Carrybean

Trust me, one should do that when you book hotels also. The only time I used hotels.com was for a hotel at JFK. The airport had to close for some weather problem & I was all smug because I had a reservation. Wrong! Luckily I got there early & since I had worked for years in hotels, schmoozing the desk clerks got me a room.

mamaj

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! I have knitted about two miles on a scarf waiting for my husband to talk to them. It turns out that Travelocity was supposed to confirm/reserve our seats by March 17th- they didn't do it! In the meantime we have actual paper tickets with our flight information. After THREE hours on the phone we have confirmation for our flight tomorrow, but not for our return. The sticking point for us is that VA wants to charge us $300 more for a ticket in London on our return. We don't want to cough up the $1200 and wait for reimbursement- it's not our mistake. Travelocity says that the VA people who handle those things are not in the office on the weekends- so they will call us tomorrow- WE LEAVE TOMORROW! Well, if we get stuck in London it beats never getting there in the first place..... oh, and they gave us a measly $50 off our next flight booked with them! HA! I'd rather have been bumped up! It's been a very harrowing experience- so just a word of warning- check early and check often! If we didn't have two six year olds that wanted kid's meals we never would have known what was happening! Back to errands and packing.....
Oh, We are flying ORD-JFK, JFK-LHR, then LHR-GOT (gothenburg, sweden) picking up our SAAB and driving through Europe!

Catbert

Have a great time!

Carrybean

At least you'll be on the plane tomorrow. Enjoy & jump all over Travelocity when you get back.

murphy89

So glad it worked out (well the most important part any way.....). Have a great trip mamaj!

Cheers,

Murphy

crefloors

Glad you got it worked out and hopefully the return will go as well for you. Who offered you a "measily" 50.00 off? It certainly wasn't Virgin's fault, you didn't book with them. You booked with Travelocity.

Linda431

Yep. Travelocity owes you.

Viajero2

Another case in the point I always try to get across: ALWAYS, always, always check the airline for prices you get from consolidators. Buy from a consolidator only and only if the airline can not meet the price +-$50. Consolidators should be the last venue, not the first.

GreenDragon

(this reminds me to double check MY etickets, even though I've talked to Virgin and gotten seat assignments)

mari5

Yes, it's always good to check, check, check and confirm several times...even more so by purchasing a lower rate through someone like Travelocity.
Even straight with the airlines it's good to check. I had an aisle seat, front of coach assigned by a special department for a terrible knee problem facing replacement surgery. ...Just happened to call to double check ,and the overseas portion of the two flights had been changed by the computer to the LAST row in the plane in the middle seat (something about the slight time change on the first flight domestic). Got the original seat back....but it would have been a hassle at the airport.
But to NOT even have a record of a reservation IS scary, isn't it? Glad you got it straightened out....and it sounds like you will have a WONDERFUL, inclusive, fun family trip. Take care and have a great time.

mamaj

My stomach is just unknotting itself now- 4 hours later! Thanks goodness my DH has the patience of a saint! Yes, Travelocity gave us the $50 bucks. That's about 13 dollars per hour of grief! Off in the morning- hopefully no more glitches! Bon Voyage!

wren

Glad to hear your story has a happy ending...have a wonderful time!

Also, you have done a public service by posting this online...my daughter also bought a Virgin Atlantic ticket on Travelocity this past spring, so we had her call earlier today after reading your woes...fortunately, she is confirmed.

P_M

mamaj, thanks for the update, I'm so glad to hear your trip is still on. Whew!!

Aside from the other good advice you've received about reconfirming reservations, I would like to make another suggestion. You said in your OP that you called today to request a meal for a flight you are taking tomorrow. It's really not a good idea to wait until the day before you travel to request a special meal. My father requires non-dairy meals, and we have always been told to call at least 2 weeks in advance for meal requests. I realize the meal request was a small issue compared to what you've gone through today, but just FYI for your next trip.

Bon voyage!!

CarolA

Glad it worked out and if you don't mind when you get back would you post on the Saab pick up.

I love my Saab and have seriously thought of doing this for the next one...... Would love to hear from someone who did it!

MelJ

My Saab is now 8 years old (and still going strong!), but we've talked about picking up our next one in Sweden, so I'll be anxious to hear how this all works out for you!

Nelson

That was an exciting read! Glad to hear things have worked out.

This is the third time I have heard of problems with Travelocity and more money being forked up. For my part, I will stay away from them.

Have a great trip. You have first story already!

mamaj

Yes, I know we should have requested the meals earlier, but my husband is a procrastinator at heart, and every time we tried to do it online we couldn't pull up our reservations! That should have been a BIG HINT that something was wrong! By the way, we got our original seat assignments! Plenty of room for anyone to come along! I'm hoping we can stretch out in all the empty seats!

mamaj

Oh, and the Saab was cheaper in Europe. And they give you $2000 to travel with, a hotel room for one night and dinner. Check their website. We are picking up in Goteburg and dropping off in Antwerp. Can't wait to feel the wind in our hair and our six year old twins scream in the backseat to put the roof back up!

calville

I'm glad it all worked out for you mamj.
We had a near disaster a few wks ago when my teenager arrived at the American Airline counter by herself for the first leg of a trip to Europe and was told they had no record of her flight on AA to Boston where she was to connect with a British Air flight to London. After about 10 minutes of hemming and hawing at the AA ticket counter they finally agreed to put her on the AA flight to Boston that we had booked and that appeared on her BA electronic ticket.
Later in Boston, she almost missed her BA flight because an AA gate agent incorrectly wrote down a connecting AA gate number for her and she assumed she was on a transcontinental AA/BA code share.

I phoned British Air and they said they had no idea what the problem had been. A rep of AA told me later on the phone that BA had improperly issued her a fare that AA hadn't authorized and that's why AA had no record of her flight!! I'm wondering if your situation with travelocity was similar ("unauthorized fare&quot.
Next time I'll confirm all code share flights which I had neglected to do. I had purchased the ticket by phone from British Air- it was not an internet special through a discounter or consolidator.

mamaj

Lesson learned: check and check again! I won't trust anyone from now on. We thought since we had actual paper tickets we were good to go- now we know better!