Last month I bought four plane tickets from Orlando to Las Vegas (round trip) in December. A few days ago, I received an e-mail from Orbitz telling me I now had TWO stops enroute and would be arriving two hours later. They had changed my itinerary from Orlando to San Francisco to Los Angeles to Las Vegas!!! Talk about wasting time!

They also changed my return flight by four hours but I could live with that.

The e-mail said to contact Orbitz if these changes were not acceptable. I wrote to Customer Service and they said I had to call and speak to an agent.

Today an Orbitz agent changed me to a flight with one change, in Denver, and arrival at my original time. This took more than an hour on the phone as the agent kept putting me on hold. She told me I would receive an e-mail with the new itinerary and it would be in my Orbitz account as well.

When I go into my Orbitz account now, there is absolutely no change from the unacceptable flights.

So is Orbitz going to help me out here, or will have to learn from this bad experience to never use them again? Any hints for finding an agent who really knows what she's doing? They are obviously outsourced and I had a lot of trouble communicating with the agent, but I really thought it was a done deal.

Almost certainly, it's the airline that changed your itinerary, not Orbitz, and you are fortunate that Orbitz did let you know. Many third party booking agents do not advise, rather it's up to you to keep checking on the airline's website.

She probably kept putting you on hold because she had the airline on another line.

Since Orbitz must confirm the changes with the airline, it may take a day for you to receive a confirmation e-mail and for your itinerary to show up online.

Nowadays, the airlines are changing their routes and schedules more and more - and elimating flights.

Unless you find a significantly lower fare, it's always better to book directly with the airline.

If you can find a good fare and a better flight than the changed flights on a different airline, inform Orbitz that you want a refund because the changed times are unacceptable to you. If not, live with what they offer not and just keep calling Orbitz back until they get it right. As djkbooks says, it probably would have been easier if you had booked directly with the airline.

And if Orbitz won't give you a refund if you decide you want one, contact your credit card company and dispute the charge, while you still have time (probably 60 days after the initial charge).

I don't know about relying on disputing the charge with your credit card provider.

When you book with Orbitz, you agree to their terms and conditions, and also the "contract of carriage" of whichever airline issues the tickets. Terms of "contract of carriage" vary with the airline. It's better to know them before selecting an airline than after.

How about calling them back and seeing if it's on their computer?

I had this happen when booking directly with Delta and told them I did not want the change and canceled the flight and got a full refund. I would think Orbitz would do the same.

I'm not sure of what the airline's rights when you purchase a plane ticket, but I would assume that if they change their schedule far in advance of your flight from what you originally purchased, then they should offer you a refund, since you are not getting what you may have originally paid for (a direct flight, flight at a good time, etc.). I'm guessing that in most cases like this you would be able to obtain a refund.

If not, disputing the charge with the credit card company is at least an option. At worst the CC company can simply tell you "no." Surely they are well informed in cases like this as to whether the airlines can change flights in advance but not offer a refund.