jduke05

Anyone out there have experience with using OneTravel.com?

I have just had a horrendous time with them after booking flights and getting double-billed on my credit card.

Talking to their customer service on the phone (after waiting 25 minutes) was a nightmare too. Has anyone else had this kind of experience with them, or is this just a fluke?

-Jason

gracie04

I am topping this thread in hopes of someone giving their experiences with onetravel.com. After searching for weeks for an airfare under $1000 from ATL-LHR in August, today I found a rate of $679 taxes included from this company. I found it through mobissimo.com.

Does anyone have good/bad comments about this company. Jduke05, were you able to talk to their customer service about your double billing, or did you resolve it through your credit card company?

Thanks,
Gracie

isabel

I have used them twice. The first time was no problem at all. The second time was this past winter/spring. I booked my daughter going to London in January and returning in April. Sometime around February they emailed me with a schedule change for the return flight in April. I didn't pay close enough attention (my fault), just noted she got in a little earlier. Well the day before the flight I was confirming the flight and noticed she only had a half hour layover in Montreal which didn't look like enough time. I called Air Canada and they told me that was an "illegal connection" that OneTravel should not have booked. They were able to fix it for us (although it meant her coming into an airport an additional hour away). I don't know if OneTravel was really to blame, it could have just been an honest error on the part of whoever did the rebooking when AirCanada canceled that flight back in February. So yes, OneTravel did make a mistake, they should not have made that re-booking but I'm not sure I would refrain from ever using them again because of it. Since I didn't catch the problem till so late I didn't bother calling them, just went straight to AirCanada (which I must say was extremely helpful).

Intrepid1

I've used them twice. Once I inadvertently booked flights for the wrong date. I called them immediately and they cancelled the booking without penalty.

Both experiences have been positive ones.

I agree, however, that getting them on the phone can be time-consuming.

DAX

I just bought my openjaw ticket from them through their operator who booked my departure on the WRONG DATE as she was very much in a rush.

I called them as soon as I got her email detailing my ticket purchase. It took several attempts of being put on hold for over a half hour just to get through the customer service.

Unfortunately they could not correct the operator's mistake and I had to pay $350 to change the date. My ticket ended up costing $ 1365.

An online ticket purchase at Onetravel is not realtime so you can possibly get a notice of price change or ticket unavailable a few days later. I thought it would be safer to call them directly.....Big mistake.

WillTravel

Yikes, DAX. Have you thought of challenging your credit card payment? It's quite likely your conversation with the agent was taped.

BarryK

I find their web fares to be just a bait and switch game. I've never found a fare that really exists when tyring to book it. Their web site is set up very poorly as well, in that you need to put your name, CC info, etc in EVERY time you want to see if a fare really exists. I no longer use their site.

ira

I have had only positive results for several years.

Sorry to hear about the problems others have faced.

gracie04

Thank you for all of the replies. I'm not sure I want to take a chance on onetravel.com. I guess the search continues!

Iregeo

I have used it one time, recently, and was expecting an experience like Barry K described above. So, I was thrilled when I found out that the $580 fare, round trip from LAX to CDG in the middle of summer was real! After booking, I immediately phoned United Airlines to make sure they had my reservation, and they even changed my flights twice (for free) to make the scheduling better. By the way, my same routing, if booked directly with UAL, would have cost $1100. I'm a believer!

DAX

To answer Willtravel:
One travel told me that they do not have the recording of my conversation with the operator. So they have no way of verifying.
I explained that when I bought the ticket there was a cheaper fare on my computer screen but the operator insisted that it was no longer available. I believed her when she said that her computer is more current/realtime than the customer's. Now I know that she was actually looking at the wrong date.

The credit card company says that with One Travel they can't help either as there is no proof. It's an Ombudsman's case but it's not worth anymore time and aggravation for me.

