United to see what they can possibly do. They tell me that this happens all the time when dealing with Orbitz and that its sad that the customers get stuck in this limbo. He tells us that the only thing that can be done is that I can re purchase the ticket so that they can honor the reservation and then either submit to Orbitz for reimbursement or take Orbitz to small claims court.
After 3 hours on the phone with Lorie pleading for anything she can do for me she finally agrees to re-issue the ticket if I sent them back overnight to Orbitz HQ.
The next morning (December 20th 2008) I send the tickets to the Minnesota Office and call Orbitz TLC once again. My call was initiated at 10:03am PST as soon as somebody picked up I requested a supervisor. At 10:45am PST the supervisor Libby (Employee ref: MZB) picked up the phone and verified that I had sent back the tickets when I provided her with the tracking numbers. At this time she informed me that if I wanted the tickets I would have to incur a charge of $47 dollars. I explained that I thought this charge was unfair given that I already paid for shipping twice for these tickets already (from Orbitz, to Orbitz). She repeated that if I wanted the tickets I would have to pay this fee. In the end I paid this fee since I had no other option. She said she could refund the Orbitz fee charged to me, I explained that this was still less than what I was paying in shipping costs alone for an Orbitz mess up (I could have saved this money if I had sent the tickets back when I asked to the first time).
My complaints with Orbitz are the following: Today January 30th my credit card still has not received any credit of any sort as Libby promised. I spent over 8 hrs on the phone trying to get this issue resolved. If I had not called Orbitz TLC to inquire about a possible flight change I would have never found out that my tickets were invalid and I would probably have had to pay out of pocket for the entirety of the ticket, again. Supervisor Lorie MTF actually told me that I could hope they accepted my ticket, I found this statement ridiculous. At no point did Orbitz try to help me solve my problem, I had to beg, get angry and insist for hours before anybody offered to help me solve this issue.
I hope your company never puts anybody else through this nightmare.

Sincerely,
XXXX

Go to directcomplaint.com! use one of there complaint forms, it will go directly to the person in charge, plus you can ad additional recipients like the FAA or Better Business Bureau! Registration is free, and you can also post your complaint for free. But you should also pay the $5.00 and have your voice heard with good old snail mail! Good Luck!

Orbitz is terrible. Poor customer service, people lie, don't speak English well, you name it. Deal directly with the Airline and Hotels... it's much safer.

I originally purchased two roundtrip tickets to LGA from CHS for July 1st to July 4th. These tickets were purchased months in advance for a total of $440. My husband was flying with me along with my 12 month old daughter (in lap). We were going to a family wedding. On June 21st, my Father-In-Law passed suddenly and unexpectedly. He was living in Florida and since he died alone, the body was held. Funeral services were scheduled for July 1st. This was the day of my departure to NY. Although there was great sadness in our lives, my husband wanted my daughter and I to go ahead and go to NY for the wedding so my daughter could meet her great grandparents for the first time.
I first checked online to see what the cost would be to change just my departure flight to a different day and from a different airport (TPA). The cost was to be around $900! When I looked at rebooking a new one-way flight from TPA to LGA it was less than $200. I called customer service at Orbitz to find out if I was doing this right, if they could help me, and if there was a lesser price. After telling the operator many times that I wanted to keep my return flight and only change my departure he said it would be around $900. He asked if I wanted to cancel my flight and I said no. I also said no to canceling my husband’s flight. Since the penalties were so much, it would basically be a wash for our tickets. The operator advised that it was cheaper to rebook a new one way flight out of TPA. Again, I spoke very clearly that I wanted to keep my return flight and did not want to cancel my tickets.
I flew out of TPA on July 2nd alone with my daughter in my lap. I felt secure that I would have a return flight home since I was getting updated reports on my phone from Orbitz. When I got to LGA to leave on July 4th, I was told I did not have a ticket and my flight was cancelled because I did not go on my original departure flight. At no point did the Orbitz representative tell me that my return flight would be cancelled if I did not go on the original departure flight. After a long weekend of traveling alone with my 12 month old and the emotional stress of a funeral of my Father in Law and then a wedding, I started to cry. I did not have a seat to get home. Of course Delta would sell me a seat back but I would be charged $150 for penalties and then a last minute ticket. They charged me $603 to get home; minus the $150 charge because I repeatedly told them that I did not know this would happen. The representative at Orbitz didn’t tell me this. If he did, I would have cancelled everything and not go to the weeding or rebook a new roundtrip flight at a lower price.
This trip cost me $1200 total for 2 days. I’m so stressed and upset by this. This shouldn’t have happen. There was horrible communication on Orbitz side and Delta did not care. I’m not sure when I can fly again because my husband just started his job after he was laid off for a month and this trip took all of our savings. A very sad day indeed. I will never use Orbitz again. Ever.

Impossible itineraries happen pretty regularly, and it's not Orbitz' fault when they do. Orbitz shops the same rates everyone else does, so if you found an impossible itinerary on Orbitz, you could've found it on many other sites as well.

