Six months in advance, I booked a December flight from Seattle to Phoenix for $400. One month later, I had to change that flight to go to Atlanta instead.
I did a lot of searching, date, and price calcuation on Expedia's site— making sure to keep the flights on the same airline as I already knew of their horrid "no cancellations, only credit on the airline you originally booked" policy. I had the American Airlines flight numbers I wanted in hand when I made a mid-afternoon call to Expedia to change the flight.
The agent told me of the $75 change fee, and then when I read him the flight numbers, he said that he couldn't find them. I told him that I was looking at them right now on my screen and that I'd just pulled them up in Expedia's search engine. He said that the airlines' listings are often "old and haven't updated yet" and then "found" some flights for me that were several hours longer and about a hundred bucks more expensive. I declined and said I'd call back the next day in the hope of more accurate booking prices.
The next day, I did the process all over again— except that day, ALL airline prices had gone up by at least $100! So I figured I had to change the flight now or never, called back with my flight numbers, and got exactly the same spiel. After about 20 minutes of him supposedly looking for flights, the Expedia agent says that he's found a flight to Atlanta for "Only $250 total, including the rebooking fee." I, obviously pleased because that meant that I'd get a little bit of money back since I was booking a cheaper flight, told him that sounded great, booked it, and then got my email confirmation a few moments later... Only to see that they'd charged me $250 on TOP of the $400 I'd already paid for the previous ticket.
So now Expedia and American Airlines got $650 from me for an off-season domestic ticket booked nearly five months in advance, and furthermore a purchase that I definitely did not and would not have authorized while I was looking at the same ticket advertised for $250 on their website!
I called back multiple times and spoke to multiple agents, explaining the situation, but got zero help— was only asked, insultingly enough, if I'd like to change the flight again for another $75 fee.
Do NOT use Expedia if you can possibly help it! They don't care about their customers at all and will take you for all you're worth!
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