Arrived at airport, informed we had no ticket to Colombia!

[2017ish]

It looks like this will have a satisfactory ending, but a wild ride. Don't know if it will be helpful to anyone else, but at least you'll get a laugh!

We booked Jan/Feb round trip on American via Chase Travel Portal last November. Changed the flights in early December to come back a couple days earlier, from a different city. In the leadup to the flight, we received the usual emails from American about international travel, received seat upgrades, and were invited to check in online (which we couldn't do, but that has been normal for covid era international travel).

Arrived at airport 0430, went up to the counter (luckily, DW gets us priority, as the lines were otherwise long), and were told that we had no ticket! Talked to the agent, saying that we had upgraded seat assignments given to us the day before, and that American had been emailing us about this trip. Apparently, that is a different computer system, and the one that counts didn't have us listed. To the American agent, this clearly was a travel agent error!

Called Chase travel (the one bad thing about booking through a portal rather than directly with airlines is having to jump through extra hoops when things go sideways). Luckily, got a quick answer--but not the answer we wanted. "My system shows you are booked, and since the flight is soon, I can't mess with it. In any event, this is the airline's fault."

Back to the counter (at this point, we are really really glad about DW's priority status, as the main line was out the door). There are tickets remaining for Nashville-Miami-Medellin, but yikes! $1000 for each ticket--so the two combined are double what the original round trip cost. Bite the bullet and buy, only to discover that the ticketing counter software isn't integrated well with TSA precheck list, and AA's own frequent flier program. So he has to run everything 3 times to get us accurate ticketing/boarding documents....

Rush through airport, get to gate 5 minutes before boarding; a jewel of a gate agent managed to get us into the seats that we thought we had been upgraded to, and we made it to Medellin as scheduled.

Submitted complaint/inquiry to Chase travel that very day (Jan 20). On Jan. 23, they emailed saying they had accidentally cancelled the outgoing flight when making the return change and said they'd make it right. Per their request, I immediately submitted documentation for reimbursement--but as of today, hadn't heard anything else, until I called and prodded a bit....

Glad we had the ability to bite the bullet on this, but would be a vacation breaker for many--and there was no reasonable way for us to know the issue until we showed up at the airport. (A little silver lining--I put the "new" tickets on the credit card that we were trying to run up for SWA companion pass, and it enabled us to ring the bell a month earlier!)

 

[MichaelB]

You were quite calm about a situation that could have pushed many over the edge. Great that it’s worked out well.

 

[skyking1]

We had a real travel nightmare on my senior Spanish club trip to Guadalajara.
Our travel agency failed to confirm our tickets, this was back in the 70's and that was a required step.
We got boarded in Seattle to LAX OK, but the next leg was on Mexicana, and while we were airborne United Airlines went on strike.
No confirmed seats on Mexicana, and no block of seats to get back to Seattle either. The teacher was almost alone on this trip with 17 minors, a mistake he never repeated again.
We dinked around LA for 3 days getting a flight back home. Disneyland, things like that.
Travel agency paid up with little prodding, but spring break was shot.
The next year I was invited to go along as one of those needed chaperones, but that is another story

 

[CaptTom]

Had a bad experience with a travel agent once, even before on-line booking. That was enough. From then on I've always called the airline directly, or (when it became available) went to the airline web site to book.

 

[street]

Glad all worked out. I hate getting blindsided, but I give you a lot of credit for hanging in there.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Had a bad experience with a travel agent once, even before on-line booking. That was enough. From then on I've always called the airline directly, or (when it became available) went to the airline web site to book.

Yep, I've heard too many horror stories about middlemen, I will generally try to book airfare and hotels directly instead.

 

[NW-Bound]

Oh man, the above problem would have given me a high BP episode that would be detrimental to my health.

Hope you will get reimbursed without further hassle.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Yep, I've heard too many horror stories about middlemen, I will generally try to book airfare and hotels directly instead.

+1. I don't see that there is often significant savings using a third party, but they often come with issues. My DW was stranded in DFW not too long ago and her "reservation" at a hotel through a 3rd party wasn't acknowledged by the hotel and was left high and dry. It took nearly 2 months to get the money back from the third party. Never again.

 

[braumeister]

+1. I don't see that there is often significant savings using a third party, but they often come with issues.

Oh, the savings can for sure be significant. But I've been left high and dry by both Expedia and Priceline in the past, and I've given up entirely on using third parties. I much prefer to pay the price and book directly with hotels and airlines. I'm just too old to deal with the potential hassles anymore.

 

[NW-Bound]

+1. I don't see that there is often significant savings using a third party, but they often come with issues. My DW was stranded in DFW not too long ago and her "reservation" at a hotel through a 3rd party wasn't acknowledged by the hotel and was left high and dry. It took nearly 2 months to get the money back from the third party. Never again.