The difference with Orbitz is, if you simply would've called the excellent customer service department, they would've been able to set you straight.. and save you money since if the fare got cheaper after you booked it, they'd send you a check in the mail for the difference.

THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM! I WILL NOT USE THEM AGAIN AND AM LETTING FRIENDS AND FAMILY KNOW ABOUT THEIR PRACTICES. I ENCOURAGE YOU TO DO THE SAME.

This is a copy of a comment I left for the CEO of Orbitz:

Mr. Harford, CEO of Orbitz,

I have a serious problem with your company. I had previously purchased a ticket for use in November of 2008, however was unable to make my trip. I called your company who assured me that I would be able to use the credit to purchase another ticket with the same airline if I used it by September of 2009.
Two days ago on February, Friday 13, 2009 I called and booked a flight from Anchorage Alaska to San Francisco through Salt Lake city and back, paying the difference in the ticket cost and other associated fees at that time.
I got the flight booked and even picked seats for the flight and was assured an itinerary would be sent out at once so I could make arrangements with other parties I need to contact in San Francisco. Upon checking my email the next
day I noticed the itinerary was still not there, so I called again and was assured the flight was booked, and that the itinerary would be sent out as soon as your customer service rep hung up on their end of the phone.
Well, I went about my business trusting that your service reps would be true to their word, however I later checked once more, and it was still not there so I called again and was assured that by Sunday morning it would be in my email. Sunday arrived and still no email from Orbitz. Sunday the 15th is the day I was supposed to contact several people in the San Francisco area in order to make arrangements for specialized equipment related to my visit to the area. I called a total of four times on the evening of the 15th with the following results.

Call #1 - I was told that there was a ticket but that the ticked had not been fully booked. (How is that possible? I also had a very difficult time understanding the very heavy accent on the other end of the line as well as problems with the phone lines cutting in and out.) As I was trying to sort out the problem I was hung up on.

Call #2 - I was referred to three different people, none of who I could understand well, who informed me that there was a ticked booked, but that it takes up to 48 hours for me to get an itinerary. I explained that I had been waiting for 48 hours. Then your representatives tried to tell me that my email account was not working, the very same email account that I had just been reading recently received emails on. I assured her that my email was working, but also when I commented to my wife that I was no longer going to do business with your company in the future, I was then abruptly hung up on by her.

Call #3 - I was told by another customer service rep that I could barely understand or hear due to bad phone lines, that now there was no ticket on my record at all. And that there was no record of me booking a flight. I asked to speak to a supervisor, whereupon I waited on hold for ten minutes and was hung up on before being able to speak to one.

Call #4 - My wife actually made this call as by this time I was in no mood to deal with the substandard customer service and mistreatment I had received thus far. She called the number provided on your website, asked for a customer service supervisor and had been held on hold for over an hour with no one even coming on to the phone lines to tell her that she will be taken care of sometime in the near future. When someone finally came on the phone my wife was informed by "Corrine" that the itinerary
was posted on a third party site not even affiliated with Orbitz, which I had not been informed of, by either your companies website
or your customer service representatives which I had tried to deal with previously.

There had been no attempt to solve the small problem I had originally by your regular customer service representatives, which, was just wanting a copy of my flight itinerary. And the fact that my Itinerary was posted to a third party website without my knowledge or permission is inexcusable. I am beyond incensed at my treatment by your company, your lack of accountability for your poor customer service and to be sure that this is not something that happens to others I will be posting copies of this message to you, the CEO of Orbitz to the local and National Better Business Bureaus, as well as all of the many sites now available on the internet which detail your companies long history of substandard customer care and lack of business ethics.

Should you care to respond to my complaints you may do so at EVBranscum@yahoo.com

Rest assured however that whatever you send will be forwarded to all my friends, acquaintances, business relationships and again to the many websites which have detailed your companies history of bad business practices toward your customers.

Sincerely,
Edgar V. Branscum

Mr. Harford, CEO of Orbitz,

I hope that when you come in the office in the morning the first thing you do is come to this websiste and educate yourself. I used Orbitz and other on line agencies to book travel in the past.
I did a mistake and I booked to San Jose California instead of San Jose Costa Rica. When I realized this I tried to cancel and rebook the tickets.
Then I learned for your convience that the tickets are non refundable even though I paid for the insurance.
Which is the bigger scam Orbitz or the trip insurance that you allow to advertise falsely on your site.
Your customer service was terrible and incredibly rude, and were more a hindrance than a help.
In one way or another I will get my money back.
I will be posting copies of this message to you, the CEO of Orbitz to the local and National Better Business Bureaus, as well as all of the many sites now available on the internet which detail your companies long history of substandard customer care and lack of business ethics.
You may respond to amramsagit@hotmail.com

I got suckered by them let's just make it that simple. As a business professional who travels alot, I will to share my experience with everyone I work with at a location we have set up for things just like this. I just got home today from traveling and didn't get very far with the "superior supervisor". Word of mouth will go far. They can continue to spend millions of dollars on advertising, sites like this and us speaking to our friends and family will be worth a lot more. After just 2 vacations in 2 months with them, I'm done.

