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I use Orbitz to book travel for myself and for my mother several times a year, and I started using Orbitz on the recommendation of my father, who uses it several times a year. However, after my last experience, I will never use Orbitz again.

I booked a trip to Las Vegas for May 27 through 30, 2009. This trip was for my best friend's wedding, and about 25 people booked their tickets to the wedding through Orbitz. When I booked my flights, I specified that I wanted flight times after noon. My original flights were the following: I was to leave Omaha at 1:15 p.m. on Wednesday, and I was to leave Las Vegas at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. These times were perfect.

I received four flight updates between January and February. The first two kept the flight times at acceptable times. When I received the third and fourth update, I (wrongly) assumed that the times would be within what I initially specified "โ€ after noon. Furthermore, I figured with four flight changes in one month, there were bound to be more over the next three months. However, when I received the confirmation the day before I left Omaha, I discovered that the time I left Las Vegas on Saturday had changed to 8:10 a.m.

Now, I know for a fact that there were later flights leaving Las Vegas, because I was the only person at the wedding who had this super-early time. Because of this flight time, my vacation was cut short, and I missed wedding festivities on Friday night because I had to go to bed early so I could be up at 4:30 a.m. the next day to catch the 8:10 a.m. flight. Moreover, I missed the wedding brunch with the other guests on Saturday morning because I had to be up at 4:30 a.m. to catch the 8:10 a.m. flight.

Because Orbitz did not stick to the time I specified when booking this trip, I hold Orbitz accountable for screwing up my first trip to Las Vegas and time I should have had with my best friend and her groom. I missed out on festivities on Friday AND Saturday because of this, and I am not pleased. This is time I can't get back with my friends. Orbitz robbed me of a night and half a day of my vacation.

While I'm voicing my displeasure, I'm going to add that I was stuck paying an extra $20 a night at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas because Orbitz booked me in the "fabulous" MOTEL part of the Imperial Palace. Thanks, but I'd rather not be raped and robbed while traveling, and considering I was one of three people from the wedding staying at the Imperial Palace and was traveling alone, I didn't feel the motel was very safe. So I coughed up an additional $20 a night to stay in the main part of the hotel. So thank you for booking me in the lousiest part of the hotel possible so I could pay extra each night to feel safe.

When I called Orbitz after my trip, they put the blame on the airline. However, I did not book my flights through the airline, I booked them through Orbitz. Furthermore, when pointed out that they completely disregarded that I'd specified flight times after noon, they continually ignored this and continued to blame the airline. Orbitz's customer service was horrible, and I'm still irked that they cut my vacation short.

Location: Omaha, Nebraska

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Guest

Orbitz rocks! I've used them many times and was over the moon pleased with the service. Also, I love Orbitz's ads; they are really cool!

Guest

Orbitz SUCKS ......................

Guest

I originally posted Sept 30. One of the $361 charges that my bank had said dropped off, 9 days after the original pending notice, did go thru, so is WAS multiple-charged and I will have to dispute it.

Guest

Orbitz SUCKS!!!!! I have been on the phone for hours over several days.

ALL of the employees are inept. They kept telling me the card I was using for payment was no good; give me another one. I ended up giving them 4 different card numbers. I was charged four different times for one flight change.

3 of the 4 charges did drop off after 6 days and was eventually charged to one other than the one it should have. When I called to speak with a supervisor, a person saying she was a floor supervisor interrupted me and transferred the call.

Of the 5 Orbitz employees I spoke with, ALL were foreign sounding with anglo names. It has been my well-documented personal experience that Orbitz could not do right if they had to to save their life.

Emira Yjs

On March 23, I made a flight reservation for my husband and I from LAX stop at JFK continue to Vienna. We arrived at the airport at 5:20 (or flight was 6:03) and were told it was too late to check bags.

A United rep told us that we would be able to catch the connecting flight in new york if we could get there and Delta was willing to book us. Then Austrian airlines said oh no since you missed the first flight (which we hadn't technically missed at the time the bags had missed the flight) you can't take the connecting even if you make it to NY on time. Had we known this to begin with we could have just taken our carry ons and left the other bags. We were then given the run around as to who would be responsible for changing the flight.

United told us we had to talk to Orbitz, Orbitz told us we had to speak with Austria Airlines and Austria Airlines sent us back to Orbitz (a total of 2 hours of back and forth to that point and later another 2 hours. Austria told us ultimately they could not help us. Orbitz said they would contact Austria Airlines directly to get authorization to alter the schedule. Orbitz came back and said Austria had agreed to an "exception" and we could change our flight to the next day for an additional cost of $5,900 and something dollars (original tickets were $1,800).

But, we only had 24 hours to decide whether or not to do this. We called Orbitz back and a supervisor told us the entire trip we booked was CANCELED even the return flight. Event if we made it to Austria on our own we could not return on the flight we had booked and paid for and had seats reserved for. Then they told us we could go and wait at the United check in and if United could booked us trough, the original ticket would be reactivated and we would only have to pay penalties assessed by United.

When told we had already spoken to United and they referred us to Orbitz, Orbitz backtracked and said our only option would be to reschedule the flight (at the near $6,000 additional rate) When challenged by the fact that a google search produced flights at much less ($2,300 - $3,000) Orbitz said that the rates they were quoting were "surplus" form the airline and not available online, but if we found an online rate on their site, with the same airlines, they would deduct what we paid from the original fair from that amount. So we found one. And gave the Orbitz rep "Tracy" the details of the flight and then magically that flight disappeared, and the Orbitz rep said, well that flight is no longer available. People are constantly booking (I'm sure last minute from LAX to VIENNA).