Oh, the savings can for sure be significant. But I've been left high and dry by both Expedia and Priceline in the past, and I've given up entirely on using third parties. I much prefer to pay the price and book directly with hotels and airlines. I'm just too old to deal with the potential hassles anymore.

Yikes! We have been lucky so far, I guess. But y'all scare me now.

 

[CoolRich59]

… I've given up entirely on using third parties. I much prefer to pay the price and book directly with hotels and airlines. I'm just too old to deal with the potential hassles anymore.

Same here. I haven’t had any issues with flights, but have had a number of issues with hotels booked through third party sites.

Last year, we had an issue with a booking at a hotel in Nashville. The manager was very helpful straightening it out. While I was talking to her, she also recommended just booking directly with the hotel. Now, unless I find a great deal with no fine print or strings attached, I do that and haven’t had any issues since that night in Nashville.

 

[athena53]

I've also run into issues with third-party bookings and try to avoid them unless there's a compelling reason not to- I once got a $300-lower transatlantic Business Class fare from Orbitz than form the airline. I understand that you get a break on the cost booking through Chase and I'm glad they owned up to their mistake.

Agreed on the Priority status. Between my frequent business travel before I retired and my purchasing Business Class on long-hauls, it makes a big difference when things go wrong. DH and I once missed a connection in LHR because our flight had arrived there late and BA and AA kept bouncing us back and forth, each insisting the other would re-book us. I finally asked if we could get it straightened out in the lounge. Yes, we could. I can't remember if it was AA or BA but the person at the desk worked magic. It might almost be worth it to buy a day pass so you can bypass long lines and get real help.

 

[Bamaman]

We bought tickets to Europe through Ovago.com, but our flights were cancelled by the airline due to the new pandemic. I had to go directly to the airlines to get a cash refund--per U.S. government regulations. Ovago had our money for 7 months and wouldn't refund us. We finally had to pay a "service fee" to those crooks. Capital One couldn't charge back Ovago, however they credited my card $100 to go against their "service fee." We were not out much, but I had many sleepless nights trying to get our money.

The moral of the story is to research airfares online, but purchase flights directly from airlines--and not middlemen. And keep printed copies of every communication received.

 

[audreyh1]

No travel agents! (or other third party booking services)

Except for maybe Costco Travel, but I have just used them to reserve my rental car and then double check my reservation directly with the selected car company.

 

[Jerry1]

Glad it worked out for you. I had a similar situation happen to me though a lot less was on the line. I was traveling for work and was going to “C”. I wanted to go to see my dad so I got a ticket from A to B and then to C and back home to A. This was back in the day when there were paper tickets. All went well, but when the week was over and I went to the gate, there was no ticket from C to A (back home). Apparently, it got stuck with one of the other tickets. Whatever, it just wasn’t there. I had to run to get a ticket and run back to catch the flight. It sucked, but I was going home, I’d been gone long enough. The airline finally traced the ticket, basically confirmed it was never used and gave me a refund. I can’t imagine going through that on a leg of a vacation.

 

[athena53]

This was back in the day when there were paper tickets. All went well, but when the week was over and I went to the gate, there was no ticket from C to A (back home). Apparently, it got stuck with one of the other tickets. Whatever, it just wasn’t there.

Ah, I remember those days. Dad, who had done a few years as a road warrior in the 1960s, had two iron-clad rules of flight travel.

1. Every time an employee handles your ticket book, check to make sure it still has all the necessary flight coupons in it.

2. You don't have a confirmed seat till you're sitting in it. (And these days there are exceptions to that, too.)

 

[rodi]

Ah, I remember those days. Dad, who had done a few years as a road warrior in the 1960s, had two iron-clad rules of flight travel.

1. Every time an employee handles your ticket book, check to make sure it still has all the necessary flight coupons in it.

2. You don't have a confirmed seat till you're sitting in it. (And these days there are exceptions to that, too.)

That second one rings true for me. Airline changed what plane they were using on a return trip for me... I was at the gate when they called up 6 passengers (I was one of them). They had a full flight and 6 fewer seats. I had no seat, literally. But they were able to book me later in the day and upgraded me.

 

[2017ish]

No travel agents! (or other third party booking services)

...

Yeah, that's our general rule. We much prefer to do everything directly.

But... to take advantage of the credit card rewards from Chase, we book through their portal when redeeming miles. Not fun when things change, such as an airline cancelling service to an airport we have booked--which has happened a couple of times to us since March 2020. Hopefully, that will happen less frequently going forward.

 

[pacergal]

I generally book direct with airlines and hotel. Used Priceline and expedia once in the past, long ago, but no more.
We do have a local travel agency that we use frequently. They have been around for years (literally-just celebrated their 40th!). I like them for extensive vacations, or when all of my siblings go together, easier to coordinate everyone and we have gotten some great deals that I couldn't find on the hotel or airline websites.