I will encourage others to stay away as well. I hope it was worth the mere 45.31 refund I was asking for. The loss of business from my family alone was worth more to them. We travel every 2 months.

I am filing a small claims suit against orbitz for overcharging and fraud. Would you be willing to send me a signed and dated summary of your experience, so I can use it to prove that it is routine practice for Orbitz to screw people

Let me know if you would be willing to help.

Thank you Very Much,

Tyler
zepplin200053@yahoo.com

WOW, Orbitz has taken a great business model and turned it into trash with fraud and the worst customer no-service on the planet. My story begins with a vacation package booked in Cabo at "an etirely smoke-free property" which was also confirmed by an email which said "This property is entirely smoke-free". Upon arrival (by my daughter and friend) it turned out to be a full out smoking hotel, and the room already had ashtrays full out butts to get started upon arrival! The entire hotel smelled like those glass lounges at the airport. So after talking with 4 Orbitz people and "Edward" the top supervisor, the solution was to wait to see if the hotel could find them a less smelly room.While Edward did not admit to any mistakes or offer any credit/help he did say that any false info in the website is solely the hotel's fault as Orbitz has nothing to do with the posting! I could recite even more insane Orbitz statements but suffice it to say they have lost me for life as a former loyal customer and I will spread the word.

I am in the same situation now. This isna fraud

I filed a complain with American Express (AE) about this misleading advertisement. AE forwarded my complain to the airlines. The airlines sent it to Orbitz. Orbitz responded to airlines which in turn responded to AE. AE sent me a letter which basically said

- If you can provide us with the proof that lower prices were offered to someone else, we will glad to re-investigate!

Same situation...exact same canned response. How can they continue to advertise "price assurance"? It's no assurance at all...just a false come-on. I only wish there was something constructive (or destructive) one could do about it other than saying "I won't use them again".

OK guys this is my story……so I bought 2 r/t fares through Orbitz for 708 from SFO to Geneva on Apr/30 and two weeks later the same fare, same departure, same arrival, same everything is now 677…..i emailed Orbitz requesting the credit for the difference (for 2 tickets is about $60) and their response was

———————————————————————————————————–
Dear Orbitz Customer,

Thank you for contacting Orbitz.

I understand you would like to claim price guarantee for you flight reservation.

Airfares change throughout the day, based on demand for the flight and the airlines’ right to change them at any time.

We monitor these changes closely and make every effort to keep our fare displays as current as possible. At the time of your fare search and when you bought your ticket, our display showed the lowest fare available for purchase for the time and dates you requested.

If you should find a lower fare after purchasing a non-refundable ticket, we will not be able to issue a credit for the difference in price. If you wish to take advantage of a lower price you see on the website, you may cancel the ticket and re-book. You will be subject to the refundability policy associated with your current ticket and may be charged any fees listed in that policy.

Sincerely,

Peter Emanuel
OrbitzTLC Team
———————————————————————————————————–

So basically, they lie, mislead and do not stand behind their promise just so they can make a sale. BEWARE!

Per WSJ on 5/7/09:

- Orbitz posted a loss of $336 million.
- In the past year, through 5/5/09, Orbitz stock had fallen more than 70%.
- Revenue decreased 14% to $188 million.
- Gross bookings declined 17% to $2.38 billion

When a company is not doing well, I assume it has to try improving the profits. I would say refunding money to customers does not stop the bleeding.

The Price Assurance program is misleading and manipulative. Orbitz knows that consumers cannot verify its compliance. There are also no other independent agencies to verify its compliance. I presume Orbitz can also choose to exclude a certain flight if it has to refund money.

Price Assurance only makes traveler believe they will pay the lowest prices so they buy tickets but Orbitz never intends to make such an offer.

If you buy airplane tickets from Orbitz becasue of "Price Assurance", here are a few things to consider:

1- How do you know there is not another traveler who has booked the exact same flight? The answer is there is noway for you as a consumer to find out unless someone you know is on the same flight just like jigs in the posting above. So should you trust a company that you cannot verify its claim? The difference between "Price guaranty" and "Price Assurance" is you are at the mercy of the company to deliver its promise on the later.

2- If you have positive proof that there is another traveler paying less for the exact same flight and Orbitz still does not pay you, what options do you have?
- Call customer service: have you tried to talk to customer service in India? good luck! They will make you even more frustrated!
- Sue them? it's not worth it.

Just got off the phone with a second customer service rep in a week. ### Scammers White collar crooks ! I am surprised that they are still able to conduct business here in the US.

