Back in Decemeber 2011 my wife and I booked a trip from the US to Sofia Bulgaria with a week stay-over along the way in Rome.
I made this reservation over the phone with Orbitz and I made very clear to the rep making our travel bookings that we wanted the least amount of connections.
The itinerary had us going from JFK direct to Rome (perfect). But on the next leg of our trip our rep suggested Rome - Frankfurt - Sofia. I asked whether there was anything on any other airline with less connections and was told no, there wasn't. So we booked it.
Today I got notice that an extra connection was added to this leg that took us from Rome - Frankfurt - Vienna - Sofia. Obviously these connections have become more of a serious deal at this point. So I called up Orbitz to see if there was anything else available to get us there more quickly.
Very looooooong wait on hold to get a representative. And a much loooooooonger wait for that rep to see if there were any other available flights.
There answer - no. There isn't. Well, except if you want to take a direct flight on Alitalia from Rome to Sofia.
Me: What? There's a direct flight?
Rep: Yes. There's a direct flight. But it's not on an airline on your original itinerary so it would be considered a voluntary change. $250 per ticket charge.
Me: Why wasn't this flight offered to me when I originally made this reservation? Was it available? Does it sound reasonable that I would have preferred connecting flights with layovers over a direct flight?
Rep:...
At this point I ask to talk to a supervisor. I'm really a bit upset but I'm trying not to be too ticked off. I specifically asked for the best itinerary with the least connections when I made this reservation. And if there was a better flight (direct) I wanted to know why it wasn't offered to me.
When I finally got to a supervisor (I have her name and supervisor ID#), she informed me that I agreed to the itinerary that the travel rep had originally booked me on.
I told her that there appears to have been an available direct flight that the rep neglected to offer to me. And that if it was offered to me I definitely would have taken it.
Her reply over and over again was that I agreed to the itinerary and that was basically that. If I wanted to change my booking I would have to cancel the entire trip and rebook it at current rates - and there may be fees involved in the cancellation.
I've been using Orbitz at least twice a year since 2004 and I've never run into a problem with them before. But I have to say that I found their customer service seriously lacking.
From my point of view the original rep made a serious error in not offering me the best flight (direct) that was available, and instead booked us on a inferior connection with another airline. I really don't understand that.
And instead of admitting that an error was made, the supervisor implied that it was MY fault because I "agreed" to the reservation that was recommended to me.
How was I supposed to know there was a better flight? I'm not a travel agent! Of course I'm going to agree to the booking when I'm told that this is the best itinerary available.
As customers I trusted the agent to look at all the available flights.
So I'm basically stuck with this itinerary and we're going to basically be spending an entire extra day in layovers in airports. We don't have the money to pay cancellation fees and whatever extra it may cost to rebook these flights.
I'm seriously disappointed with the entire situation and I've very doubtful that I'll be booking with Orbitz again. I'll stick with making my reservations directly with the airline next time. Won't that be a treat.
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