I used Orbitz to purchase four tickets from Orlando to Las Vegas in December and my itinerary on United has been chahged FOUR TIMES! Each time I get the e-mail, I call Orbitz and tell them no, the change is not acceptable, get me on flights closer to the original itinerary. They do that, and then I get yet another change! Now I'm (supposedly) being changed back to my original times and United shows no seats available. Has anyone out there found anyone to call at Orbitz who can actually help me? Does everyone have these problems with them? I thought they had a good reputation!

Your main beef actually seems to be with United, who has been changing the schedule on you, or did I miss something?

Well, since I never used Orbitz before, I'm not sure how it works. The main problem now seems to be when I call Orbitz in answer to their e-mail, to say no, the new itinerary is not acceptable, they keep me on the phone for more than an hour, say they've changed me to a different itinerary, and when I check it a few days later, it's never been changed to the one I agreed to.

If they could just get me to Vegas within an hour or two of my original time, it would be fine. But when I have to leave two hours earlier and fly to CHICAGO from Orlando, have a two hour layover, and then fly to Las Vegas, arriving almost three hours later than my original time, I think it's a little ridiculous.

I've learned my lesson - I'll book through the sirline from now on!

Just don't expect that booking through the airline will prevent unacceptable itinerary changes!

Orbitz has no control over when an airline changes its schedule. And I'm not sure they have any obligation to move you to a different airline just because you don't like the new times. I am usually reluctant to book via a site like Orbitz unless I save a significant amount; otherwise, it's easier to book directly on the airline's own website (a few bucks cheaper too since you don't pay a commission).

Most airlines have a policy that if they change your flight to something different by more than 2(?) hours, and it is unacceptable, they will help you rebook without paying the rebooking fee. (But you may have to pay the ticket difference.)

The Orbitz, Expedia, etc websites mostly have a policy that they will inform you of the airline changes (by email).

I have been successful contacting the airline, even though I booked through an online agent. One time the agent didn't forward the email about the change, and we didn't notice until 2 days before the flight, but the airline let us rebook anyway.

Since Postal has said they are now changing her back to her original schedule, it doesn't sound like United changed their schedules. It sounds like Orbitz changed what flights they were booking her on -- like flights with one stop instead of the non-stop which would probably normally cost more. It's no secret that often the "bargain" fares that come up on Orbitz and other sites are bargains because of their schedule or changes. I wonder if they gave her a great price because of the schedule and inadvertently supposedly booked her on the more expensive flight and then tried to change it?

I agree though. I have yet to find Orbitz or others beating the price of the airline itself -- maybe that's just me. I'd much rather be booking and dealing with the airline than a consolidator.

My experience with Orbitz involved them rescheduling my RETURN flights before my DEPARTURE!!!... after 6 hours of calling, numerous holds, conferencing in the Airlines, denial of error... I got the Orbitz supervisor to admit a booking error and the Airline Customer Service supervisor (United) feeling sorry for me, rebooked the erroneous flights.... I had two months advance to do this, but found the error on my own... no thanks to Orbitz.... to make nice, I asked Orbitz for something, and they sent me a $200 credit for each screwed up ticket... after using them on my next flights, I have never used Orbitz again!!!