I booked 3 tickets for over $1100 with them even though I was getting it cheaper else where bcoz of the price assurance. Later our aunt decides to join us for the trip and her daughter books the same flight for around $250, so the difference Orbitz owes me is well over $100 per ticket, but the lying SOG Orbitz tracker still says that I have the lowest price. First time I called, they asked me to give 48 hours, I said fine, I will give you a week, 2 weeks later, still the same. Today, I was told that she is going to write to the back office folks as to why the lowest price has not been reflected yet.

This one, I have all the proof, screen-shots, videos, printouts, their Price Assurance policy, everything and am willing to take it all the way. First I will complete the flight, then dispute the entire CC charge with Amex and send them the entire information. I will make sure that not only I get the price difference which is by all means mine but I also get reimbursed for all the pain and anxiety caused by their criminal intent.

I booked 5 tickets from San Fran to Istanbul for $1578.89 each thinking Orbiz would refund the difference if the price is lower. The website has a logo that just says "Price Assurance: Get our lowest fare or an automatic refund". I did not research about it. Now the exact same ticket is $1304.69 or $274.20 less. Once I found out the same ticket cost less, I also found out the major restriction: another Orbitz customer must buy the exact same ticket for less. I am now very skeptical that I would ever receive any refund. I do admit that I have nothing to prove that there is an Orbit customer buying the exact same ticket for less. With all the scandalls about companies stealing people's money now a day, e.g. Madoff, think about it, why would any companies would want to refund me $1250 ($250/per ticket)? They probably give examples that they refund mostly $5-10 and occassionally $200. I would speculate that this is mostly a marketing ploy.

I made reservations for 2 day stay in Canton Ohio thru Orbitz when I arrived I payed for the room got into the room and had to leave for an appointment when I got back I noticed there was no alarm clock or telephone in the room ...all other hotels I have stayed at have both also there was flys fling around in the room ….after I got home and checked my checking account they had charged me another 8.99 on my card over the quoted price I contacted Orbitz and was told the manager for the Hotel would not be available til after 7pm that night and I needed to call back after 7 pm …...never heard of a manager not on location til 7 pmm at night NOMORE ORBITZ for me and no more roadway inn in North canton Ohio a dump

I purchased an International ticket from Orbitz.com and was charged with $75.00 insurance Policy.

I guess one of the small checkboxes "Need Insurance" was enabled by default. This is to charge the customer with an additional policy. Also this policy does not appear in the Travel Summary. So it is unnoticed.

This is a new scam and everyone should double check their ticket after purchase.

This policy is from Access America (supposedly partner of Orbitz) and Access America does not easily cancel that Policy.

In March, 2009 a booking of the hotel “The Palm hotel and SPA” in Miami (3025 Miami Beach, FL, 33140, phone [protected], fax [protected]) was made. The booking was made through the web-site www. orbitz.com . The hotel was in a five - star category at the “Orbitz” web-site. The booking required a full advance pre-paymemt which was made in amount of 1939, 87 immediately upon booking. The check-in time indicated in the interneiary was Sat, May 8, 2010, 16.00. It was written in interniary that there should be an “Oceanfront” room provided. The “Orbitz” charges its customers for the booking service provided.
On 9th of May, 2010 (12.30 am approximately) me and my wife Ekaterina arrived to the hotel at the front desk. The receptionist Mrs. Cheryl Hueston, a very nice person, has informed us that unfortunately they don’t have the Oceanfront room available and that she can only offer us a city-view room.

Additional details.
The vacation was a long-before planned honeymoon. The wedding party took place on 24th of April. So all the details were very important for me and for my wife as well. During the conversations with Mrs. Cheryl (again I want to stress that she was very nice to us) we have found out that their hotel have received a fax message from “Orbitz” where it was a request for reservation for “standart-standart-oceanfront” (it goes that way exactly in the fax message) room. As far as we were informed by Mrs. Cheryl the hotel basing on this information reserved a standard room for us and had sent the confirmation for the reservation of the standard room back to “Orbitz. Also when I asked for the fax with this confirmation I’ve noted that in this paper there is a sign “Do not disclose the base rate to the customer!” From which I made a conslusion that “Orbitz” is also being paid by the hotels on its list. Also I should make a notice that “Orbitz: has a “lowest’-price guarantee” policy which in my undestanding implies that there are no price for the room cheaper than they offer.

