Sean booked a flight on United Airlines, US Airways, but had found the flight through travel übersearch site Kayak. He learned the hard way that there may be an occasional bug in the system: he says that even though he did everything correctly, his flight was booked on the wrong day. He learned the hard way that when this happens, you’d better notice quickly: there’s only a 24-hour window to call about the error before the airline will just keep your money forever. They’re called “non-refundable” tickets for a reason, after all. [More]
airline error not in your favor
Flight Somehow Booked For The Wrong Day? Call To Fix It Right Now
By 8.13.12
United/Continental Systems Merger Makes Flight Reservations Magically Disappear
By 4.11.12
To be honest, I have to start this post by blaming Ryan and his wife. I don’t know what they were thinking. They assumed that just because they booked their round-trip tickets to and from Cancun two months ahead of their vacation and had an itinerary and confirmation numbers, they had an actual reservation. Maybe they did at one point. But between February and April, Continental and United combined their computer systems as part of their Air Voltron merger. Reservations mysteriously disappeared from the system, including theirs. And that’s how Ryan and the pregnant Mrs. Ryan ended flying coach from Cancun and stuck in Houston instead of flying first-class all the way home to Detroit. [More]
When An Airline Says 'It's Not A Problem,' It Will Be A Problem
By 7.20.11
Perhaps Simon should have known better than to trust an employee of U.S. Airways. He changed his travel plans, canceling the outbound portion of a round-trip ticket. The person he spoke with on the phone assured him that his original flight home would be just fine. This employee was either misinformed or out to make Simon’s life miserable. Either way, his flight home was canceled, and he had to book a more expensive one-way flight that his employer won’t pay for. [More]
AirTran Forgets To Tell Your Disabled Mom That Her Tickets Are Standby
By 10.27.10
Kym’s disabled mother was going to move in with her a few weeks ago. She purchased tickets for her mother and four nieces to fly to Kym’s city from a major hub airport about two hours away from their town. Instead of getting on their flight, the family ended up stuck in the airport for six hours, then had to hire a car service to drive them back home. What happened? Garden-variety airline delay? No, Kym writes: AAA sold her sister standby tickets without letting her know. The stress of the experience has affected Kym’s mother so much that she still hasn’t been able to make the flight. [More]
I Don't Care Who Screwed Up My Flight Plans, I Just Want My Money Back
By 9.16.10
Rick writes that he booked flights for a family trip using Expedia. Due to an apparent mistake at Delta Airlines, his ticket and his wife’s were canceled out from under them for the first leg of their trip, but their daughter’s wasn’t. Rick has been pursuing a refund for the last-minute tickets he had to buy, but no one seems to know who should be issuing that refund. [More]
