NeoPatrick

We are planning a trip with friends to California and the Pacific Northwest next June. The friend emailed me to tell me they booked with Expedia -- including a flight from LAX to SFO from 9:20 in the morning to 10:30 where we are to meet up and then drive to Ashland, Oregon. He said it was on Alaska Airlines, but I had looked and didn't see such a flight so questioned him. oops. The flight was PM not AM -- way too late to meet up and drive to Oregon. Will they be able to change it? The real issue is that I think that is the only Alaska flight of the day. So can they switch airlines? Any hope for them or are they going to have to just "eat" this flight and rebook?

Fodorite018

Depends...Alaska is a great airline and might be able to help. Does your friend have any status with Alaska? My DH just made a bonehead mistake on a flight and because of his status they refunded the entire thing...a $3k ticket.

NeoPatrick

No. They've never flown Alaska before, and since there are no other Alaska flights to replace it, I'm not really sure how they can help except to credit the flight and let them book with someone else.

The good news is this was only two tickets at something like $86 each, but it would be nice if they could rebook at a better time with American or someone. As I said, they booked on Expedia, though. I only book direct with airlines so I'm no help to them.

Ranger

Shouldn't matter who they booked the tickets thru. They should be able to get on an earlier American flight, however they probably will have to pay a fee. Was $50 a ticket last time I had to change a ticket on Alaska.

spirobulldog

I had a similar incident with expedia. They might do something for you within the first 24 hrs, but I doubt it. I had better luck dealing directly with the airlines. I usually find the airfare to be $5-$10 cheaper booking directly anyway. Expedia makes you click on the little box right before you book saying you have read all the rules. I guess thats where they get you at.

NeoPatrick

Good news. He called today and after an hour and 21 minutes (he carefully timed it) on the phone with Expedia they changed them to the American flight they wanted in the morning. No charge, either.

NeoPatrick

Good news. He called today and after an hour and 1 minute (he carefully timed it) on the phone with Expedia they changed them to the American flight they wanted in the morning. No charge, either.

NeoPatrick

Duh, how come I backed up and edited the time he waited, and then it posted again rather than edited? I know I did that right. Sorry for the double post.

And as I told him they owe me big time for calling that to their attention (since I knew the time he told me didn't make sense). He's convinced they probably never would have noticed until they arrived at the airport in the morning.

tchoiniere

Glad it worked out for you. Good to see good news coming from airlines / travel sites for a change.

FainaAgain

Oh, good your friend was able to change the flight, and it's good news about Expedia! Usually we read complaints only.

NeoPatrick

Could it be that the horrible economy may cause some places to actually offer customer service? GASP! What a concept.

Kay2

Actually, it's been awhile, maybe a year ago. But I made a mistake when booking on Expedia. I hadn't used it in a long time, maybe never for airline tickets, and somehow my name was stored wrong in my profile. I didn't notice it because I thought it was addressing me by my first and middle name, not realizing it thought my middle name was my last name--"Is this correct, Kay Ann?" etc. until I logged back in a couple of days later. I called and explained the dilemma and honestly said I didn't know how the profile got that way and didn't catch it.

We started from the sorry, nonrefundable/nonchangeable, moved to change and huge fee, to change and hotel credit or something for the fee. So, they did work with me as I wanted the flight, just in my name. I didn't get to use all the hotel credit within the time limit, but it made me feel better to meet halfway.

Brian_in_Charlotte

If we could just get rid of analog clocks and watches, we could switch to military time and never have this kind of problem again.

NeoPatrick

Brian, funny you mention that. I booked tickets on Spirit Airline for a friend's mother. I handed him the reservation to send to her (she doesn't do computers). The times are in "military" time. My friend -- how is in his forties -- looked at it and had no idea what "real" times those were.

But true -- it would prevent such problems! My friend who made the Expedia mistake did it because that night flight was listed as the second choice right after a 6 AM flight, and then others all seemed to be in order. He just looked at times and didn't realize that for some reason they had stuck a 9 PM flight between a 6 AM one and a 10 AM one.