Further develoment.
Immediately as we have found out that Mrs. Hueston was not able to solve the problem because their hotel had no oceanfront rooms available at all, we’ve started calling the “Orbitz” call-center to solve the problem. Mrs. Cheryl has cleary explained to the person at the call center that there is no possibility to give us the oceanfront room. Later during the converstion we have found out that the closest date when we can possibly have the oceanfront room would be not earlier than on Tuesday and the room with a king-size bed (which was a condition mentioned during the booking) would be available not earlier that on Thursday. It took the person in the call-center about 1, 5 hours to finally find the following solution: they can “transfer” us to the different hotel for which we would have to pay by orselves and later on they would refund the amount charged for “The Palm hotel and SPA” back to my card. Here I need to mention that it took me about 10 minutes to find out the hotel with available rooms and that surely there was absolutely no problems to refund the trip back. So that this solution was so obvius and easy that I doubt why it took them 1, 5 hours to find it. The other option was to stay at the hotel in a non-oceanfront room and get a difference in price for the rooms refunded. I’ve insisted that I was purchasing exactly what I wanted from the. And in case they are not able to deliver the service that they have promised it is up to them to pay the difference (if there is any) in the price of the hotels. Because it is not my fault. By the time we came to this two options it was already about 3 am in the morning. I’ve asked the person at the cll center to connect me to one of her superiors. It took some other 15 minutes and finally I was talking to some Mrs. Luna (she refused to tell me her last name referring to the company’s policy). The conclusion from our 30-minutes conversation with her was that it is either my fault or the fault of the hotel but in any case it’s between us and them - Orbitz is not liable for anything even though the Orbitz was the one to sell the trip. Then finally we left it as it is and went to the other hotel.

On 11th of May, 2010 I've once again talked to the Orbitz customer support line. They have transferred me to the manager (even though I wasn't asking for) and she assured me that they would refund my purchase on their web-site fully.

Consequences. Economic or physical damage that resulted.
Direct expenses - I've had to pay for the taxi, and pay for the other hotel (surly about 1/3 more of the price because it was not an advance booking).
Moral damages - the first two days of the honeymoon honeymoon were totally ruined because of this story and of the necessity to find another accomodation.

My opinion.
(1) Orbitz is a company which lies on purpose to its clients presenting “The Palm hotel and SPA” as a five-star even though the workers of the hotel clearly defines it as a four-star facility.
(2) Orbitz is a company which acts like a travel agent charging for its services the clients and, probably, getting a kick-back comissions from the hotels. So Orbitz does not simly work as an information board.
(3) As soon as the Orbitz is a travel agent it should be liable for its actions ant it is up to this company to settle all the issues of the trip.
(4) Quality of the Orbitz services is very poor.
(5) The Orbitz (or at least its representatives) does not beleive that their company is liable for anything at all.

Questions to the lawer.
(1) Is there any kind of legislation that protects the righst of the consumers in US? Can this legislation be applied to the aforementioned case?
(2) Is the Orbiz a travel agent or simply an information board under the local legislation? If the Orbitz charges for its services does it make this company obliged to deliver the services?
(3) Is it possible to get the Orbitz bay the unexpected expenses which happed because of its default to provide the services?
(4) Is it possible to claim damages from Orbitz? What can be an approximate amount in such a case?

This is quite simple. I am not an IT expert but it seems my IP, any IP gets recorded on any original queue when plugged in @ Orbitz.com.
Big deal? well..it is for me, 'cause as I refresh my page or visit another site to compare my original quote ..what happens? The rate is not longer available, seats are all gone and .. BINGO! RATE'S INCREASED 150, 200 OR EVEN 300 $ !This may take less than a minute, at most.
This is ridiculous. This is plain playing and trying to steal from innocent people who believe on the convenience of this crap online agency's promotions and added value.
I am so sorry for those who "believe" this last minute deal is not longer available..in a matter or seconds!
PLEASE, STAY AWAY FROM THIS SITE.
PLEASE, SOMEONE WITH ENOUGH POWER DO SOMETHING HERE AND EXECUTE WHATEVER MAY BE NEEDED TO PROTECT HONEST CONSUMERS

I tried booking a vacation package that was showing under 1200$ but when you went to book for it, the price almost tripled.
I tried booking this package a few times.
The first time I was told that they were selling out fast due to the holidays
A week later when I saw the prices were still low, but the same thing happened.
I was told that the hotel was updating their prices and thats why it was fluctuating. However, the 3 hotels that I chose were all doing the same thing.
Orbitz is a scam, as they are still shoing the low price for that hotel

The same happened to me for 92$ for a policy made by accessamerica which is related to Orbitz. This is a pure fraud. I noticed only after 2 days, cancelled the policy and got my money back. However I guess that many people are not even aware that they were charged.
I have to say that the price 92$ for 5 days sounds realy expensive for travel insurance.

The scenario laid out here is EXACTLY what we have experienced! When we landed in canada to catch out connecting flight, we were told that even though we had paid, there were no seats for us. And now we have finally made it to Europe for vacation, our son has had to have emergency surgery for his appendix and will not be released until a day after our scheduled departure. Therefore we need to change our flight to depart several days later. We have been in connect with the Orbtiz call center (full of very unhelpful Indians), who insist that the problem lay with the airlines and not orbitz itself. The airlines assure us that if they were allowed access to our flight details they would be more than happy to change it, BUT ORBITZ WILL NOT LET THE INDPENDENT AIRLINES CHANGE OUR TICKETS TO A LATER DATE AND ORBITZ REFUSE TO CHANGE THEM ASWELL. The phone bill from my hotel (for 5 hours on the phone, running in circles will cost me a mini fortune) and has achieved nothing. Very poor show Orbitz. Sincerely, A very disgrunteled customer.