I'm just posting to let others know that if there is any dispute with this company, there will be no solution.

shawn1

Jesus - someone else with a bad experience. Just got back from my honeymoon what a logistical nightmare. Here's e-mail that I sent to their customer support center a few hours ago. I also plan on contacting the better business bureau as well as Air France:

Order of Events:

1. Booked flight on onetravel.com: Sunday, 11/14/04; Your ResFinder code for this reservation is: XXXXXXXXX; The file number for this reservation is: XXXXXX.
Flight Details: Air France Flight# 39
Sunday, May 01, 2005 [5:10:00 PM - 6:30:00 AM] WASHINGTON (IAD) - PARIS (CDG)
Air France(Operated by City Jet) Flight# 5038
Monday, May 02, 2005 [7:20:00 AM - 9:15:00 AM] PARIS (CDG) - FLORENCE (FLR)
Air France(Operated by City Jet) Flight# 5041
Saturday, May 14, 2005 [1:05:00 PM - 3:00:00 PM] FLORENCE (FLR) - PARIS (CDG)
Air France Flight# 26
Saturday, May 14, 2005 [4:40:00 PM - 7:05:00 PM] PARIS (CDG) - WASHINGTON (IAD)

2. Tuesday, 11/16/04 at 4:06pm; XXXXXX This email is to let you know that we have verified your billing information. Since the reservation itself raised flags for our company, we have not issued your requested tickets or charged your credit card. You need to contact us to verify this reservation before we can issue tickets. Remember that we do not guarantee fares until a reservation has been processed. Please give us a call before 5:00pm, Central Standard Time, November 17, 2004, or it could be canceled. 1-800-929-2523 Thank you, The Travel Center The Customer Service Team of Your Travel Center
3. Wednesday, 11/17/04 at 11:19am; File XXXXXX Please be advised that your reservation has been cancelled, as you have not contacted us. A reservation can only be held for 24hrs. Since you did not contact us to verify the charge in the allotted time, we have had no choice but to cancel the reservation. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. The Travel Center The Customer Service Team of Your Travel Center
Note – this contradicts the previous e-mail, which stated that I had until 5pm CST (6pm EST); I had planned on calling at noon EST during my lunch hour.
4. Wednesday, 11/17/04 at 12pm; Place call to customer service; states that transaction will be processed. I ask customer service representative again, given the previous e-mail, whether there will be a problem processing this transaction in light of the previous e-mail. He says no.
5. Website shows reservation, per details above. Confirmation page shows trip, total costs, and price that has been billed to MasterCard; still shows this confirmation page on website under my account right up until the trip and to this moment; since no service was not provided, I had no reason to believe that the my credit card would be charged until time of flight.
6. Dulles Airport, Sunday, 5/1/05 at 1:30pm; Air France check-in – Air France shows both passengers in system but with no reservation; we show the first e-mail from onetravel.com detailing our ResFinder code, file number, and flight times; Air France customer service rep can view onetravel.com customer notes, which shows that company tries to process reservation, then decides to contact owner of credit card. 11/17 onetravel.com note verifies my conservation with onetravel.com rep and orders the process of reservation. 11/18 onetravel.com note describes an IT problem and no further notes provided. I heard nothing further from onetravel.com. Air France first says that they cannot help me without a price of the tickets, which is not on the original e-mail. We print the confirmation page from the internet café in Dulles, take to Air France counter, and they say that they still cannot help me because the credit card was never charged, despite an obvious attempt to acquire the tickets at the stated price and a snafu at onetravel.com’s end. They refuse to help further, stating that we need to call onetravel.com. Frankly, I would have expected that Air France would call onetravel.com on behalf of the travelers, given that the mistake obviously lies with the on-line merchant. But, Air France showed no willingness to assist beyond showing the call notes, not seeming very interested in ensuring that we were on the flight that we were intended to be booked on. They only suggested that we pay full fare to reserve seats on the 5pm flight.
