marnip

Don’t use EXPEDIA or fly on BRITISH AIRWAYS—unless you want to be left stranded on the other side of the world with no way to get home!!!! We flew to Barcelona to take a Mediterranean cruise, and our return trip was: Barcelona – Geneva; Geneva – London; London –Phoenix. We made our reservations through Expedia. The Barcelona – Geneva leg was on an airline called Vueling (contractor for Iberia, according to our tickets) and the rest of the trip was on BA. Our Vueling flight was late due to mechanical difficulties. Therefore, we had 15 minutes to make our connection in Geneva. This proved to be impossible because we had to change terminals and because Vueling had refused to issue our boarding passes for the BA flights. That’s when the “fun” began. BA refused to honor our reservation and ultimately cancelled it. They blamed Vueling and Vueling blamed BA, and both blamed Expedia. We spent FOUR HOURS on the phone with Expedia and all they did was put us on hold and blame BA! We ultimately had to buy tickets on KLM to get home. We requested that Amex reverse the charge our tickets and also filed a claim with Allianz (travel insurance) for all the associated expenses and the outcome on both is still pending. Here are the details. Please share! http://tinyurl.com/neska3v

raspberry7

Awful situation to be in. I certainly would not want to face that kind of problem when returning from my vacation. My sympathy to the OP

But - there are a few strange facts about this story:

I cannot understand why anyone would fly an itinerary involving two stops (one of them with a layover of only 50 minutes) when -on fridays- there are 10 flights departing BCN and involving one stop only when connecting to PHX.

All these connections show up on expedia. The OP's connection, however, is NOT offered in response of a dummy search.

I do not understand, why expedia has accepted the OP's itinerary considering the very brief transit time in GVA.

gail

This brings up all sorts of issues discussed here multiple times. People ask "Is x minutes enough time to make my connection at y airport". The answer is so dependent on the on-time arrival of incoming flight as to be meaningless. In this case, it obviously was not enough time.

People also ask what are the potential problems with booking tickets on separate airlines for 1 itinerary. Again, answer usually is related to whether or not their is a relationship between Airline for Leg 1 and Airline for Leg 2 - and in your case their obviously was not, evidenced by "refusal" of Arline 1 to issue documents for Airline 2.

I think BA refused to honor the reservation because you did not present yourself at the gate within required time. Happens all the time.

Sorry you experienced this. Live and learn. This is why many people prefer to book directly with airline rather than some middleman such as Expedia. Hope your travel insurance at least pays up.

eliztravels2

A very frustrating experience, to be sure. Here are some things perhaps you did not know:


When you purchase a ticket an airline has a contractual obligation to get you to your destination, but is not obligated to get you there on time. In Europe, if you are delayed significantly the amount of compensation you are entitled to is regulated. (Not the case in North America, unfortunately).

Were you flying on one ticket for the two airlines? If so, there is a minimum ’legal’ connection time and if your itinerary allows for this minimum time the second airline is in fact responsible for getting you to your destination. In this case, it may be that Expedia booked you with less than the legal connection time and therefore should take responsibility for the problem. However your longer post suggests that you were told ‘no contract’ exists between the two airlines in Geneva, therefore no single ticket.

If you were ticketed as two separate flights, you are out of luck. BA will treat this no differently than if you had slept in and didn’t get to the airport on time. You will be treated as a no show according to the terms and conditions of the fare class of your ticket, which could mean, at best, no refund and a hefty change fee to apply what you’ve already paid to a new ticket.

By all means pursue some redress if you feel you have been wronged, but you will be more likely to get some satisfaction if you turn down the emotional volume and be less accusatory.

Some of life's lessons are more expensive than others.

bettyk

OP also posted identical post on Rick Steves Travel website. Doubt they will return to check for replies.

sassy27

Sorry to hear about your experience. I can't speak about booking with Expedia but had a horrible experience with BA on my last trip 2 months ago. I connected in London and it was truly stressful due to mechnical issues, late arriving aircrafts, airport being too busy, computers being down so no connecting boarding passes and missed flights. Not to mention it all started with US Airways changing my final destination airport without notifying me. That was how I ended up with BA in the first place. For me, I will do my best to stay away from BA due to my experience as I can't really recommend them.

pariswat

Typical rant from a one-time poster who found the way to Fodors AFTER disaster warning people who will not look at their posts and who will do the same.
Pfffff

Cowboy1968

This is a tricky case. And gut feelings about comfort zones re. connecting times play no real role in litigations.