Never will I ever use Orbitz again! This service was so poor and was NOT worth the money that was spent. I took a flight from Chicago to San Diego, CA on Delta Airlines. Orbitz assured us in writing that there were no fee for baggage check because we used their services of course DELTA airlines disagreed and we were charged. Although the airplane was not full our seats were the last seats in the back of the airplane next to the bathroom that smelled awful. Orbitz first instructed us that our flight would be non-stop but upon retrieving our tickets at the airport we were told that there was a stop from Chicago to Detroit Michigan with a 3 hour lay-over and from Detroit we would fly to San Diego, Ca. Same thing coming back, a 3 hour layover for a trip that only takes 4to 5 hours actually took almost 10 hours! Orbitz is a complete rip-off and I have contacted the better business bureau and the U.S. Government because the only way Orbitz will cease their unscrupulous behavior is if they are constantly reported as well as consumer awareness. I will definitely spread the word about Orbitz and had I known this company was from mafia and money driven apes that comprise 99.9% of Chicago I would have NEVER utilized their non services in the first place! Consumers in the U.S. and overseas will be forewarned! Thanks for this site!

A friend has experienced same problems with Or[censored]... Orbitz! This company is Mafia Pure and should be closed by government! They realy sell tickets on flights that do not exist. For example: Costa Rica via Mexiko to Toronto: Schedule from Orbitz: San Jose 8:00 A.M. - Mexiko arriving 10:45, conection flight from Mexiko to Toronto leaving 8:30 A.M. same day, 2 hours before you arrive there! They say that Mexicana has changed flights, which is 100% not true! Orbitz Call center are trained to keep customers for hours in line and telling them ###! Thank you to Mexicana Airport Managers, that finaly could help my friend with changing flights and upgrading to first class, to compensate ORBITZ trouble for passenger!

DO NEVER BUY AIRLINE TICKETS FROM ORBITZ - ITS 100% proofed a criminal company! Airlines should stop all business with this MAFIA in Chikago! STOP CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES FROM ORBITZ NOW! YES WE CAN!

Orbitz is a Very Unreliable Company! Beware if you decide that Orbitz.com would be a good place to purchase airline tickets. They are nothing but a scam. They purchase large quantities of tickets from airlines, then set their price. They will intentionally consumers.
My parents needed a flight booked so I found Orbitz website. I booked a round-trip flight for them to leave Tampa (TPA) and arrive in Detroit (DTW). The price was very decent($258.38) total for both to fly round-trip. After paying by Credit Card & hitting submit, I left the sight. A couple of hours later I finally checked my E-Mail for the itinerary info, it was all there, but instead of it being a flight leaving from Tampa (TPA) it now said that it was leaving from Orlando International Airport. Luckily I caught this and I was able to cancel the entire transaction. My Mother called the Customer Service line and after 2 hours of being switched from person to person she was unable to get a straight answer of how that could happen. Finally 1 person said that I must of hit nearby city and thats how it was switched. I know for a fact that I never did that and that Orbitz's just is passing the blame of their own incompetence. So PLEASE be very skeptical if you decide to deal with this company...

I personally don't know why anyone would use Orbitz for a flight. The rates are the same as airline, but cancellation fees are much higher. My one experience with Orbitz was bad and I will not use them again.

In October 2012, I booked a trip to Los Cabos, Mexico, on Delta through Orbitz and months later the same trip was more than $300 dollars less on their own website. I quickly contacted them to get their "PRICE ASSURANCE GUARANTEE".
Well, even though all the information was not on their website regarding the price assurance, when they responded they said that in order to get reimbursed for the difference the trip had to: 1) be purchased by someone else through them, 2) for the same number of people, 3) in the same airline, 4) on the same day, 5) at the same time, 6) on the same flight. WHAT A SCAM! Price guarantees generally require proof that the same flight is available cheaper. They had the same exact trip advertised for $300+ dollars less but now someone had to buy a ticket through them to make their guarantee good.
Their customer service is useless! They only repeated their policy in their responses without any intention to achieve a fair and reasonable resolution or customer satisfaction. LESSON LEARNED! NEVER AGAIN!

I lost $2089.68 to Orbitz who denied a transaction was completed so, I booked another ticket with them to same location and dates. I was Billed for Both Tickets. Orbitz Response to BBB Complaint They Agree that a REFUND Is DUE yet unable to complete; They just blame the airline

After 5 hours on the phone I filed the following complaints:
Emirates NY Ref : NYC/X/SC/260613/686131 FAX +[protected]
Orbitz LocatorAP110101ODJYSA0D BBB Complaint Case # [protected]
Emirates Ticket# [protected] BBB Complaint 9546287
US Dept of Transportation Case # KC2013050065

Orbits first response to my complaint was 72 days later.

6-months later yep, refund due yet no indication it is forthcoming.

The unexpected theft of $2089. has devastated my family.

Chicago mobster business practices.

