In December I booked tickets for my wife and I to travel from JFK to Sofia, Bulgaria with a week stay-over in Rome.
I specifically asked for the best itinerary with the least connections.
The rep booked us on a JFk - Rome (direct), which was perfect. Then the rep booked us on a Rome - Frankfurt - Sofia flight. Not idea, but I was specifically told this was "our only option". Fine.
Well, I got a notice that an extra connection was added on this leg that took us from Rome - Frankfurt - Vienna - Sofia. That's pretty terrible.
So I called up Orbitz and inquired about better flights.
Well, it turns out that there was a direct flight available from Rome - Sofia (a direct flight), but we would be charged a $250 per ticket fee to change to that flight.
We were NOT told of this flight even existing at the time the booking was made. This flight DID exist at the time. We just were not offered it.
After speaking with the rep at length and also her supervisor, I was told that since I "agreed" to the itinerary when the booking was made, that there was nothing that could be done for us.
The supervisor (whose name and supervisor ID I have) told me over and over again that I "agreed" to the booking at the time— implying that I bear the responsibility for not being on the direct flight.
At no point was I apologized to for this mistake. We were NEVER offered the direct flight even though I specifically asked about the best and most direct route.
The only option given to me was to cancel THE ENTIRE TRIP, pay whatever cancellation fees associated with these tickets and then re-book the ENTIRE trip to get that direct flight from Rome to Sofia.
That's totally insance. Oh, and to get to this point I was on the phone for an entire hour: 10:45am to 11:50am
I've been using Orbitz regularly since 2004 and never had a problem. Here is specifically what I'm really upset with:
1) The original rep never offered the direct flight and instead put us on a flight with connections. Why? I have no idea. I specifically asked but was told this was not available.
2) That when I call Orbitz, it takes forever to get to talk to a live person.
3) That I was made to feel like it was my fault for having this itinerary because I "agreed" to it at the time of booking. At no point was anyone able to give me any explanation as to why the direct flight (that was available) was not offered to me.
I'm really disappointed and not sure if I'll ever book with Orbitz again. We don't have the extra money to rebook everything and pay these fees. So I guess we'll be spending a lot of extra time during layovers this year on our vacation.
Thanks Orbitz! And I will be sure to share my experience with all my friends and family that may have travel plans coming up.
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