The liability regarding delays is with the airlines (when there is one).
In addition, the travel agent may be liable as Expedia sold the package as 1 ticket. If the trip had been bought via one of Expedia's outlets in the EU, the agent could be held more accountable (not always, just maybe).
Or there may be no liability at all.


So far, following a 2013 ECJ ruling there is only legal certainty for connecting flights with one airline or with codeshares. In those cases, the arrival time at the last and final destination is relevant to compute the penalty payments.

In addition, at least following EU law, airlines ARE liable to get you from A to B at the promised arrival time. If they fail, they pay (except in cases of force majeure).

They MAY BE liable for extra costs to complete your journey to B if they get you there late, e.g. an extra day for airport parking or a taxi to your hotel in B when trains don't run at night.

But NOT liable for extra costs, unrelated to the trip from A to B, and which go beyond what can be reasonably anticipated, e.g. a connecting flight to C, a restricted long-distance rail ticket across half the country, a missed cruise, a sales meeting with your top clients costing your company a million dollars.

Obviously, there is often legal dispute about the two latter items, so it does not mean that any airline will just happily fork over any money.

NewbE

<Don’t use EXPEDIA or fly on BRITISH AIRWAYS>

These are two gigantic companies with a global footprint, so this is unrealistic advice at best.

<our return trip was: Barcelona – Geneva; Geneva – London; London –Phoenix. We made our reservations through Expedia.>

There's the rub. YOU made those reservations. Expedia, while called an online travel agency, is not really that because it offers no advice whatsoever. I am betting the OP picked the cheapest option, when a human might have advised her that that many stops compound the chances of something going wrong.

I see no problem with Expedia per se, but it can be a poor choice for relatively inexperienced travelers. I also think that this poster's inexperience shows in the level of outrage regarding mechanical trouble and missed connections. These things happen, all the time; I wish they didn't.

fmpden

At least this site was a more sympathetic to her problem than the Steves site. A first time poster's rant doesn't get a lot of traction anywhere. Seem to be a few missing links.

Sue_xx_yy

I'm a little late to this but:

I am sorry that you have learned the hard way about third party booking agents like Expedia.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/201...-cancellations

Long wait times when things go wrong and you have to call for help are not unknown. Expedia will say that most of their customers are satisfied. This might be true, but it doesn't help you or the others left stranded when things go wrong.

Expedia (and other third party agents) are also infamous for cobbling together complex itineraries involving more than one airline and short connecting times. This as you found is a nightmare when things go wrong, because you the customer are left in the middle with every supplier claiming everyone else is to blame.

You began with US Airways which took you outbound via Charlotte to Barcelona. Your return itinerary was with Iberia connecting to BA in Geneva to London and thence to Phoenix. Your original connecting time in Geneva (to a second connecting flight to a long-haul transatlantic flight) was 50 minutes.

As you found, this itinerary might have been legal (I can't find MCTimes for Geneva airport) but for various reasons, was high risk. Next time before booking either come here or go to flyertalk and vet your proposed itinerary with seasoned flyers.

Also slow down before re-booking a flight home. Email here or flyertalk for help. It might have been cheaper to (for example) book a round trip ticket from Geneva to NYC, chuck the return leg, and find a travel agent in NYC (JFK, EWR, wherever you flew to) to get you the cheapest way home to PHX. Even with an overnight hotel or two, such alternate itineraries could have come to much less than you ultimately paid for your replacement one way ticket.

Meanwhile, get ahold of the nearest journalist in your area who specializes in consumer problems. Good luck.

Sue_xx_yy

Ah, I see on the Rick Steves site that Vueling is (apparently) going to reimburse you for your rebooked flight. Hope it all ends well.

needmorevacation

I've never understood why people won't book directly with the airlines. I use kayak/travelocity to *find* flights, but always book direct. I don't see the purpose of a middleman- is there one?

NIce that Vueling is refunding you, but I don't see why they should.

NewbE

Well, I think the purpose is to book the kind of itinerary that the OP describes--to save money, obviously, and undertake some risk in return.

I have booked single airline itineraries through Expedia/Travelocity before when I couldn't get the same fare directly through the airline--don't know why that was, but I didn't see the point of paying more for the identical itinerary.