BEWARE ORBITZ Orbits RIPOFF NEVER ORBITZ

Hi, No More Scam,
This is Robert, and I am part of the Orbitz Customer Relations team. I am sorry for the confusion that his has caused. Please forward the Orbitz Record Locator to us at socialnetwork@orbitz.com. Please use my name in the subject line, so that I can investigate further.
Thank you for your patience, I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Robert Woyach
Orbitz Customer Relations

Hi Paglue,
My name is Lynne, and I am part of the Orbitz Customer Relations Team. The Orbitz Price Assurance program offers a rebate check only if the exact same itinerary (dates, airline, flight numbers, etc.) is later booked on Orbitz.com for a lower price. The full rules, terms and conditions are available online. It’s not just the price dropping; the lower priced itinerary has to actually be booked by another Orbitz customer in order to receive any refund.
I’ll be happy to look into this further for you. Just send an email to socialnetwork@orbitz.com . Enter my name in the subject line and include your Orbitz confirmation number. We’ll review your account. Thanks for reaching out. I look forward to hearing back from you.
Sincerely,
Lynne
Orbitz Customer Relation

I booked a flight on Feb 7 2012 for travel June 22 2012 Vancouver to San Francisco for 2 people at $288 each
I tracked this Orbitz fare almost daily and there were reduced fares Feb 21 for $261, and then on March 8 for $244.
Seat availability decreased on those dates, indicating that others booked at the lower fares.
I captured the screens with the lower prices to create an electronic paper trail.Despite this evidence, Orbitz says...no price assurance refund! This looks fishy...

Never book with the sham online booking agencies. Only fly with Southwest and you can rebook for no additional charges when they drop their fare prices on your route.

Wow I'm on the phone now waiting... Lets all contact the BBB.org. This business needs to be reported! They changed our flights 4 times and no refund and this was when gas prices and flight prices were dropping last spring so I know they are scam artist.

Char from Buffalo

Booked our March trip last week with Orbitz. We had been watching flight prices on Kayak and our bank account. Prices went up some and stayed there for awhile. We got nervous with all the high fuel prices and pulled the trigger. We used Orbitz because of the price assurance.

A few days later we get a notice that the airline has changed 1 leg of our trip's flight number. No big deal. We check and it is the same type plane and our seat reservations were the same. No problems. Then we get an alert from Kayak that prices have dropped about $50 a person. We check with Orbitz to see if price assurance has kicked in. Nope. Since the flight numbers didn't match our original reservation we don't get flight assurance.

Hmm. Wasn't that flight number change convenient?

Here's a good tip:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/online-travel-booking-bidding-agencies/1047057-i-took-orbitz-small-claims-court-won-heres-how.html

orbitz suxxxxxxxxxxxx!

they are not a travel agency, they charged my credit card and didn't have the room, 7 hours on phone with various types of agents and managers, money tied up for at least three days trip ruined, no room, no help, no travel agency, somebody needs to kick that nerd's butt the next time he flys down with that hoover craft passing out rubber checks

I agree. I will not be using Orbitz.com again. We received a change to our itinerary one week prior to our international travel date and were told that we would now be waiting 6.3 hours for our connecting flight home. We called Orbitz, waited 2 hours to hear that there is nothing they can do. We purchased our tickets 6 months in advance because we have an infant and toddler. We explained that this change would place us in a difficult situation and all that the Orbitz supervisor said was that they are sorry but they could not accommodate us on another flight.

Now, if a 3rd party called in, and claimed to be you, then cancelled your flights without your permission, you'd have been the first to scream, , , , "Where is the security?" You should be happy they protect your privacy, and check you My Account tab on the website to find out what zip code YOU put on the account, instead of blaming everyone else!

Its the illusion of value because they cover VERY LITTLE. I had a passport issue and had to cancel my flight. It falls under this extensive list of 90% of ### that actually happens to people they will not cover.

Its my own fault but buyer beware.

Hi Emily,
Access America's Help Team here. It sounds like you've had a frustrating time, and I'm sorry to hear about your experience.

While I don’t yet know all the specifics of your case, it does sound like the change in your travel plans was related to a medical condition that you were having symptoms of, and being treated for, before you purchased the insurance.

Like any type of insurance, there are terms, conditions, and limitations that impact coverage. Coverage for existing medical conditions is excluded from many of our travel insurance policies. We provide a list of covered reasons for trip cancellation and interruption in the policy, as well as a list of general and specific exclusions which we strongly encourage all customers to review when they receive it. And we offer a 10-day free look, with the opportunity to cancel the policy at no cost if it doesn't meet your needs. Please see our FAQs: http://bit.ly/b4T45T, or email us at helpteam@accessamerica.com if you’d like us to look into your case.

Access America biggest SCAM ever.

