Just wanted all of you to know that I can only say great things about Orbitz and its customer service department. As many of you know, I had tickets on Sabena for my flight to Prague in November, and a week before I left Sabena ceased flying. I did not have recourse through my credit card company, as the tickets had been paid for long before Sabena's bankruptcy. Also, Sabena was not reaccommodating stranded passengers. <BR><BR>I had to buy another ticket for my trip -- this time on SwissAir, which I bought through Orbitz. By the way, the SwissAir ticket cost me $389 also, and that was 1 week before departure.<BR><BR>I was in immediate contact with Orbitz as soon as Sabena ceased flying and was told that as soon as they knew something that I would be immediately contacted. Orbitz' Customer Service Department emailed and called me 3 days later and told me that I would be entitled to a full refund for my Sabena tickets if I mailed them back to them within 7 days, which I did. I was told that I would receive a credit within 3 billing cycles. Surprisingly, I received a credit within 15 days of me returning the tickets to Orbitz. Granted, I was out the cost of the FEDEX fee that I was initially charged to receive the tickets, but $13 isn't much, I did get a $389 refund.<BR><BR>I recently bought a ticket to Budapest on SwissAir through Orbitz. I've been assured that SwissAir will fly through April 1st, and then it will have a new name, most likely Swiss Airlines, so it won't lose its identity when it becomes a new corporation. I have no concerns because of Orbitz' prior refund to me, and I will return to the US at the end of March.<BR><BR>I really wanted you to know this because I've seen others complaining about receiving similar refunds through Travelocity.<BR><BR>I will definitely book flights through Orbitz as long as I can find good pricing and mostly because of its Customer Service Department.

Leslie,<BR>We, my husband and I, have also had a very good experience with Orbitz. After several weeks of hunting for packages to Rome, I finally decided to give them a call. I was a little put off originally since they did not have any prices on their website for packaged vacations. The agent found the exact flights we needed and the hotel we wanted to stay at for less than anyone else had offered. We had a faxed confirmation within hours of talking to her and our tickets came in about a week. Very good service. <BR>I also liked their last minute vacations - excellent pricing.<BR>--Meg

One of the things I like about Orbitz' site is the tracking information under "My Stuff". Orbitz posts the FEDEX tracking number on that page with a link so that you can track your tickets. Also, with Orbitz you can save your frequent flyer numbers for airlines, hotels and car rentals, preferences for seating and meals, and other contact information, and of course, update it when necessary.<BR><BR>It's also nice that a couple of days before the flight, Orbitz sends you a reminder message and other important alerts. Can't say enough nice things about this company.<BR>

Thank you for that info Leslie. That is very good news. It's nice to hear about a customer service dept. that actually provides customer service...

One conversation I would like to relate with Orbitz Customer Service was shortly after SwissAir filed bankruptcy. I became very concerned because SwissAir owned 51% of Sabena, and there was a great chance at that time that Sabena would be forced to file bankruptcy because SwissAir had defaulted on a large payment to Sabena. I was paying attention to this very early on. When I called Orbitz about my concerns, I was reassured that if Sabena filed bankruptcy, that I would either be reaccommodated on another airline (which didn't happen) or else Orbitz would give me a full refund (minus the FEDEX fee). Orbitz told me that this was its policy, as I was buying the ticket from Orbitz. The Customer Service rep I spoke with said that Orbitz had experience with this type of problem, because when Midway went belly-up, Orbitz was processing refunds and reaccommodating passengers. Now, if Orbitz filed bankruptcy, that would be a different story.<BR><BR>Bottomline, early on, although I was inconvenienced and a bit frazzled, Orbitz assured me that as long as I followed its procedures, that I would get a refund. Luckily, at the time I had to buy another ticket (one week before departure), there were still cheap flights available.<BR><BR>I was luckier than those that bought tickets directly from Sabena. Those people are now creditors, however, I was also told that if those passengers can fly DAT, which only flies within Europe, that the value of their tickets on Sabena could be applied to future tickets (but, I believe the limitation is one year from the date of the initial purchase).

I too had excellent service with Orbitz. What is amazing is that Orbitz is owned by the airlines!

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I have to say that I'm very impressed that Orbitz refunded your money. They are under no obligation at all to do so. That's really great customer service. Although Orbitz would be a creditor of Sabena's, I'm sure there won't be any money left by the time it gets down to them.