 

[audreyh1]

Yeah, that's our general rule. We much prefer to do everything directly.

But... to take advantage of the credit card rewards from Chase, we book through their portal when redeeming miles. Not fun when things change, such as an airline cancelling service to an airport we have booked--which has happened a couple of times to us since March 2020. Hopefully, that will happen less frequently going forward.

Yeah, I’ve basically avoided credit cards where you have to go through them to book anything to use up your CC rewards.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

Back to the counter (at this point, we are really really glad about DW's priority status, as the main line was out the door). There are tickets remaining for Nashville-Miami-Medellin, but yikes! $1000 for each ticket--so the two combined are double what the original round trip cost.

Needless to say, it's nice having the financial wherewithal to fix the pressing need and then go back to resolve the original core problem later!

Bite the bullet and buy, only to discover that the ticketing counter software isn't integrated well with TSA precheck list, and AA's own frequent flier program. So he has to run everything 3 times to get us accurate ticketing/boarding documents....

Doesn't surprise me. So many legacy megacorps have problems integrating their different systems after years of different divisions working in silos, mergers and acquisitions, etc. And then someone has to come up with a business case where it makes financial sense to justify spending the dollars integrating versus just limping along and taking the odd publicity hit every so often.

It looks like this will have a satisfactory ending, but a wild ride.

Glad it worked out for you!

Oh, the savings can for sure be significant. But I've been left high and dry by both Expedia and Priceline in the past, and I've given up entirely on using third parties. I much prefer to pay the price and book directly with hotels and airlines. I'm just too old to deal with the potential hassles anymore.

+1
Third parties can source discounts by buying in bulk that isn't realistic for an individual consumer.
Companies can use third parties to liquidate their product/service without having to discount direcly and potentially devaluing their brand or fare structure.

During our heavier savings years, we were willing to endure some discomfort a bit and take some risk in order to save a buck. As we reach our numbers and can let off the gas a bit, while we still want to be smart with our money, we're willing to pay a bit more to reduce risk for a better experience. Situation dependent too of course.

 

[foxfirev5]

Never, ever use travel agents, travel.com BS, etc. If you travel enough you will be burned. Due diligence. After all it's now a new century and you can really do it all yourself. DW does it on a daily basis for friends and family. But it's all for no personal gain (other than what we realize we can get for our own bookings). After all the first booking is just a starting point for negotiations - DW. The only way this works is to book direct.

 

[Chuckanut]

I've also run into issues with third-party bookings and try to avoid them unless there's a compelling reason not to- I once got a $300-lower transatlantic Business Class fare from Orbitz than form the airline. I understand that you get a break on the cost booking through Chase and I'm glad they owned up to their mistake.

I recently used a booking service because they had the exact same hotel room for $25 a night less. As it was a an eight day booking, that's a nice chunk of change. However, I was surprised when 3 days before the arrival date the booking agency charged my CC for all 8 nights. It turned out OK, but I wonder what would have happened if I had to leave early for some reason.

My only regular booking I do through an agency is Costco for rental cars because they automatically include a 2nd driver at no extra cost. I also have about 100,000 Chase points I will have to use their portal for to get the best value for my points.

 

[NW-Bound]

Ah, I remember those days. Dad, who had done a few years as a road warrior in the 1960s, had two iron-clad rules of flight travel.

1. Every time an employee handles your ticket book, check to make sure it still has all the necessary flight coupons in it.

2. You don't have a confirmed seat till you're sitting in it. (And these days there are exceptions to that, too.)

True. Even if you have already sat down, they can still drag you off the plane, like this guy who refused to leave his seat on a United flight.

 

[athena53]

I recently used a booking service because they had the exact same hotel room for $25 a night less. As it was a an eight day booking, that's a nice chunk of change. However, I was surprised when 3 days before the arrival date the booking agency charged my CC for all 8 nights. It turned out OK, but I wonder what would have happened if I had to leave early for some reason.

I bet the fine print says you forfeit all of it. My favorite horror story was when I was trying to get out of South America in March, 2020 and thought I could fly home through Quito, Ecuador. Booked an overnight at the airport Marriott through Orbitz because Marriot's web site defaulted to Spanish and I wasn't comfortable trying to navigate it it Spanish. (Yes, I should have calmed down and found the English version.) I was charged immediately.

Ecuador closed its borders. Oops. The hotel cancelled my reservation. Well, that was OK since I couldn't use it. I called Marriott when I got home (via Boliviana from Santa Cruz to Miami- phew!) and got the usual On Hold message... please be patient, COVID, credits may take a few months... I waited 3 months and tried again. Orbitz had never sent them the money so I had to contact Orbitz. I did contact them and I can't remember if they refunded it or I filed a complaint with the credit card company and got the $$ back- but now Orbitz is for research only.