Told me they will not refund me my 800 dollar flight cost. because get this... a clogged ear is a pre existing condition for a brain tumor. I had brain surgery, and because my first appointment with the ENT for a clogged ear was 120 days before my flight departure it voids my policy. So now, not only am I laid up on disability, 2 disappointed children, I lose 800 dollars on a limited income. Who could possibly fly with 2 children to disney after brain surgery. ***DO NOT DEAL WITH ACCESS AMERICA****

Yet another sucker for Access America. I purchased an international flight round trip ticket through Orbitz and did purchase the insurance just in case anything happen. Well things happen and had to cancel my flight for a valid reason stated in the policy they sent me. Access America recently sent me a letter stating my claim was denied and said the exclusion to the policy state as such. I told them I never got any exlcusions to the policy. The rep basically send you're screwed and you won't be able to get your $1700.00 ticket refund back. I swear, from this day fourth, I will never use Orbitz, or Access America again. They are bunch of criminals doing business in a shady way making money. If they come your way...run! Total scam business.

This was my first time using Orbitz and I was caught by the insurance scam as well. They automatically ordered the Insurance for me on my credit card, claiming that I knowingly selected it. There is no invoice for that insurance, no receipt, nothing that Orbitz will send you about that insurance. It just showed up on my credit card. When I called to find out about it, they said that it was over 10 days and will not refund the money. I have not taken the trip yet and they still won't refund the money. They don't care if there is no proof of purchase, they said that it is our responsibility to cancel the insurance the minute we see it charged.
Isn't it illegal to charge a credit card without proof of purchase? They claim that they have sent out emails, informing me that I bought insurance . . . but that is not proof of purchase.
If anyone is taking a class action against such business, I will be interested. I do not think this is right business practice.

I cancelled a flight booked with Orbitz when I realized I was being billed for insurance unless I deselected the insurance coverage button. Weirdly, although Orbitz cancelled the flight the insurance was not cancelled, and by the time I discovered this the 10 days from their seemingly redundant confirmation email had passed, so I couldn't cancel.

So in order not to get stuck paying for coverage you never intended to buy you have to notice several things:

1. That it has been charged to you whether you wanted it or not.
2. That is has not been cancelled even though you cancelled the original flight
3. That you have no more than ten days to cancel it yourself.

Caveat Emptor, certainly, but why would a company make it so hard for customers to realize that they will have to pay for insurance they do not know they are buying? Wouldn't customers treated this way think this is very very close to a scam?

My mother-in-law had been diagnosed with lung cancer in May 2009, with a dire prognosis of only 6-9 months to live. She'd been doing pretty well, any medical concerns she'd had were unrelated to that disease but due to issues with her diabetes. We had the need to purchase a flight and thought "just to be sure" we ought to cover ourselves with the trip cancellation insurance offered through Orbitz and provided by Access America. The flight was relatively inexpensive ($138), with the cost of insurance a little over 10% of that @ $15. This seemed like a reasonable ratio given the situation.

We did receive the policy, and I have to confess I did not read it thoroughly (thus the warning here to save others from this issue.) In any regard, several days days after I bought the plane ticket, my mother-in-law came down with pneumonia. Within 48 hours she was admitted to hospice care and passed away.
I submitted the claim, assuming that it would be covered since at the time of purchase we were of the mind that we were very likely looking at another 2-5 months. The claim was denied based on the fact that this was a pre-existing condition.

I understand that it was my responsibility to fully read the policy. The agent I spoke with explained that the reason the cost of the plan was so affordable (10%+) was to cover events like getting hit by a bus, sudden on-set illnesses, etc. I happen to disagree that this is affordable in relation to the odds associated with completely unknown instances. I am not likely to assume I have a 1 in 10 chance of getting hit by a bus, etc; to me, the relative cost is exorbitant given the odds that something completely unforeseen and unavoidable would happen. I will not make the mistake of purchasing the insurance again!

We each need to make up our own minds as to what makes sense to us, I just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of the potential nuance to this type of policy.

Yes, same story as above. IF YOU DON'T CANCEL AFTER 10 DAYS OF RECEIVING THE EMAIL NOTIFICATION YOU CAN NOT CANCEL WITHOUT DISPUTING THE CREDIT CARD CLAIM OR SUBMITTING A REQUEST TO SALES. I HAVEN'T SUBMITTED MY REQUEST YET, BUT I WILL KEEP THIS WEBSITE INFORMED OF MY PROGRESS!

THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE...BEWARE OF ORBITZ AND THEIR BUSINESS POLICIES!

I too was very sure I had unselected the prechecked insurance option from Access America on Orbitz and then found the $154.00 charge on my credit card after returning from our trip. Needless to say they were not helpful.

Actually, the terms and conditions for each policy is available BEFOFRE you purchase the policy, on the website it is being offered from. It is your job, as the purchaser, to view what you are buying BEFORE you buy it. If you choose to purchase a policy before reading the terms and conditions, you are the only one to blame for the lack of knowledge regarding the insurance. If you have questions regarding your policy, they are opened 24/7 so you can call to get any clarification needed. Why would you ever buy something before knowing what you are purchasing? Does that sound smart to you?