Travel-booking site Orbitz has what they call a Low Fare Promise: if you find a cheaper posted fare for the same flight that costs at least $5 less than what you just paid at Orbitz, they’ll give you a $50 coupon for a future trip. Ryan did exactly that: he found a cheaper fare on the airline’s website after booking through Orbitz, so he surfed back to their site to claim his coupon. Only he couldn’t figure out how. The first customer service person he spoke to at Orbitz had no idea, either.

Yeah, yeah, right now you’re opening a new tab and typing “orbitz low fare promise flights” in Google. I tried that, too. And so did Ryan. “I spent a lot of time with them trying to find the form for the low fare promise, but they can’t even find it,” he told us in a follow-up e-mail.

He writes:

I purchased airfare through Orbitz.com and found a lower fare through the airline itself. This qualifies for what is known as the Orbitz “Low Fare Promise.” To qualify for this, if one finds a fare online for the same airline and flight(s) that costs at least $5 less than what was paid on Orbitz, they will give customers a coupon for $50 for future travel. The Orbitz websites indicates that a claim form has a be filled out on their website by midnight of the day of the booking in order to receive the $50 coupon.

The $50 coupon is not on their website. I have contacted Orbitz via Facebook, Twitter, and telephone customer service. The first time I spoke with a gentleman who was unable to provide any information nor the specifics as to how to receive the coupon. The second time I called in to their customer service, a woman indicated that instead of a form, I have to email Orbitz with a screenshot of the lower airfare. This is not indicated anywhere on their website and one would only find this out after contacting customer service.

That is frustrating. It sounds like Ryan will be able to submit his request, but will he get his coupon? Do most people just give up before this point, anyway?

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