7. Dulles Airport, Sunday, 5/1/05 at 3pm; Call onetravel.com and explain the situation – spoke with a customer service representative on 11/17 and was told that the reservation was set, website showed that the reservation was set, yet there is no reservation. Began to explain the issue of holding up the credit card and I interrupted saying that I saw the onetravel.com call notes – the 11/17 note clearly states that a conversation took place and that the transaction should be processed. His explanation was that the customer service rep should have never told me that the reservation was ok due to the 24 hour rule. I said that my be true, if I knew that, I would have gone ahead and made another reservation on 11/17, but I was told that the reservation was set. Further documentation on the website supported the rep’s claim. The rep I spoke to said that he could only do something if my credit card was charged. I had no way of verifying whether it was or wasn’t and was under the impression that the credit card would be booked when I flew. I asked to speak to a manager and he said there wasn’t anyone there that could help until Monday. I told him it was my honeymoon and whether there were any other options. He said that there was nothing that he could do. He did not offer to send me to the reservation desk to see if there was another flight I could get out Florence.
8. Dulles Airport, Sunday, 5/1/05 at 3:45pm; After realizing that we would not receive immediate help from either Air France or onetravel customer service, I called onetravel.com’s reservations department. I wanted to keep all documentation with onetravel and see if there were any cheap last-minute flights. There were not. After much deliberation over flight options to Florence over the next 12 hours, we realized that I could not buy a ticket from onetravel since none of the options were e-tickets. However, I gleaned from the call that my next flight options were with either Delta or United (or Air France, but I didn’t want to deal with the airline’s customer service due to the lack of satisfaction with the visit a few hours back).
9. Dulles Airport, Sunday, 5/1/05 at 4:30pm; Delta reservation desk – made flight reservations for a 10:10pm flight out to Paris/Florence and a return flight for May 14th at 7:15am Florence time. Flights would be operated by Air France. Total cost: $4353.58.
10. Monteroni, Italy, 5/9/05; Since the return flight from Florence would be several hours earlier than planned, we had to book a hotel for the night of 5/13 near the Florence airport. We had not planned on staying Florence when the original reservations were made. Additional cost of the hotel room at Auto Park Hotel was 90 Euros.
11. Florence Airport, Saturday 5/14/05 at 7:45pm (local time). Flight takes off 30-45 minutes late. There were two primary problems – a few passengers were accidentally allowed on who were actually scheduled for a later Air France flight to Paris, which created seat confusion. Air France told passengers that they had a problem with Florence’s ground transportation to the plane. The ground crew was delayed in providing a second bus to the aircraft. Given the tight connection times in Paris, many passengers were aggravated, particularly because ground transportation to the planes appeared superfluous. The airplane was perhaps 100-150 feet from the gate, easily walkable.
12. Charles de Guille Airport, Saturday 5/14/05 at 10am (local time). Arrived 50 minutes late – disappointed that Air France didn’t assist passengers in locating their gates and explaining how passengers could bypass the lengthy security check-in queues, given passengers’ status as transfers. Ran to plane, boarded at 10:10pm.
13. Dulles Airport, Saturday 5/14/05 at 1pm (local time). One suitcase missing. Air France promises that the bag will be out on the next flight and will be delivered to our door that night.
14. Saturday 5/14/05 at 5:58pm (local time). Air France calls and wants to ensure that we will be home that night to receive the delivered bag. We agree, but no time was articulated.
15. Saturday, 5/15/05 at 1:38am (local time). Air France calls at 1:38am in the morning, awaking us, seeking directions to the house and explaining that they will arrive at 2:30am. Bag was delivered at 2:40am.


I was promised a service, a round-trip flight from Washington-Dulles to Florence, with flights on May 1st and May 14th, for $1540.74. I had to pay $4353.48. I expect a refund of $2812.74 from one or both organizations involved, especially in light of the shoddy service that was provided. Thank you.

progol

Dear Shawn,
I'm sorry to read of your frustrating, logistical nightmare with onetravel.com. However, there are several things I don't understand:
1) Did you ever receive a confirmation of a reservation? Why didn't you check when you didn't have your credit card billed? How about receiving an e-ticket?