So, we hung up. Waited 30 minutes and magically the flight schedule with both original airlines re appeared. So, we called back. This time a different supervisor "Christina" told us that no the rate she is quoting comes directly from Austrian airlines...

and so the story continued to change. Bottom line we booked a flight on Air Berlin round trip for 2 for $2,300. for the next day. Didn't the government come down on credit card companies that were charging exorbitant interest rates on credit cards?

How can this company because of miscommunication on THEIR part steal our entire trip? How can they cancel a flight we have seats reserved for hours and weeks in advance? I can't believe this is ethical. I'm sure there are many people out there who gave up after the first 3 hour and a half hold times and multiple run arounds.

Google Orbitz.

There are all kinds of disgruntled former customers. I will never book through this organization again...and I'll be sure to tell all of my friends not to do so either.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Emira Yjs

I agree. Orbitz is absolutely horrible!

1.5 hours on hold to fix a ticket issue that was genersted by the airline. The agent was very difficult to understand. Ask for a supervisor at the end of the call and spent another 30 minutes on hold!

DO NOT USE Obitz!!!!!!! They will bend you over and laugh while they are doing it.

Sh

Orbitz SUCKS! I will never use their service again and will shout that loudly at every single social networking website, so people are careful in buying their services.

I've made one mistake (missed 1 letter from my wife's surname), which I realized 1 week before trip. I spent HOURs (waiting for being connected to their "supervisor") and asking them to resolve the situation. ...I got nothing from them, BUT lost my money (approx. USD 900). Their service sucks, they all sucks and I will NEVER use them again!!! They even didn't give us any ticket number, no put my wife's passport number into the ticket.

People, better use a real travel agent and pay 30-50$ for their service and be sure, that you will get your real ticket!.

Orbitz C
reply icon Replying to comment of Sh

Hi,

My name is Shalon, and I am part of the Orbitz Customer Relations Team. We want to learn more about your experience so that we can address the issue. Please email us at socialnetwork@orbitz.com and enter my name in the subject line, so that I can investigate further.

Thank you for your patience, and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Sincerely,

Shalon

Orbitz Customer Relations

Chicago, IL

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Orbitz C

Hello Shalon,

I appreciate you are trying to help customers.

Real customer service is rare unfortunately.

However, I just had my outgoing flight changed by orbitz as well without offering to refund the $1880 to me. To find some alternative compensation, I requested a different return date (2 days later) but in this case Orbitz just charges me an additional 1000 dollars.

Besides this being a one-sided contract, it is real bad customer service.....

Unfortunately, you were not answering the call.

Thx for listening.

Guest

Orbitz sucks. I had booked many flights over the years.

recently the zipcode on file (Canadian ZipCode) would not be accepted and I could not book a flight. I entered different credit cards same thing. I called customer service to ask what is going on. that *** customer rep offered no help what so ever, instead tried to book my flight; after 15 mintues she was not able to book it and said, no its not available anymore.

I call my travel agent and had the same flight in 5 mintues. I am done with that *** at orbitz.

Guest

I am going to tell averyone NEVER to use orbitz. The worst experience I had ever.

Guest

This is my last Orbitz experience either. My flight continuously keapt changing, and at the end my wife's ticket was mysteriously missing the final flight from Washington to Pittsburgh.

I kept calling Orbitz and every time after 1 hour of talking and waiting until they contact the airilne the connection was being dropped and the next day I had to start the same process over. No luck so far.

Do not trust Orbitz. They do not know what they are doing

Guest

Orbitz totally sucks! They make a mistake, then they blame the airlines. Orbitz is the 'booking agency'. They are the ones who BUY BLOCKS of tickets & move people around. If you ever have any problem with them do not listen to their lies when they are quick to blame everyone else, including the airlines.

I think their call center is in the Phillipines, which is becoming more common for many companies these days. I don't mind talking to a filipina person, but I mind when they cannot do nothing for me except "apologize for my inconvenience" and then blame the airlines.

I will write more details in the future but I do not have time now for specifics.

Guest

Yes Orbitz is worthless and never bother to call their "customer" assistance number. NEVER NEVER use them for anything unless you want grief.

Rented a car got to destination and NO car available. Had to rent a car for nearly 2x as much from a different vendor.

Called to discuss with Orbitz and was put on hold and run around the operation for a hour and then disconnected. NEVER USE THEM EVER!!!

Guest

I agree. NEVER use Orbitz!

Guest

all my friends, hear me and hear me clear.....NEVER, EVER, NEVER use ORBITZ.COM to book any of your reservations to ANYWHERE! They will make mistakes, leave you in a foreign country, not take any responsibility and provide you with overall the LOUSIEST customer service of any company.

I am so sorely disappointed that I will never use their services again, and for those who know me, know I mean that with every fiber of my being.....trust me.....they offered us $100 travel voucher instead of offering to reimburse us for the rental car. For an extra $200 they could have had a customer for life, now, the have lost me forever.....tell everyone you know...DONT USE ORBITZ!

.

Guest

Edge - I just posted a comment - similar story about how they changed things and confirmed the wrong times of our flights - causing us to miss our flight to Aruba for our honeymoon. I hope you spread the word about how utterly AWFUL this company is. We will never get that day back...it was supposed to be the happiest time of our lives- freakin' jerks.

Guest

You should have left on Sunday then, ***.

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