Reservations for flights are not held without payment to my knowledge; they are billed as soon as your reservation has been processed. That should've been a clue that something hadn't occurred. So was not receiving any confirmation or actual e-ticket.

2) Why didn't you call Air France soon after making the reservation to confirm that you really do have a reservation? Whenever I book through a third party, I ALWAYS call the airline to confirm that they show a reservation.

I may be wrong, but I would be very surprised if Air France is responsible for your reservations here; it sounds like onetravel.com didn't follow up on their promise, but that doesn't make the airline responsible.

Sadly, it shows that the customer must always be on top of the situation. While onetravel.com was clearly shabby in their responsibilities, there were opportunities to check on the situation before arriving at the airport.

Sorry to hear of your frustrations; I hope the trip itself was a better experience.

shawn1

Progol,

Good call - I certainly should have checked with Air France, though admittedly I have never had this issue before. As far as your first set of questions, I did receive a confirmation that stated my reservation and that the credit card was billed. Unfortunately, since I didn't notice the transaction come through my credit card, I figured I'd be billed when the service was provided (e.g. when I flew). In the confusion of wedding preparations, I really didn't take note. I took onetravel at their word and the confirmation/reservation page still listed next to my name under my account gave me comfort that I indeed had a reservation. I agree, Air France is not at fault as far as the fare is concerned. However, their service given the obvious gaff by the on-line provider (and ensuing service) was shoddy. Made for a poor experience and I'm out $2800. I'm sure I have little to no recourse. Expensive lesson.

ira

Dear Shawn,

Sorry to hear of your terrible snafu.

I salute you for not losing your cool and making alternate arrangements.

Try writing the Ombudsman at Conde Nast Traveler to see if they might be able to help you with onetrav.

Christina

Sorry to hear about your problems with 1travel, Shawn, but I think you are being unreasonable in several matters, perhaps if you haven't flown much before. Credit cards are never charged only on the date of the flight, they are charged when a ticket is bought. That's what buying a ticket means. I don't understand how you could have thought your credit card wouldn't be charged until you actually flew. Now 1travel said it was charged, so that is the problem, they messed up, apparently.

I think it is also unreasonable for you to think that Air France should be personal travel agents for everyone and make phone calls to resolve all passengers problems with their agent/vendor. I would think it their responsibility if the ticket was bought directly through Air France, but not to contact hundreds of different travel agents or vendors for passengers.

Giovanna

I just spent a good half hour or longer trying to book our open jaw tickets for September on onetravel.com. Struck out on tries for four itineraries at a fabulous price I must admit. I have been checking their site almost daily, trying for tickets under a thousand dollars, and frequently find them, but have yet to book one. After filling out the several pages of required info (for each request at that), I always end up with that nasty little red line at the top, telling me the itinerary is SOLD OUT! Very frustrating, and after some of the less than reassuring experiences with them noted above, we may cross them off our list.

shawn1

Christina - If you book a hotel room or a car on-line, your credit card is not charged until you consume the good. Why not an airline? I would have thought that airlines would rather not take on "unearned revenue" - cash without actual consumption. Clearly, a mistake on my part - I frankly never noticed one way or another as I never made reservations so far in advance.
As to the question as to whether Air France should be invovled, I say absolutely. Air France pays to have their services represented and sold through a GDS, which in turn are used by travel agents, on-line merchants, etc. I would think that they would be most interested in ensuring that their products are sold and represented appropriately and that consumers are not misled by intermediaries that are taking Air France's money. As a vendor of a service, of course you should get involved when your customer has a problem, particularly when the evidence in Air France's system clearly points to a breakdown between Air France and onetravel.com. I was able to read the customer notes from onetravel.com on Air France's system. For Air France to absolve itself in that situation is poor, in my opinion.

shawn1

Ira,

How do I go about writing to Ombudsman from Conde Nast - I appreciate the help and concern...thanks, Shawn1

BillynBettyJones

Our nephew in Norweg said he booked hiss ticket with them. One Travel was the cheapest out of about 40 places he cheked. He said they sent him email with the confimration for etickit and had no problems.